In search of marvels

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/13/country-diary-search-marvels

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The high limestone country above Hay Dale feels an empty place under a wide sky: just bone-white walls, juicy grass, greedy sheep and crows. So I was pleased to see another walker pulling her boots on, perched on the back of her car, looking anxiously at the overcast sky. Yes, she said, in response to my question, she was local – and up this way often – but she’d never heard of the Marvel Stones. I would have to find them for myself.

I braced myself against the strong breeze – and likely disappointment. My own reading had suggested the stones were less than marvellous; even the name is likely a corruption of “marble”. Now it seemed the locals didn’t bother with them either. With no footpath marked to their location, I approached carefully up a narrow hayfield to see what I could find.

Peak District attractions have long been oversold. When Thomas Hobbes drew up his list of Derbyshire’s seven wonders, De Mirabilibus Pecci, he had more on his mind than tourism, but they proved a draw. As tourism took off, imitators added new wonders to excite the public. Among these were the Marvel Stones, a small, flat expanse of limestone paving – a rarity in Derbyshire, but hardly startling.

Henry Moore, landscape artist and guidebook writer, arrived, like me, on a foul day, 200 years ago. Unlike me, he didn’t find a field full of inquisitive cattle blocking the way. They followed my manoeuvres to avoid them like quicksilver on a tilting tray.

Discouraged, I abandoned my quest and turned back towards Hay Dale. Moore thought the Marvel Stones “not worth the journey”, but he took pleasure from the many swallows on his route home. There were some now, pinned against the breeze or else waiting on a nearby wire fence for the wind to drop, and as I descended the dale, a redstart burst from near a drift of leadwort to find shelter behind an oak – a marvel indeed.