The first new National Trust adventure of 2020 took me deep into the Peak District as part of a birthday get away.
I’m staying in the Leaping Hare Barn – as quaint and comfortable and welcoming as it sounds. I even met the leaping hare – a house rabbit called Teddy.
In previous years I’ve visited the other NT places in the peaks – Dovedale and Winter House, so I decided to tick off the final one for me – Longshaw Estate, in the dramatic peaks – Longshaw Estate.
It was absolutely freezing so I had wrapped up warm, and despite the January sunshine it was still very exposed on the moors.
A lovely NT volunteer reliably informed me that as a new visitor I should do the Pink Trail of the three set out on the estate. The Orange one (2.7km) is wheelchair friendly and mostly woodland, the Blue one was a much longer one (4.5km) and the Pink one (2.7km) takes in a pond, the woods and a river, so it had it all.
The walk was marvellous, and very muddy. There were little wooden bridges over the river, a couple of waterfalls and fantastic views over the brown and stark moors. I had been blessed with the weather and I can’t honestly say how much I would have enjoyed it had it been pouring with rain.
The Estate building itself was used as an auxiliary hospital for convalescing injured soldiers from WWI, and today it is private flats.
Verdict: Beautiful and dramatic moors
Sidenote: Today I also visited the village of Eyam in the peaks, known as a Plague village because it selflessly isolated itself in 1665 when the disease arrived in the village, to prevent it spreading to any of the surrounding towns and villages.
Sadly, only a small number of villagers survived. The church, a museum and the boundary stones are all available to visit, and it’s only 20 minutes from Longshaw – so well worth a visit.
A Year of Trust 