Monday saw some activity with one cottage out and two back in with one cleaner up at our peak district cottages.  Usual Monday activities and a warm albeit cloudy day.  Both cottages in by 4pm, both have been before.  On Tuesday we decided to have a day off as we have not had one for a while.  I thought it about time we visited Lyme Park.  It is probably the nearest National Trust property to us but being the other side of Buxton in Cheshire, we don’t have any leaflets on it. Like many National Trust properties it allows dogs in the parkland but not the gardens so we left the mutts at home.  I’m sure Smudge enjoyed his duvet day.  As we drove through Bakewell noticed the road/parking signs are up for the Bakewell Show.  Although it was forecast to be cloudy it turned out to be quite sunny and warm. Once we had parked we headed for he the ‘Timber Yard’ where we had coffee and cake.  There were a lot of families around, but then the school holidays have started but the main attraction seemed to be the play area.  Then a short walk across to the house and gardens.  We opted for a walk around the gardens first.  They were very nice and of course with Lyme Park being the setting for the classic scene of Mr Darcy emerging from the Lake in the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice I did invite Chris to do a Mr Darcy but he declined!  After a walk around the house we walked up to the Cage, which is the equivalent of Chatsworth’s Hunting Lodge.  From here we could make out the centre of Manchester, worked out where the airport is but on the other side looked back to the Kinder Massif.  Drove back via Hayfield from where you can start walks up to Kinder Scout, one of our guests had suggested trying one of the pubs and we thought it would be nice to walk around the village but couldn’t find somewhere to park! (Hayfield was the birthplace of Arthur Lowe aka Captain Mannering).  Home late afternoon and as we hadn’t had lunch we packed a picnic and headed to our picnic spot overlooking Kirkdale and the Magpie Mine with the dogs for a late lunch/early tea.  They enjoyed the walk! The fine weather also means that we are having plenty of hot air balloons in the evening.  Enjoy the day’s photos.