We were pleased to be able get off on Christmas eve morning, wondering if we would due to the amount of snow and severe temperatures in which, I think was probably the coldest December on record.
Our destination was my husbands brothers, his wife and their lovely family. When it started to snow on the way we did think that if it continued we may have to stay longer.
Of course we were staying in the caravan at their house so the first job was to put the heating on, although the outside temperatures at night were very cold we were snug and warm.
This is what we were greeted with so knew we were off to a good start.
Here we are taking a walk on Christmas day, it was lovely, though not very deep it was very 'crisp and even'. A perfect sunny winters day.
Boxing Day..........
After defrosting the car and saying our goobyes, we set out on our way to the caravan club site at Chatsworth, Derbyshire.
There were plenty of pitches to choose from having been a lot of cancellations from the 'sensible' people who didn't want to brave the weather.
There was still a lot of snow and the ground was very frozen which we prefer for walking, though not so good for banging in the awning pegs.
Facilities on the site are always heated and clean, and the pitches are hard standing.
There were a lot of ducks around which of course were very well fed by everyone.
On arrival the wardens give you a key which gives you access through a gate in a wall to Chatsworth estate where you can walk freely, this way is also a shortcut to the village of Baslow which takes about fifteen minutes where there are pubs, a shop and places to eat
Below: Chatsworth House, looking dull and wintery.
A magical wonderland in the woods on the Chatsworth estate.
A couple of days on and the big thaw started, we were joined by two of our friends for the rest of the holiday, a maiden voyage for their new caravan.
We had a nice long walk across the fields to Bakewell, it was a very misty day and found ourselves taking a diversion. Even though both our hubby's always take a map and have been on an orienteering course we can never go on a walk without heading, at some point, in the wrong direction and have to have a debate about it.
We got there eventually, had lunch and a look around then caught the bus back.
Another walk we did was near to the village of Asfordby with the usual diversion, our reward at the end of it was a visit to the real ale pub we had pinpointed called 'The Old Poets Corner', there we had a nice lunch and a drink beside a roaring log fire. (Ah bliss) even Lucy was allowed in.
All in all Xmas and New Year turned out to be a lovely long holiday and was well worth braving the weather.
This is the life!
Lucy.........as snug as a bug in a rug.
