Occasionally I get to go out alone, minus an exuberant three-year-old. And that’s when I head straight for the antiques emporiums, vintage shops or anywhere else with very pretty, old and breakable objects.

Holden Wood Antiques is housed in an old church, surrounded by hills and reservoirs, and boasts two floors of lovely things from secondhand books to kitchenalia, jewellery and linens. As you go through the big, heavy door and escape from the cold Pennine winds you immediately get the aroma of delicious baked things wafting through from the attached tea rooms.

The food is tasty and there’s a range of hot meals, salads and cakes as well as a daily specials board. You can sit and read a book quite happily whilst enjoying a toasted teacake and indulging in some truly wonderful hot chocolate. I’d recommend the dark variety, so good it’s sure to become a regular habit of mine.

After browsing the antiques booths and perhaps making a little purchase or two – there are treasures to found for all budgets – you can pull on your wellies and take a bracing walk around the nearby Calf Hey Reservoir. The perfect way to work off some of that cake!