A 'not back to school' holiday

 For the last couple of years we have celebrated 'not back to school' by going on holiday (cos we can!!)- hopefully still getting OK weather and reaping the benefit of lower cost and quieter spots. However the flip side of that is that everyone misses some of their 'activities' and sometimes that can be an issue. As it was this year when Otter (Beaver Leader) announced a Beaver Sleepover on the middle weekend of our holiday......hence holiday to Northumberland became holiday to Derbyshire- so that he could still go ( especially as we had missed the summer family camp due to a family party). But Derbyshire was beautiful and we did all the touristy things that we have so often driven past- like the Heights of Abraham. TP above is demonstrating the use of the emergency descender on the cable wire!!

 A lovely- if slightly blustery day out at Crich Tramway Museum- which if you take a walk out of the main areas through some woodland- has fabulous views and some lovely wooden sculptures. This is a place where you pay a slightly inflated entrance fee but then can have unlimited returns for a year- and it isn't an unreasonable day out for us- so we don't mind.

Not quite on holiday- but the tractor had been ploughing the field opposite the house and when we walked through we found they must have gone deeper than usual- thus an archeology dig was held and the result was a bucket of pot shards which were religiously washed. In our haul was clay pipe pieces, some glass identifiable to a local brewery as well as some painted china.

The view from the Heights of Abraham over towards Riber Castle on a glorious day.

The last weekend of the holiday we went and joined a Folk Song & Dance weekend in Yorkshire where the children adopted a few new 'grandparents' and 'aunties'- as well as cycling continuously in circles and kiteflying