We arrived in Derbyshire on Saturday 27 September.

I'll come back to those first few days in a subsequent post, but in this one I'm going to focus on today's spectacularly successful visit to Haddon Hall.

We parked in Bakewell, and did a variation on the circuit described here. Definitely do the longer leg first. You climb, but it's all fairly gentle, and it's not a switchback-type walk, so once you're up, you're up, like the Grand Old Duke of York, and you get to enjoy your elevation, stumping along through bright green, sheep-flecked fields, with misty views out across the valley:




And then you start to see Haddon Hall, which is very impressive even from afar:






And then you start your visit.

Haddon Hall is an extraordinary time capsule. It dates back some 900 years (making it one of the oldest houses in the country). In the beginning, it would have been a simple arrangement, with the whole household accommodated in the Great Hall, but from the 13th to the 17th centuries, various additions were made.

And then, at the beginning of the 18th century, the family decided to decamp to Belvoir Castle, another of their properties, which was judged to be more convenient.

So Haddon Hall was left to slumber, staffed and maintained, but not altered or updated in any significant way. From our point of view, this neglect was a fortunate circumstance, bequeathing us, untouched and unspoilt, a medieval kitchen, a 15th-century chapel, a 16th-century Long Gallery, and much more (there's a detailed description of the interior here).

The second, equally important, element in its preservation was that when the family began to take an interest in the property again, in the early years of the 20th century, their goal was to protect rather than modernize.

When you visit, then, you really do have the feeling that you're stepping back in time...




















As well as this amazing building, we were also treated to an exhibition on charms, rituals, and superstitions in Elizabethan England. The residents of Haddon Hall in its heyday would have led lives that were saturated in ideas of witchcraft... To ward off evil, they hid talismanic objects in secret places, and carved witch marks (also known as apotropaic marks) liberally throughout the building.



When you're done -- and allow plenty of time to see the Hall, as there's really lots to take in -- you can head back to Bakewell along the tranquil River Wye:






Some trips just work brilliantly, from start to finish. This was one of them.