Pigeon Tower

A Good Friday walk up the Pike with Jed and Brian. The day was very hot and had brought out a huge crowd this year. After climbing to the top of Rivington Pike we walked on towards the Dove Tower (or Pigeon Tower as it's more commonly known) which has only recently opened its doors for people to look inside as it's been boarded up for years. We didn't look inside as there was quite a queue but will go back on a quieter day. The Pigeon Tower is as the tip of the Chinese Gardens/Bungalow Grounds which were the idea of Lord Leverhulme as he had his home in the middle of the gardens. A lot of restoration work has been carried out there: major clearing of the pathways, lakes and Summer houses. It's a year since I last walked through here and the progress of the restoration is astounding. It's looking great. The only downside of all of this is that there will be events happening in the gardens...music shows and festivals (on a miniature scale) which is not really what Lord Leverhulme had in mind when he gifted it to the community after his death. Also the wildlife probably won't appreciate these events either. I think Lord Leverhulme might have been smiling down today though to see the people out in the sunshine enjoying this beautiful area. We carried on to the Lower Derbyshires tea rooms which had almost completely sold out of everything but we managed to get drinks and small pots of ice cream. We walked on to the Devil Steps and then back home. I felt shattered, the sun had definitely drained me. Good day.