Hardwick Hall Gardens

We have come away to The Midlands for a few days - Mrs madwill is visiting the NEC the end of the week for the Festival Of Quilts…so we are staying locally this week.

We (well Mrs madwill) drove down, stopping at Hardwick Hall Gardens (an NT property near Chesterfield) for lunch and then on down to Knowle, where we are staying in a little chalet in a converted stable block on a farm! It is rather cosy!

In the garden there was lots of cyclamen growing around the place - so I stopped to grab some shots. Large parts of the hall itself is covered in scaffolding and sheeting so is not very picturesque! I did grab a few shots of the visible parts of the towers (one added in extra). The “ES” on the rooftop are the initials of Elizabeth Shrewsbury, the Countess of Shrewsbury, who had the place built in the 1590s…..