Pleasley Pit Country Park

We had heard about this Country Park in a local environmental group newsletter and on a bright Spring day we took ourselves off to Pleasley

Pleasley village lies 3 miles north of Mansfield and 9 miles south of Chesterfield and the colliery is just outside the village by the River Meden on the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border

The Pit was sunk in the 1870s and produced coal until 1983. It escaped complete demolition after closure and it still retains its headstocks, engine-houses and steam winders. The whole building is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The Pit building is open from 10am-2pm each day and you are free to wander around the site and inside the winder house

 

 

If you ask Walt (one of the key volunteers) he will give you a guided tour of the building

 

The clocking on machine

 

One of the winding machines

 

The waste rock which was excavated from the mine was tipped on nearby fields and eventually the soil covered 150 acres. A few years after the mine had closed British Coal agreed that Derbyshire County Council could take over the site and it became a Country Park

Ponds were created, reed beds and native trees were planted

There is plenty of bird life to see as well

 

This is one of the Dragonfly ponds - but it was too early in the year to see any.

For more details of Pleasley Pit and its Country Park see Pleasley Colliery

We completed our short tour of the area by visiting the nearby village of Teversal where we saw its Norman Church ...

 

... and its Manor House - formerly the home of the Molyneux and Carnarvon families and the fictional home of Lady Chatterley. It was built in the mid-eighteenth century initially for use as barn. The Manor Room was converted into a school in 1881. During the 1940’s it saw many activities, including the housing of evacuees and war knitting parties.

There are several cycle/walking trails in the area - mainly along disused railway lines - we will return

Adventures in the Caribbean - Part 9 : Barbados

Finally we returned to our starting point, Bridgetown, Barbados. This island is in the Lesser Antilles and is the most easterly of the West Indies with the Atlantic on its east coast and the Caribbean on its west. Barbados is 21 miles long and 14 miles wide - about the same size as the Isle of Wight.

Barbados was visited by the Spanish in the late 15th century. The Portuguese also visited in 1536 but left it unclaimed. The first English ship, the Olive Blossom, arrived in 1624 and in 1627 the first permanent settlers arrived from England. Barbados has been a British colony ever since then up to its independence in 1966.

The port is about a mile from the centre of Bridgetown.

We strolled to the centre ... 

 ... passing Pelican Centre, an art and craft area

 The Careenage - merchant and navy sailing ships used to lie aground here at low tide for hull repairs. It is now a marina with moorings for small yachts and pleasure craft.

The National Pledge of Barbados is as follows: "I pledge allegiance to my country Barbados and to my flag, To uphold and defend their honour, And by my living to do credit. To my nation wherever I go"

We decided to have a short tour of the island - but we didn't want to just see the beaches, which is what some taxi drivers offered us. We found a taxi driver called Mark who gave a personalised tour - he was great.

We saw the Kensington Oval - home of cricket on Barbados. Here is a statue of the great Sir Garfield Sobers, outside the ground

 St James Parish Church, Holetown in Barbados.  It's the oldest Anglican Church on the island.

This bell fell from the belfry of St James's Church in 1881 and was badly cracked but a benefactor donated a new bell. However, considering its historic value the old one was sent to England for repairs and returned to Barbados to be retained as a monument, which predates the American "Liberty Bell" by 56 years

We then toured the area where some of the rich and famous have luxury properties

 

We then went to the village of Rock Hall

 It was the first free village established in 1841, some five years after the time of Emancipation

The Rock Hall Freedom Village is located in the parish of St. Thomas, Barbados. The monument pays homage to a family of three freed ex-slaves and the village of Rock Hall.

The monument represents freedom. Caste in bronze, this 20ft stainless steel statue was designed by Mr. Stanton Haynes. It was officially unveiled in August of 2005.

View of the east coast

An old prison

One of the famous Baobab trees in Bridgetown

For more photo of our time on the island click Barbados

And so ended our first cruise and our first visit to the Caribbean - a wonderful experience