The forecast for the rest of the week is dire so we thought we would take advantage of to-days sunshine and head off to SHIPLEY PARK. The hope as that we might get some golden autumnal colours on in the Beech woods that surround Shipley Hill. But as you can see from this shot the leaves are falling before the rich gold change occurs…..
Even so it was fresh November walk with plenty of leaves to scrunch through. The best of the autumn colour was this rich red Maple.
Shipley Country Park, to give it its full name, was once part of a very large Derbyshire Estate. Originally a farm, but once rich seams of coal were discovered it became the centre of a substantial coal industry. As with many such estates it made the farmer/landowners into a very rich family. This family was the Miller Mundy family who were Coal Barons for over 200 years. Their wealth enabled them to build a substantial hall…SHIPLEY HALL, a top of Shipley Hill. Whilst coal provided the wealth to build the hall, coal was also its undoing as subsidence from the coal seams below made the building unsafe and it was eventually demolished after a period of neglect in 1948. The foundations are still visible in the gardens and you can still get a good impression of the enormous size of the Hall.
BUT THE BEST COLOUR…..was waiting for us at home where even more Cyclamen are presenting a great challenge to the winter days ahead………..
2nd November
DAVID OAKES - IMAGES. 