Tuesday turned out to be the day Monday was supposed to be at our Bolehill Cottages (see here).  After a misty start the sun soon came through and we were able to have coffee on the patio. Did some jobs round the house in the morning and Chris did some odd jobs in the empty cottages.  Nice to have lunch on the patio too.  After lunch I did some tidying up around the gardens and green house.  Wednesday was again one of those dull overcast days.  One departure and one cleaner up.  We had places booked for a tour of the JCB factory near Uttoxeter early in the afternoon so we set off mid morning stopping at the Fairway Garden Centre just passed Ashbourne for a light bite. The factory is at Rocester (pronounced Roster) and covers nearly two hundred acres.  The visit has been organised by the Derbyshire WI and there were fifty of us (mainly couples).  First we were kitted out with safety vest and an intercom headset and safety glasses. We had been advised in advance that you needed to wear closed in shoes and that photography was not allowed for a lot of the tour.  After a little film show we left in smaller groups with a tour guide, in our case a retired worker, and our first stop was the factory floor.  It was hear the intercom headset came into use as without it we wouldn’t have heard anything he was saying. We saw the process of how the machine is built from the delivery of the sheet steel, through the  laser cutting, welding, paint shop, assembly and finally the finished product  . We saw the test track where they check each machine as it comes off the assembly line.  The tour also included the office facilities. The size of everything was quite awesome. We visited the area dedicated to the history of the company and the shop before finishing with afternoon tea, well it was a WI event!   In all the tour lasted about 2 1/2 hours (plus tea) and we walked about four miles so we have been getting the miles in this week.   The gloom was still hanging over the Peak District as we came back, it had been much brighter at Rocester where the Limestone Way finishes, perhaps well go back there again and do some walking.