Book & Movie Tour, aka Peak District

I'll admit, this whole weekend was inspired by book and movie scenes. None of which my kids care about, but guess who plans the vacations at our house? So here was our agenda: Lyme Park, Pemberley in the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice; Lees Hall, inspiration for Thornfield Hall in Jane Eyre; and Stanage Edge, site in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie where Elizabeth goes on her tour of Derbyshire with the Gardiners. But the Peaks District is an absolutely beautiful place to go, even for those crazies out there who don't care about Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre.

It might seem like we didn't get a lot done in our two days, because I frequently needed Mike to pull over so I could get out and look at the scenery. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?

Notice the sheep grazing on the hillside.

Just another random "hurry, pull over" spot.

First scheduled stop, Pemberley, aka Lyme Park. 

Here is the courtyard where Mr. Darcy rushes out to find Elizabeth. I think they cleaned off the moss for the movie.

We found this statue more freaky than enticing.

Luckily, there were still many opportunities for pictures without the statue. 

Our second day was in the upper part of the Peak District. The scenery changes from farms and rolling green hills, to a little darker feel. It's moorlands. Instead of limestone, it's darker rock. This is the area Charlotte Bronte went to visit a friend. The home she stayed at is considered the inspiration for Thornfield Hall in Jane Eyre. This area of England definitely has more a Bronte feel than an Austen feel.

This is Lees Hall, the inspiration for Thornfield Hall. I can imagine Mrs. Rochester up on that roof, can't you? I have to say, this is apparently not a big tourist draw, so if you go to visit bring an ordnance survey map or detailed instructions. It's not easy to find and very few people we came across seemed to have any idea of its existence.

There are so many hikes that take in Stanage Edge. While tempted by some of the 7 and 8 hour hikes, I decided on a two hour version - the longest I could possibly imagine bribing my "hates walking, hiking and the great outdoors in general" girl to do. In the end, with the temperatures cold and the weather raining sideways, we did the ultimate quickest route - probably less than a half an hour. We found a very close parking spot, took a direct route up the hill, very quickly appreciated the view, took a few pictures, and then high-tailed it back to the car. Even so, Anya elected to stay warm and dry in the car.

This photo is our attempt at the Pride & Prejudice movie shot. Just imagine us in dresses flowing in the wind instead of our winter parkas.

 The walk along the top of Stanage Edge, which we elected to take a picture of instead of walking.

You can see from my hair that it was very windy. Most of the pictures our hair is lying flat only due to the fact that our hair was weighted down with rainwater.

This wasn't quite the trip I had imagined. We'd had a stretch of beautiful, sunny fall weather, so I'd imagined sunny, brisk hikes and blue skies with puffy clouds. We instead got rain, wind and cold, but mostly we felt it added to the English atmosphere. We saw a lot of hikers and walkers. The English don't let the weather interfere with their outdoor plans, so we tried to follow their example.

English hikers all kitted-out (there's me throwing in an England English phrase) for the rain.

Camille and I had a good laugh trying to fight the wind and get this picture taken at the same time.

Lastly, here's proof Anya was on this trip too. She maybe wasn't too interested in anything I had planned, but she's very good at keeping herself entertained in the backseat.