OUR WEEKEND AWAY

We have had a lovely weekend with our friends who live in Netherseal. We were able to stay with them as we had gone down especially to attend a 1940s style valentine dance at Newton Regis. Apparently it is custom for people in Netherseal to call people "duck or ducky" hence the welcome for little white rabbit below:

 Derbyshire "Duck" welcomes white rabbit saying "Hey up, me duck, I'm duck!"

On Saturday our friends took us for a stroll round their village and we came across many things of interest. The village was once part of the district of Seal, which included quite a few settlements, many of which form Netherseal and Overseal in modern times. The "Seal" suggests the areea was once heavily forested and Nether means 'lower' and Over means 'upper'. Now a pictureseque village with many listed buildings. Was once a thriving mining community with a two shaft colliery and several related industries.

 (Note white rabbit sitting on wall below)
St peter's Church was built in the 19th century but stands on the site of a 13th century church.

We were surprised to find that Sir Nigel Gresley is buried in the churchyard here

(We first heard of Sir Nigel Gresley when we met our son for lunch in Stockton and he said "there's Sir Nigel Gresley" - we thought he knew someone very important and when we asked him where he was he pointed to the train!) 
Sir Nigel Gresley designed the locomotive The Mallard which set the worldspeed record when it achieved 126 mph for a few seconds in 1938 and many train buffs make the pilgrimage to Sir Gresley's final resting place. 

Netherseal was recorded in the Domesday book as being a wooded area on the edge of the Ashby Woulds and the trading routes the Walton Way and Salt Way ran through the Parish. The Gresley family owned the land until the late 12th century when it was sold to William de Ferrers who gave large tracts of wood and pastureland in the area to the monks at Merevale Abbey.

 Another Sir Nigel Gresley's grave, the plaque on the left was at the bottom of a tree planted in memory

A little further along the road we saw the old hall and fish ponds

I also saw a lovely stream

On our return to our friend's house we saw these friendly llamas

 After our walk around the village we went back for lunch