We woke up at Langdon Beck Hotel in the north Pennines in the middle of moors and sheep country. 

We got going and parked nearby at High Force Hotel for a walk by the river and to have breakfast. We couldn’t get up to see the waterfall there but we enjoyed the peaceful walk beside the river Tees.

We then continued across the moors with great views over the countryside.

Glenn saw an owl sitting in the moor.

We drove 3 hours to Lyme Park in Cheshire to see the stately home used in filming the Pride and Prejudice series in 1995 where Mr Darcy came out of the lake with his wet shirt. 

The house is 600 years old and had been occupied by the same Legh family during that time. 

Lots of the contents of the house are ancient – including lots of tapestries from Europe. 

This one had been restored so is much brighter than the others that only have faded blue or white colours.

The fireplace is very early with a Jacobean emblem with a dragon – changed later to a unicorn by James I of Scotland.

One of the owners had no legitimate children but left the hall to one of his 7 illegitimate children whose mother was a servant. He was a very progressive owner and developed the house out of the most out of all the owners.

We checked out the garden and lake at the front of the house. The greenhouse had some interesting plants. 

Glenn stood in for Colin Firth coming out of the lake. 

The Canadian geese were causing a kerfuffle in the pond.
We were the last of the public before the gardens were closed. 

We then drove off and unfortunately had not received any response to my email request to get into a small club site nearby. I did have a standby however so we drove the short distance to Capesthorne Hall Caravan Site – while I booked it online – with the challenge of the Internet dropping out at various points. 

We got booked in to our chosen pitch and drove into Capesthorne Hall – right up the drive up to the front door almost.

The caravan site is right next to the hall. It was amazingly  quiet – only about 10 pitches occupied from around 50. The facilities are excellent too – so it’s a great spot – and very reasonably priced.

We got settled in and enjoyed drinks in front of our new estate.

It was a very quiet night not far from the busy city of Manchester.