What we did last summer
After all the media hype… in our little world, this is a brief account of all that happened since we purchased the Dale.
Honouring The Land
First things first, we came together to honour the land with our prayers and loving intentions.
In Peruvian shamanic traditions, a ‘Despacho’ is a sacred offering in the form of a prayer bundle. Each element that is placed within the beautiful mandala of the Despacho is offered with prayers from those gathered for the ceremony. Every item holds symbolic meaning, calling for the release of certain energies, welcoming blessings and benevolent forces, and ultimately, prayers to return to balance and alignment with our own highest intentions, as well as with Pachamama, our Mother Earth.
In honour of the 22 heart-centred souls who energised the project, it contains 22 rose quartz heart crystals, 22 roses, 22 bay leaf prayer ‘kintus’ plus shells, seeds, sweets and a wooden crucifix depicting Christ in the fields. We placed this into the earth and prayed that we may walk the right path and honour the land that we had been trusted to serve.
Uncovering the Past
Our first project at Cressbrook Dale was the excavation of what we originally thought was a concrete watering hole.
Little did anyone realise that this was a several hundred-year-old traditional limestone reservoir, the kind seen in various farms across the Peak District.
The work took several weeks to complete, with groups coming on site to excavate by hand. The earth we extracted was used to fill the deep holes created by the herd of cows which had previously grazed the site across the Winter.
We are now considering repointing it - so that it will once again hold water.
Restoring the Dry Stone Wall
The past year has seen a huge public media frenzy, reporting on points of concern raised by our neighbouring village and known locally as the ‘SaveCressbrookDale’ campaign. Sadly, the campaign completely neglects to highlight any of the beautiful things our Community has done at Cressbrook Dale.
One such project was the restoration of the tumbledown dry stone wall near the entrance to Litton Frith ~ where members of our Community (plus friends and family) gathered over two days to learn dry stone building skills to restore this section of wall. We would like to honour our friend Dean, a local farmer, who taught us this very useful skill as there are many fallen walls upon our land. We look forward to restoring them all.
Natural Living Waters
One of the beautiful aspects of Cressbrook Dale is its abundance of natural water. The well at the Ravensdale Springs used to provide water for the entire Cressbrook Village before pumped water was made available in the Victorian era. Before we acquired the land, and with the permission of Stanton Estate, a small group of us created a waterway and a pool to gather and honour the waters - which naturally emerge from the limestone rock in various places within the Ravensdale woods. Each Summer we will host our own well dressing/blessing within this Sacred Grove.
Stairway to Heaven
When we first walked Cressbrook Dale in early 2022 the public footpath was a sea of mud and descended into a treacherous, slippery slope. One of our community members took it upon himself to build the steps. These steps were built out of pure love, with the intention of making a dangerous footpath safer for all, not least the elderly members of our Community who have walking problems. We’ve had many people thank us for their installation, as it makes the public footpath far easier and safer to walk.
The Gardening Flashmob
Solly’s Seat is a memorial to a former manager of the Cressbrook Mill who died age 33, and is part of the land we originally owned in Cressbrook Village. It had been sadly neglected, so one Saturday afternoon a group of us decided to spend a few hours clearing the litter from it and weeding the stone floor. From the stench it was clear that it had become something of the local outdoor latrine! We also brought in some beautiful stone pots containing fragrant and colourful roses to soften the space.
Forgotten History
Cressbrook Dale has attracted many interesting visitors and we are super grateful to Andy and Laura who came to do some metal detection earlier this year, finding a treasure trove of fascinating artefacts. They are both also keen historians and researched an old map showing both the limestone reservoir and a building close by, which were here on the land in the 19th century ~ possibly connected with the farming or lead mining which happened here. Their research is testimony to the fact that Cressbrook Dale is not a Museum. It is land that has been lived and worked by mankind for over 50,000 years.
The Teepee Tent
Many visitors to Cressbrook Dale – especially children – marvel at the Tipi, which nestles discreetly in a corner of the land. It’s an incredible sacred space.
Created by Hearthworks in Glastonbury, the teepee was first sited at Cressbrook Dale’s sister Lathkill Dale. When it was put into storage we were given one of the wooden stitches from the entrance and advised to put it on our altar. They said that the Tipi would find us its new home!
12 months later the Tipi was resurrected at Cressbrook Dale.
We created a small winding path down to the Tipi to avoid the grassland being trampled. One of the first gatherings of friends and their children in the Tipi was when it was at Lathkill Dale. It is a real ‘Tardis’ - we’ve even managed to fit 33 people inside !!!
Spot the Difference
The land at Cressbrook Dale is 100% agricultural use farmland. In accordance with our Common Law Rights to access our own land we felt it important to create parking for 3-4 cars. We were concerned that parking on the narrow lanes outside the village may become a nuisance to our neighbours.
A boggy, fly-infested swamp of silage was left by the previous tenant farmer just behind our entrance gate to Litton Frith farm. We thought it would improve both the safety and accessibility of the land for both the owners and the visiting public to fill in the swamp area and lay down limestone gravel.
The process was a little untidy, much as it is when one is decorating a home, but the vision was clear… to mimic the limestone gravel car parking area adjacent to the Ravensdale Cottages which is just a few hundred yards away.
Already grass is growing through the gravel and in time it will all be completely blended in.
