More cobbles and decay...

Looking up the village lane towards the Bastle....

Looking down on the yard from the raised deck and the

old cobbles just visible.

They have lain covered in grass for many years, but when the turf was removed, we were left with a tantalising "roadway" leading to the tumbledown shed.

So, as they do in Time Team, I decided it was time to expose them with a mini trowel and brush.

I must say I felt like a proper archaeologist!

Just this small amount took two afternoons and even on a kneeling mat I ended up with very sore knees. They are so unforgiving.

Oh to be twenty years younger.....getting up and down from that mat was so embarrassing...how can hips, knees and ankles seize up like that after half an hour?

Top dressed with sharp sand to hold them more tightly, I will continue to expand across the yard, filling in where the cobbles have long since gone.

I did find a few interesting pieces of ceramics between the cobbles however.

 Early 19th century blue and white transfer-ware, sponge ware a banded bowl and the broken base of a porcelain tea bowl.. Possibly late 18th century.

So...quite an old path.

My excavations are not as extensive or as amazing as this fabulous ford / road in the Peak District.

We had a few days break in the village of Butterton near Leek, nice, comfortable farm cottage and the village has a cobbled road with a river running down it.

The ford winds through the village with water flowing quite happily past houses and fields.

Driving through it is a weird experience...

Not sure if I would be happy after a severe downpour however.

While in Derbyshire we called into a National Trust property.....Calke Abbey

Not your usual, beautifully furnished national Trust property,  but left just as the Trust found it in varying degrees of decay.

I loved it!

High in the stable ceiling... A  little nest ...( the give away being the mound of droppings on the floor )

Nothing much to see until I put the flash on the camera..

Et voila...four little faces looking back at me.

What a tight squeeze.

Bye for now,

Julie x