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When Britain's beaches were inaccessible due to barbed wire and mines during the Second World War, holidays were taken inland. At the time, young Kenneth Hill, of Chaddesden, had never been away, so he seized the opportunity to go the Peak District with his school. More than 60 years on, he recalls every detail of that 'fantastic, adventurous holiday' - as he describes here.

Can anyone remember "holidays at home" during the Second World War? I was a youngster at Nottingham Road senior boys school, Beaufort Street, Derby, at the time.

Because it was wartime, we couldn't travel far, not even to our own coast because they were either barbed wired or mined in case of an invasion.

One year, about 30 of the boys in our class were taken on a week's holiday to Bamford in the Derbyshire Peak District by our geography teacher, "Pop" Allen, and his friend, Sir Roger Curtiss.

It cost £1 5s (£1.25p) to go. All round Derby railway station, from where we set off, there were posters asking "Is your journey really necessary?" As I had never had the opportunity to go on holiday before, I thought it was.

Pop Allen, as everyone called our teacher, was very knowledgeable, especially on Derbyshire locations, wildlife and legends etc.

When we arrived at Bamford, we were taken to the village school where mattresses had been arranged on the floor for us to sleep on.

The ladies from the village institute across the road cooked meals for us which, despite the severe food rationing, were very enjoyable.

With Pop Allen leading our party, we walked through Derwent village, which was being prepared for damming to be turned into the Ladybower Reservoir. All that remained in the valley were stumps of trees, debris from houses and the church. It seemed a very eerie place. The reservoir was completed later and opened by Queen Elizabeth, the mother of our present Queen.

We walked everywhere, up hills, down dales and along river banks where Pop Allen pointed out such things as a water hen's nest with 19 eggs, which we were told was something of a record.

We were also taken to places like Castleton and Hathersage, which I had never seen before. As a special treat, we took a train from Bamford to Mayfield and walked right across Kinder Scout to Edale. My lasting memory of this is of trudging along with our little canvas haversacks, which were not waterproof, in the pouring rain.

By the time we reached Castleton School for our break, the grated raw carrot sandwiches we had been supplied with were such a sodden mess that all of us were queuing up to secretly dispose of them down the toilet. When it came to my turn, the toilet was overflowing with them.

On another day, we visited Tideswell church to see some fine wood carvings done by village craftsmen. Then it was on to Hathersage to see the grave of Little John of Robin Hood fame, whose bow and arrow were on display inside the church. To us it was a fantastic, adventurous holiday. Regretfully, we had no means of recording it because no-one had a camera.

Arriving at Chesterfield railway station to come home, I remember Pop Allen standing on the platform as our train pulled in and shouting: "Get in boys, any way you can!" That was because the train was crowded with soldiers. They pulled us into the train through the windows and sat us on the tables or kitbags. One soldier even produced a bar of chocolate for us to share, a luxury that we could only dream of.

This holiday remains in my mind in detail more than any holiday I have ever had, and I have visited many countries in Europe and America.

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County:  Derbyshire

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