Stirring compote into my yoghurt one sunny autumn morning I noticed a long, narrow face peering in a curious and friendly way through the window of the dining room. Not for the first time I wondered about the origins of the word 'sheepish', because I've never seen a sheep look remotely embarrassed ... though I have seen them looking inquisitive, thoughtful, amused, bored, and occasionally scared. Apparently they can recognise people, and our facial expressions.
There are plenty of opportunities to ponder sheep physiognomy whilst staying at YHA Castleton Losehill Hall in Derbyshire's Peak District because these gentle animals are everywhere, providing delightful company as they wander the 27 acres of parkland that surround the hostel: masticating, ruminating, nibbling the shrubbery, and relaxing under the oak and chestnut trees. There is an old ha-ha — a wall intended to keep sheep away from the house -- but they just walk round it. I can see why sheep therapy is increasing in popularity. Some schools have them to help calm children who are anxious or upset.
In autumn, after rain, the hostel grounds also make a great place for a fungi foray. I found so many different species: some were like dried coffee beans stuck to a log while others emerged, brown and sticky, out of the grass or made subtle chalky stripes under peeling bark. Clumps of pointy toadstools were steadily auto-digesting — deliquescing — into ink that was once used for important documents because it was near-impossible to erase.
Thanks to a passing YHA staff member I learned more names: Hoof fungus, Stump puffballs, Candle Snuff fungus, Trooping Funnels, Jelly Ears, Elastic Oysterlings and, best of all, a bracket fungus called Dryad's Saddle. Our daughter used the Seek app to identify them while I consulted some of the natural history books in the hostel's extensive library. As well as the ones about fungi, I liked Freshwater Invertebrates (Waterproof Version).
There is a great choice of walking routes from the door, including the OS map excerpts and directions originally produced for the YHA Festival of Walking. Many visitors take a hike up Mam Tor or Mother Hill (517m), also known as the 'Shivering Mountain' because it's made of shale and prone to landslips. It's good to wrap up warm before ascending: the Mountain Weather Information Service of 30 October described the 'Effect of wind on you?' as being "Mostly small at first before buffeting and wind chill become increasingly considerable."
From the summit one option is to walk along the ridge to Lose Hill, another to return to Castleton village via the towering limestone gorge of Winnats Pass. Over the past year this dramatic landscape has attracted celebrities as diverse as Alan Partridge -- who walks through it in Episode 4 of his recent BBC series -- and rapper Tion Wayne, aka T Whizzy, who filmed a music video there, with his Rolls-Royce.
The hills around Castleton are famous for their caverns, which contain impressive stalagmites and stalactites and examples of the local fluorite, Blue John. This is made into jewellery and translucent bowls: a beautiful one can be found lit up in the small museum in Castleton's Visitor Centre. At Treak Cliff Cavern there's a display of archive publicity material from 1935, when it first opened to the public: "Tucked away under the hill you may see NATURE'S TREASURE SHOW Something to Please! Something Unusual! Something to Remember for a Lifetime!"
We also did a circular walk to and from Hope, which is the location of Castleton's nearest railway station, two miles from the hostel. The beech hangers along the meandering Peakshole stream were colourful even on an overcast day, and there were more sheep grazing in the fields around the cement factory, an important landmark of the Hope Valley; it looks almost like a cathedral when illuminated at night.
In Castleton itself you can visit the impressive Norman ruins of Peveril Castle. There are some ancient garderobes (toilets) which emptied straight into a ravine. A velvet-cloaked English Heritage volunteer told me that once there were plans to flood the entire valley to make a reservoir, though in the end the authorities chose other locations. A former local youth hostel disappeared under the waters of Ladybower Reservoir in 1944, the only remnant being a stone sculpture of a man that can now be found in the current hostel library. YHA's volunteer archivist John Martin has written an interesting history of all the local hostels.
There are several food shops in the village, a good chippy, and an out-of-hours Honesty Hut on Millbridge, en route to the hostel, where I picked up a jar of beetroot and orange chutney and a biography of Elvis. In front of the Methodist Church there's a milk and milkshake vending machine with a photogenic cut-out cow, and at the time of our visit posters advertised a forthcoming Leek Night at a local pub.
One day we visited Derwent Dam of Dambusters fame: a monument commemorates the testing of bouncing bombs there in 1943. The huge reservoir is filled by the rainwater pouring off Kinder Scout, site of the 1932 mass trespass that was a significant milestone in the campaign for the right to roam in the British countryside. A massive thunderstorm with alarming bolts of lightning resulted in a full rainbow over the castellated dam.
On our way home we stopped at Surprise View, which has a tor of balancing stones like the ones on Bodmin Moor, then at E-for-Elizabeth-shaped Hardwick Hall. A local saying goes: "Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall" because it has such huge and numerous windows. Glass was incredibly expensive when it was built, in the 1590s, so these were a symbol of the owner's wealth and status. Today they are heavily curtained to protect the tapestries from fading.
Alan Partridge doesn't really appreciate the mental health benefits of hiking up Mam Tor, but even he is won over by the local ewes and rams. According to the Derbyshire Times, Steve Coogan said: “I literally herded sheep, it wasn't an act! What I enjoyed about it was that Alan's really good at herding sheep, which is not what you’d expect – you’d think he’d make a hash of it. He’s absolutely delighted ... and offers to volunteer for the shepherd ..."
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