A Castle No More

A favourite walk in spring is a loop between Hartington and Longnor villages in the White Peak, through the Manifold and Dove valleys. The landscape of undulating limestone hills is covered at this time with buttercups as far as your eye can see with brilliant flashes of white and pink hawthorn flowers that match the shining drystone walls. Not far from the hamlet of Crowdicote (with its handy pub) is Pilsbury Castle, a ruin that still shows clear remains of a Norman motte & bailey. The view above shows the picturesque limestone outcrop overlooking the remains, a favourite picnic vantage, whose triangular shape mirrors the pyramidal Parkhouse and Chrome hills in the distance.