Hope Valley

This morning I woke up thinking about the current awful pandemic and how it is increasing my longing for the chance to go out and make work in amazing locations once again.  It feels as if that time will come, perhaps in a few months time once when things are safer, until then I am landlocked in London dreaming about getting back on the road and out into the landscape.

In February, I travelled to the Peak District.  It’s an area I have visited before, last year I rented a small cottage there for the first time and loved it.  This year I didn’t want to do any cooking, so I booked a hotel in the beautiful Hope Valley.

The landscape is breathtaking, just looking out of my hotel bedroom window, I could see rolling hills and the edges of glorious forests.  The area is great to drive, walk and photograph.  Not only does it have flat land where you can see for miles, but also impressive peaks such as Mam Tor which are easy to climb.  During my stay, the weather changed minute by minute, foggy mornings, blue skies, then rain, then back to blue skies, but all the time giving me beautiful views.  This visit I spent just a few days there but it is a landscape I will keep coming back to.

The varied landscape is what attracts me most about this area.  I like it so much I recently susbcribed to the excellent Hope Valley Journal as a way to support a local business.  If you like a beautifully curated magazine which gives you insight to the Peak District and its people past and present, pop over to their website www.hopevalleyjournal.co.uk and have a look.

Once the lockdown has lifted and it’s safe to travel again, I’m heading first to Derbyshire for more landscape adventures.