Saturday 18 August 2018

Wentworth Walk and Books this Month

Today I discovered this wonderful blog called casual ramblers it is an amazing source of information if you like walking and are looking for a new route to take.  To be honest I can't even remember what I was searching at the time when I came across it because I know I did not put in any of those key words. Still it was very handy as we were just saying this morning what shall we do today, and did anyone want to go anywhere?

  When I stumbled on this  blog one of the first posts I read was about a round walk at Wentworth and while I have been to Wentworth garden centre many times I have not really explored the area beyond that. So I printed off the route and we got the dogs in the car, most of my dog walking takes place near my house but just recently I have been thinking there are lots of places just a short drive away so it is good to get out and see different scenery.

We parked in the beautiful Wentworth village and after crossing our first field we saw this...
It is a gorgeous converted windmill, actually people were sitting in the garden I noticed as we passed. I bet they get fed up of people taking photos of their house. Oops!

It is a beautiful area and you pass over lots of farm land on this walk, therefore the dogs remain on a lead.  It was just as well really as it warmed up and they would have got too hot had they been running around.  There were lots of areas of shade as we passed through woodland so this was a relief, it was cloudy and breezy when we set off so we thought an ideal time to have a good walk with the dogs!
The walk has a definite  route as I said it can be found online in the form of a leaflet called Wentworth walk 9 or if you follow the link on the blog above he gives very good directions too.  There are also lots of signs on the footpaths and styles saying doorstep walk. 
You pass this amazing structure called the Needle's Eye which was built by the Charles the second Marquess of Rockingham between 1730 and 1782, apparently to settle a wager that he could ride a horse and carriage through the eye of a needle. It is an interesting sight anyway and in a lovely location.

We think this walk was maybe between 4-5 miles maybe more 5 for us as we set off walking back up a field then realised maybe we should be going the other way, so a bit of backtracking there. Usually my husband tracks it on his phone but he forgot today and our route didn't state the distance.  Many of the other walks on the blog I mentioned  do state the distance and difficulty.

The route also takes you past Elsecar Heritage Centre which is a nice place to visit if you have never been there.  We just stopped to let the dogs have a drink then carried on.
More gorgeous scenery then back up through the village for a drink outside a pub.  This is a another lovely walk to return to and it will be interesting to see how it looks through the changing seasons.

As I have had a bit of time I have finished  a few books this past month, the good thing being I have really enjoyed the ones I have read.  This is partly because I have a new thing of deciding fairly early on if it is my sort of thing and if not I just stop and move on.  There are so many books there is just no point in persevering just because I have started something, I used to have a real problem with that I've started so I'll finish ideal.

So first up was Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant, it may not be for everyone as it is historical and about life in a convent but I really enjoyed it.

This story is set in Italy in the city of Ferrara. It is 1570 and Serafina is sent to the convent of Santa Caterina against her will.   This is a story about the ongoing struggle of one, strong determined young woman in a time when women were expected to quietly accept their lot. There is also a story of relationship, between Zuana the infirmary sister and the abbess who is not all she appears.  It is a  really good read which draws you into the setting with admiration for those who chose it willingly, and horror for those who never had that choice.   I read a little each night with this novel and I’m  glad I did not rush through it, it gave me a chance to think about the freedom many of us get to enjoy in this modern age. While not all women across the world  are so fortunate and for some little has changed.

Next I read The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, I was really pleased to order this one from the library as I had it on my Amazon wish list.  Books tend to stay there while I make up my mind.  Now again this is a historical story but his time in the form of a fairy tale for grown ups, or at least that is how I would describe it.  Set in Russia, there is lots of folklore and magic but the characters are wonderfully believable and I was completely lost in this tale.  The main character Vasya is once more strong and capable in a time when this was not  favoured trait in women.
I did not choose these two books expecting a similar theme to run through them it just happened that way. 

After that I read How to get things done by Richard Templar, this book felt a bit of a cheat, 200  pages with every other one being a title or heading page so realistically a one hundred page book!  I read this in one sitting and of course most of it is just common sense, make lists, delegate, don't do unnecessary tasks  and  just get on with stuff.  So nothing ground breaking there but I would have been annoyed had I paid for this book, given that it was so short and misleading.  I mean if you ordered that online you would expect 200 pages and not 100 of them to be space filling fluff. 

My current read is How to Stop Time by Matt Haig and I am off to finish that now. 


4 comments:

  1. I enjoyed the book you are reading now. Matt Haig has an enjoyable style of writing and his stories are always fun. I have recently taken the dog for walks further out, it is good to explore other parts of the countryside. Wentworth is a bit far for us but I enjoyed your guided walk here instead. x

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  2. Looks like a great walk. Loved the windmill house although I am not sure I would be able to manage all those stairs there would be. Such an unusual structure, the eye of the needle. I would wager that has been photographed millions of times.

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  3. we always visit Elsecar and Wentworth when we visit my Aunt an Uncle in Rotherham. My Aunts mother used to work in service there when it was an occupied big house in the 1920's. Nice photos and great memories for me - we must go and see them soon. j x

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