Having successfully taken photos of Wingfield Manor we cut up through Crich, noted the crowds at the Tramway Museum and discovered the Crich Memorial was closed. Looking at the website on my return I found it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. I didn’t know that.
In Matlock we noticed crowds in the paddling pool and on the boating lake, A hula hoop, if thrown at random, would have dropped round two or three people, more if you;d aimed at the ice cream queue. The cricket club and football club were both open for use as parking at £3 for the day. That’s very reasonable – at Nottingham RUFC we used to charge £5 for football parking because we were close to Nottingham Forest. It makes a useful contribution to club funds. I notice that the football club charges spectators £10 to watch. Seems like a lot of money. but maybe I’m biased. I’m sure it’s cheap by football standards but it seems like a lot for 90 minutes of semi-pro Level 7 football.
So, knowing that Derbyshire was likely to be crowded due to sun and school holidays we pressed on to Eyam, intending to visit Eyam Hall in the famous plague village.
As you may have been able to predict, both pathetically small car parks were full, street parking was difficult and the nearest public car park was too far away for a man with arthritic feet. We will go back later in the year (hopefully before the school holidays start in earnest) to have a look at the Craft Centre and the Tea Room. We might have a look at the historical and cultural bits if we have time between cakes and retail.
After a certain amount of random travel, failing to find convenient parking for photography and being hassled by lorries, we found the bookshop at Brierlow Bar (again). The tea, as you can see in the featured photograph was a nice, bright, orange colour, though the table was overburdened with foliage and the cafe as a whole was deficient in cake. If you look closely you can see Julia’s amber earings (as mentioned in a previous post) and her new amber necklace.
Talking of tea, we went home via Chesterfield, partly to avoid a long section of roadworks at Matlock and partly to go shopping. This isn’t really part of the travelogue, but I do want to record that TESCO’s cafe had no cream for the cream teas. They did offer squirty cream out of an aerosol as an alternative and I tried not to let out an anguished cry. Judging by the reaction of people around me, I did not succeed.
Autocorrect has kicked in. Teamwork Museum or Tramway? 🙂
Tramway, though I can’t blame autocorrect, just fingers like a bunch of bananas and substandard editing. 🙂
No problem. I know that area well as I was born close to Chesterfield.
🙂 The area is full of interest, one day I should go into it further.
No real cream in a cream tea? That is a terrible thought! 🙂
Even days later I don’t have words to describe the full horror…
A most intriguing portrait. We steer clear of beaches during the grockle season because we know we won’t get into the car parks.
Good plan. We try to do the same but half-term often catches us out.
You are right about football prices. Teams of complete unknowns in the 4th tier want their £30 or so and this has now filtered down to Matlock Town and their level of football. I voted with my feet years ago, around the time when Arnold Town were thrown off the park near the market.
I think a number of sports have lost their grip on reality regarding ticket prices.
I have never let aerosol cream sully my lips.
You are a good judge – once tasted, never forgotten! Yuk!
😀
Aerosol cream! A loud scream is perfectly in order. My brother like Eyam a lot and often goes there.
I haven’t been for nearly 30 years – can’t think why, because it’s so interesting.
Tesco’s AND Costa? Sorry expectations is a word that is not in the allowed list if you insist on crossing the threshold of their café 🙂
I am trying to be sympathetic, then I lost interest thinking of the sadness of the situation 🙁
Some of us are here to give meaning to the word “average”. 🙂
We can’t all be top food bloggers like you. 😛
Lol you would be unsurprised as to how far I fall down the ladder, I am afraid of heights by the way
🙂
No cake in a tea shop? No cream with your cream tea? What is the world coming to?
As you can see from the photograph, Costa have taken over at TESCO in Chesterfield. I won’t try to link this to falling standards, but it may be worth considering… 🙂
Aerosol whipped cream is never a substitute for the real thing.
I knew I could rely on you to understand. The serving staff just looked at me as if I was strange for refusing. 🙂
It chills my heart just to think about it.
Dreadful stuff – more like shaving foam than food. Not that I know much about shaving foam…