Day One

We thought we would be brave on this holiday and go camping. It might be late September, but we thought the weather would hold. Now we weren't going to rough it, we took our best bedding complete with Cath K pillowcases, fairy lights, air mattress, hot water bottles etc. I wanted to make camping as comfortable as possible. We spent quite a bit of the morning packing up the car before leaving Norwich, so we didn't get to our destination until gone 3pm. This is now our third holiday in the Peak District, I do love it so. I got so very excited driving up to Ashbourne, starting to see the hills and rockier landscape. We had decided to be brave and not book a campsite and just find one when we got there. We ended up going to Hulme End campsite, in the Manifold Valley, a complete bargain at just £8 a night. We pitched our tent in the glorious sunshine, it was so warm with a radiant blue September sky.

After sorting out our little home for the next few days we headed over the hills of the Staffordshire Moorlands, to Leek, to stock up on supplies. We love this area, especially The Roaches which are a spectacular rocky Grit Stone ridge above Leek. We did pause for a while and just enjoyed the view.

The landscape is just so different from Norfolk - so different. I do love the open skies of Norfolk, but there is something about Tors and Rocks too. The landscape of the Peak District really does amaze me, truly.

We bought our traditional first night of holiday dinner of Steak and Salad plus some lovely Flat Mushrooms. There really is something about cooking outside. It sure makes things seem yummier. It was so peaceful at the camp site as there were just a few other people there and we spent the evening drinking Tea sat outside enjoying the quiet and went to bed very early just as it went dark with the hopes of an early rise the next morning.