DAY 5: HOMEWARD BOUND WITH A DETOUR TO BOLSOVER CASTLE
Lin and I decided to have a short walk before we left on our journey home. We looked around the churchyard of the local church.
Bolsover Castle is set on a wooded hilltop dominating the surrounding landscape. It was built on the site of a Norman Castle by the Peverel family. Sir Charles Cavendish, son of Bess of Hardwick, bought the castle in 1612 and began work on it and his son, William, continued the alterations. What resulted was a kind of ‘toy keep’, housing tiers of luxurious staterooms. The exquisitely carved fireplaces, and richly-coloured murals and panelling of its miraculously preserved and beautifully restored interiors still take the visitor on an allegorical journey from earthly concerns to heavenly (and erotic) delights.
William also added the vast and stately Terrace Range overlooking the Vale of Scarsdale, now a dramatic roofless shell. Finally he constructed the cavernous Riding House with its magnificent roof and viewing galleries, among the finest surviving indoor riding schools in the country and a landmark in British equestrianism: here he indulged his passion for training great horses in stately dressage.
Eric, Elizabeth and John
