Errwood Hall, Cheshire.

A wet Sunday afternoon in January and we are off on our first adventure. Today we visited Goyt Valley in the Peak District. We parked up and equipped ourselves with raincoats and wellington boots and headed off in the direction of the ruin's of Errwood Hall. We headed up the slope from the car park, stopping momentarily to admire the magnificent views of the reservoirs as we climbed higher up the slope. At the top of the slope we went through the gate posts and headed to the right, following the well trodden but very muddy track. The track followed the bubbling fast flowing brook, hidden beneath the shrubs, just occasionally peeping out between the few bare branches. The track twisted and turned as we headed higher up the slope, we then spotted some steps and a sign in the distance engraved with the words Errwood Hall, we quickly decided we needed to climb the stairs to continue our adventure...

The steps were very steep and slippery so we needed to climb with care, we reached the top which led us to another track, possibly once used by horse drawn carriages on their way to the Hall? We followed the track round which led us to our amazing find... the ruins of a amazingly beautiful dwelling, Errwood Hall. We walked around the ruins, making up stories and imagining what could have happened in a beautiful dwelling like this, and wondering who could have possibly lived here. You could tell from the ruins that it was indeed a very elaborate building, built by someone with a lot of wealth and architectural flare. There were ruins at one end which we thought could have possibly been a stable where the horses would have been stabled and the remains of posts where they could have been tied.

After exploring the ruins we noticed stone stairs leading up behind the ruin. We followed the stairs and made our way to the summit. Upon reaching the summit we discovered a small cemetery with the owners and occupiers of the Hall, the Grimshawe family and their staff. The stones dated back some 150 years.
The drizzle had now turned to rain and the night was drawing in so we headed back to the car, and home for hot chocolate and biccies and to google our findings...

Click here If you would like to learn more about the Grimshawe's or Errwood Hall