At this time of year, the quaint little villages in my county are very pretty, almost "chocolate box" like. So, today, we visited Tideswell, a village in the middle of the Peak District in Derbyshire, UK. In the village, there are various holiday lets, including bed and breakfast, self-catering stone cottages, and nearby campsites. Even though I don't live too far from Tideswell, I wouldn't say no to a weekend here.

After five years, our resident swans have finally had a brood of six fluffy cygnets! Within just two days of hatching, the cygnets were already swimming on the pond, following their mum.Every time I look out of my kitchen window, there's a line of people admiring the new arrivals and taking photos. I think all of the village will be keeping an eye on the cygnets, until they're old enough to fly the nest.

We decided to go for coffee at the "Adventure Bikes and Cycle Café" that is situated in a shopping and leisure village in the countryside. It's a café we've never visited before, so I was really looking forward to it. As the notice states, the café is cyclist and dog friendly and every Tuesday there is a chance for customers to meet and greet friendly dogs and their owners in the café. All looking good so far ...

The resident village swans have been trying for five years to have cygnets, with no luck. The villagers were hoping that this was going to be the year the eggs would hatch. The pond is just across the road from me and I've watched the female swan through my kitchen window for the past six weeks sitting on her eggs. Mr Swan was looking on ...

Today, I visited Poolsbrook Country Park. There are usually many birds here, but I was surprised to see even more this morning. They were everywhere!I decided to walk around the lake. I could see a cormorant in the middle, but it was too far away to get a decent photograph.

Down at the local nature reserve it was a bit too warm. I don't like walking in the full glare of the sun as it's quite draining.There were lots of yellow poppies blowing in the wind. They are self setters so they get everywhere.