Monday and Tuesday were not too bad weather wise at our peak district cottages despite the forecast although Derbyshire has now joined the list of counties officially in drought.  One cottage out and two due back in on Monday but due to a funeral one now would be arriving Tuesday morning.  One cleaner up and usual Monday routines. Guests arrived just after 3pm. With it staying dry Chris managed to cut the grass.  In the evening we abandoned the dogs with me going to Over Haddon for the Village Hall Committee meeting and Chris went to the Bakewell Photographic Society.  Delayed cottage arrived about midday on Tuesday after which we went to Buxton to get a few bits.  In the evening we had one of those heavy showers that left a covering of hail.  The weather on Wednesday was awful  which was a pity as we had tickets for a familiarisation trip to Renishaw Hall just outside of Chesterfield.  The Tourist Board have started to organise these trips on a regular basis for accommodation providers and as we haven’t been to Renishaw for a while we had booked tickets.  Since we had last been there the previous owner had passed away and there had never been tours of the house.  Wednesday’s trip included a tour of the house and, after lunch, a tour of the gardens and of course a chance to catch up with other accommodation providers.  There are now limited tours of the house as it is also a private home.  The Hall has been home to the Sitwell family for many generations and there is an exhibition dedicated to the Sitwell trio who were noted literary artists at the beginning of the 20th century. The hall also has paintings by John Piper, a war artist, who also designed stained glass windows, examples include  Coventry and Lichfield cathedrals. After lunch the rain started to ease but the prospect of an hours walk in the garden was as appealing to the head gardener as to the rest of us so he gave us a talk about the gardens whilst still inside before we did a quick dash round the gardens!  The bluebells were out and they have a large collection of magnolias and (until recently) they had the most northerly vineyard. We didn’t get a chance to see this unfortunately.  They also have the National Collection of Yucca’s. By the time we got home it had more or less stopped raining and we found some cows were now on our side of the road.  Poor Blue!  Here are some photos from Renishaw Hall, would have taken a lot more if the weather had been better!