Tag: Around Manchester

Lyme Park

My third and final Lyme Park post, featuring photographs on no particular topic.

While I was climbing the hill up to The Cage, I kept thinking of Jane Austen, and that it looked like a location from her novels. I don’t know why, because I was sure she was never this far north (she wasn’t). But I still had the feeling that it had a Jane Austen aesthetic. The house on the above picture has a souvenir shop inside it (there are tours but they were closing down as I got there, they close earlier now because of the pandemic), so I went in there–and it turns out that the 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini series was filmed here! It’s the one with Colin Firth as Mr Darcy. Of course, I bought a Mr Darcy fridge magnet.

I took a lot of pictures of the view from the hill on which The Cage is, but I couldn’t decide which ones to post, so I link you my video.

The Deer at Lyme Park

As promised, here is another Lyme Park post, this time animal-themed. Because they have deer.

See them, in the distance? (Also why climbing that hill was worth it.)

And here they are, closer. I don’t know what made them come down to the foot of the hill, but they look curious about something.

not deer in headlights

What I know is that they legged it back straight away. Getting this shot was pure luck, it would not have been possible only seconds later.

Apparently, the deer have been present at Lyme Park for over 600 years.

Looking it up, I see that there are a few collective nouns for deer: a bevy, a brace, a bunch, a gang, a herd, a leash, a mob, a parcel, and a rangale (never heard that word before). Oh, deer.

Finally something new to my animal collection that isn’t a cat or a bird!

Although… last September I went for a walk to one of my usual places, the wooded area near my home, pictures of which have featured on this blog numerous times, when I spotted a doe with two little ones. I literally stopped like “eh?” and she saw me too, and swiftly as a deer, they ran to hide away, before I took my phone out of my pocket. Understand that, though it is a wild, wooded place, it’s still the inner city of Manchester, so not a location where you expect this type of wildlife. How in seven hells did they get there, or indeed why they’d want to stay there, is a mystery.

I haven’t encountered them since. I hope nothing bad happened to them.

The Cage at Lyme Park

It’s not a literal cage, it’s just named that way.

Lyme Park is a huge estate to the south-east of Manchester, near the village of Disley, Cheshire. It was recommended to me ages ago but it wasn’t until I got some time off work this June that I finally made a visit there.

I ended up with around 140 photographs, which for my outings is pretty average; but now I’m struggling with what to post on the blog. So I’m going to split them into groups, same as I did with my trip to Haworth. This post is dedicated to The Cage, a structure on a top of a hill. Climbing up there took effort, not gonna lie, but the result was worth it.

More pictures from Lyme Park will follow.

ETA: When I made this post, I was either too tired or too lazy to add more info about The Cage, so I’m adding it now.

The Cage was built by the warrior priest, Sir Piers V, in 1524, and was used either as a hunting lodge or a watchtower. In 17th century it was a holding prison for poachers awaiting trial, and this is where its name comes from. In the 1730s, Giacomo Leoni rebuilt it to make it more hospitable, so that it could be used as a banqueting room. Later it was a home for estate workers.

Beware of the Headstone

If you have glanced at my blog before, you will know that I’m always into seeing any unusual sign. I spotted this one on my Easter Sunday walk in Prestwich (area of Manchester), at the St Mary’s church graveyard.

Imagine being killed by a falling headstone

It’s not a joke! The graveyard is quite old and there are fallen headstones; you can see a leaning stone cross on the left there, with a background of daffodils. The more recent deceased have their resting places on the right side of that wall, on a little hill under the trees. This leads to Prestwich Clough, a little piece of land of woods, which I have enjoyed having a wander in on previous occasions.

Blossoms

They’re only just coming out; this is from the same day as my two previous posts from Heaton Park. This is the second time in the last two months I’ve used pictures from the same trip for three different blog entries–maybe that’ll be blogging in 2021 for me. Which I’m not complaining about in the least.

No idea what tree it is, as usual, so if anyone out there knows, by all means enlighten me!

Hope everyone’s having a good Easter. This holiday doesn’t inspire me to do photoshoots like Christmas, or even Valentine’s Day, does, I’ve only ever done one, in 2019. I do like the four-day weekend and the chocolate eggs, but that’s it. Like, I’m happy for Jesus for having been resurrected and all that, but it just doesn’t mean much to me. I’m sure the son of God would not begrudge me the chocolate eggs, though.

Robin, Robin!

And this, my friends, is the proof that it pays not to be lazy, sometimes.

I had a couple of days off work and on one of them, the weather being camera-friendly, I decided that instead of sitting at home, I would go to Heaton Park. This is normally too early for me, I don’t go there before Easter, but like I say, it was dry and sunny and as it was a weekday, I knew there wouldn’t be many people. It turned out to be a right decision because I scored an absolute scoop:

Funny thing is that I don’t think I’d seen a real robin before, ever in my life. I couldn’t believe how friendly it was, coming quite close and not scared at all. I snapped a few photos; these are the best ones.

So, there you have it. Also, the second time I went to Heaton Park outside of my usual season and returned with something beautiful!

Roman Lakes, Marple

The problem with taking so many pictures when going on a trip is that it’s so hard to decide which ones to post on the blog.

me

When I went to Marple, I didn’t have any particular plan. I asked the guy behind the information counter at the station what there was to see and he said there was a river on one side (Goyt), canal on the other and that there was a place called Roman Lakes.

I went down to the village and walked a bit, when I spotted a trail and I thought, okay, since I had such a good experience with it last time in Hebden Bridge, I would try it again. A good decision! Not only did I get a healthy hike and some great shots out of it, I eventually reached the lakes place the information guy told me about–from the other side.

I can see why it is popular.

My old friends ducks and geese hang out here a lot.

That’s where I sat when eating my bacon sandwich. Yes, they do serve food and drink here and there is also a toilet–see the building on the left on the top photo.

I should add, the lakes have nothing to do with Romans, they’re just named that way. I haven’t managed to find out why, so I’m going with Bill of Kill Bill‘s saying “They thought it sounded cool”.

Marple Station

Marple is a small town near Manchester. Its name may remind you of a certain old lady sleuth.

The town’s station embraces it 100%.

There is also this, on the other platform.

The poster lists all the ties Agatha Christie has to the North. I’ve already covered Abney Hall on the blog.

This was the first time ever I visited Marple. I always thought it was a coincidence, but it turns out that Miss Marple’s name was indeed inspired by the town. I actually found out about the posters at the station from the Twitter account Agatha Christie in the North. And I found out about the Twitter account because they followed me after I tweeted something (I think it must have been that Abney Hall post–all my posts are automatically tweeted as soon as they’re published.) So really, it was me being a fan that helped me discover things related to the thing that I’m a fan of!

Although to be fair, I most likely would have gone to Marple at some point anyway.

Of course, I saw more than the train station when I went to Marple–but that’s material for a different post.

Radcliffe Tower

So I finally got a chance to go and see Radcliffe Tower. Radcliffe Tower is a tower (or what remains of it) in Radcliffe, a small town near Manchester. I have posted some shots of Radcliffe before, though that was a bleak November scenery.

radcliffe tower1

radcliffe tower2

I couldn’t get any nearer, the tower is surrounded by a fence.

radcliffe tower3

I don’t know whether it’s available to public at all, ever, I haven’t been able to find out any info about any trail, as mentioned on this notice board, or anything else. I would really like to photograph the tower closer.

radcliffe tower info

Anyone reading this who is from this neighbourhood? Anyone out there knows this place or perhaps been to this Trail and can give more details? Tell us in the comments!