29-Oct-2024
Sunday 27, our last full day on the Island, was pleasantly busy. Breakfast with a friend. Dinner with rellies. And in between, packing and sorting, but in a reasonably relaxed manner.
And yesterday, Monday 28, we left. I hate leaving the Isle of Man. Always fear I won't see it again. Always feel I'm leaving a little bit of myself behind.
Some memories of our second cottage there:
And the journey:
Waiting to get on
Aboard, and waiting to leave
The moddey dhoo travels with us
Smooth crossing. Not at all like this
Waiting to get off
Travelling through scenic Derbyshire
It wasn't a bad trip really, even factoring in the congestion that always sticks itself to the edges of Manchester like toffee to a pot. We stopped to shop and have coffee. But we arrived in Winster in plenty of time to watch Pointless, so that's not bad going.
Our street
Our car and our cottage
It's a cute little house, if a little bewildering:
The front room...
... which has a woodburner, in case the weather ever gets cold enough to use it
The main bedroom is in the roof
And this is the view from the other upstairs room, the one at the back. But wait... This room is upstairs, and yet the garden is on the same level... Ah, that's because it's above the kitchen, which is dug into the bank... Derbyshire people know how to manage slopes...
And don't ask me to explain how the various bits of the yard and garden are divvied up between us and next door... Nigel will draw you a map.
Winster is located 215-275 metres above sea level (and, yes, that discrepancy means that there's a valley road, but any other way is UP). It was famous for lead-mining and limestone. And it was on or near various historic trade and transit routes.
It has a church, two pubs, and a village shop that's run by the community.
Dawn today saw us pacing the village, which is lovely:
Ultra-cute post box topper
This picture illustrates the only drawback that we have discovered so far. It's really drowning in cars, and its little streets sometimes find it hard to cope...
That inconvenience aside, it's a very attractive and friendly little place, and I think we'll do very well here.