XIII 

 THE MIDLANDS 



ON neither of our previous journeys had we touched 

 the Midland Counties of England, so from Dumfries 

 we came south into Derbyshire without halting until 

 we reached our next farm on the high limestone plateau 

 that lies between Buxton and Ashbourne. There are 

 few districts in England that have undergone less 

 change during this last century of unrest ; the farms 

 have descended from father to son in many cases the 

 line can be traced for two hundred years and we 

 cannot suppose that the farming methods have under- 

 gone much alteration for a long period. 



The countryside has a character all its own, one that 

 stamps itself on the secret affections of those who are 

 brought up in its lonely farmhouses. A bare, green 

 country, generally above the 1000 feet contour line, 

 cut up into vivid patterns by a profusion of white stone 

 walls, here and there a little eminence a bank swells 

 up and may be broken by an equally white terrace of 

 the prevailing limestone. The only trees are a few 

 sycamores round the farmhouses or the villages ; and 

 though the rainfall is considerable, nearly all the water 

 flows underground, the young Dove being the only 

 visible stream, crystal clear, as all limestone waters are. 

 A little farther south it enters the narrow gorge it has 

 cut for itself Beresford Dale, with the little fishing 



