Tag Archives: Derbyshire

Sunday Once More

We’ve been out today for lunch in Derbyshire – meeting Number One son for lunch in Castleton, which is roughly half way between us. It was a very pleasant drive and an excellent lunch. Though we were spaced out in the dining room Derbyshire was a bit crowded at times and it’s easy to see how the virus spreads even when we are supposed to be being careful.

Everyone seems more chatty these days, as if the lockdown has made us more open to talking to strangers. It’s probably the only good thing to come from it. Well, maybe not quite – I have also broken my habit of ordering takeaway meals and buying supermarket sandwiches.

I could tell you more but I’m always quite reticent about discussing, or photographing other people for the blog. Part of me doesn’t want to take responsibility for talking about other people, and another part of me thinks that their stories are for them to tell. I would make a very poor autobiographer because of this. However, as I have had a dull, boring and even dreary life, I would make a poor autobiographer for many other reasons too.

View of Castleton, Derbyshire

Tonight I had another rejection. It was for haiku, and I tend to expect this as they are not my strongest suit. I fact, I have only ever had one accepted and this was probably out of charity.

It was a very nice rejection and the editor thanked me for submitting them, told me they had enjoyed all my haiku but had not, in this case selected any for the magazine. There was a suspicion of a double-edged compliment when they told me that they hoped to read some of them in other publications soon. That could be genuine good wishes for success, or just a coded way of telling me to go away and bother someone else.

Being cynical, I checked back a couple of years (I have, as you know, a large store of old emails) and found that this was exactly the same rejection message I had received in 2018.

My suspicion about a coded message is taking a more solid form.

Looking on the bright side, I have had three sets of haiku returned, which allows me to mix and match and send them out to a couple of other editors. As with the previous recipients I am sure they will all be very grateful.

View from Castleton, Derbyshire

The One about the Day Before Yesterday

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Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

Proverbs 31:10

What version? The King James Version, of course. Don’t get me started on that, the new translations always annoy me and I’m only a whisker away from posting links to Wycliffe, Tyndale and Coverdale. Ooops!

In terms of catching up, it looks like I’m getting there.

This post is about Wednesday, which nearly brings me up to date.

Courting Pigeons

Julia had a routine appointment at the doctor yesterday and I, selfishly, went back to sleep instead of taking her down. However, I redeemed myself by driving down and waiting in the car park. The day was bright, the traffic was light (at our end of town) and Derbyshire beckoned.

By ten to nine we were in Derbyshire and by half past we were in McDonald’s making inroads into a Sausage and Egg McMuffin meal. It was an interesting McDonald’s as it appeared to double up as a drop in centre for local people who liked to talk about their problems in a loud voice. As Julia said after we escaped, it’s not very relaxing to sit there, but you can see how it fulfils a local need. Loneliness is a growing problem, and eating at McDonald’s seems to be the modern solution. As funding is generally being cut for things like community projects it’s good to see somewhere for neighbourliness to flourish.

On the other hand, I don’t need all the details of bereavement, varicose veins and family rows…

Duck Feeding – a timeless pastime

After that it was off to the jeweller in Bakewell to buy the pendant I could have bought last week if Julia had been able to make her mind up. It was, she said, too expensive. However, as I pointed out, and quoted at the beginning of the post, a good woman has a price above rubies, and this was a lot cheaper than something with rubies in it.

I was going to travel up on Monday but a late finish, an Amber Weather Warning and the need to be at the coin club meeting all stacked up to put me off.

Pigeons were strutting, Long Tailed Tits were pinging and a Robin called. I feel that Spring is on the way. It was a good day to be alive.

If you look carefully there is a Long Tailed Tit in the tree

With the pendant secured, we set off in search of books and cake. That will be covered in another post, as I need to get to work now.

A Robin in Bakewell – February 2020

Scone Chronicles XXVIII – Tagg Lane Dairy

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We’ve been here once before, though on that visit we just bought raw milk, as we’d already had tea and cake at the bookshop down the road.

Coffee and Walnut Cake

Although there’s no scientific basis for believing raw milk is good for you, I did feel a bit better after drinking the last lot and thought I’d have some more. When reading up on it I was surprised to find that it’s completely banned in Scotland, and many other countries.

Strange how you can buy cigarettes or alcohol from the supermarket but raw milk is heavily controlled.

Anyway, back to the review.

Tea, cake and milk in a proper bottle

Tagg Lane Dairy is a working farm in the Derbyshire countryside and has a slightly stronger smell of cows than is normal at a tourist destination. Apart from fresh air it has raw milk, organic burgers and a very nice cafe.

The cafe is quite new and is very clean and unfussy. It avoids the modern curse of being cluttered with tables made from floorboards and various industrial surplus and is far better for that. I don’t want to eat in a workshop I want to eat in a cafe.

The menu seemed to be a bit limited, though I didn’t look too hard at the time. It seemed to offer three sorts of cake and mince pies, but it may do more. It had Victoria sponge, Lemon Drizzle cake and Coffee and Walnut cake. To be honest, you really don’t need more.

They also have plenty of ice cream, or maybe gelato. I’m not quite sure of the difference, but it was too cold for either of them.

Tagg Lane Dairy

To be honest, the best bit wasn’t the excellent cake or the nice clean cafe. It wasn’t even the view (we sat outside so I could take some photos of the views). It was the staff. They were cheerful, efficient and more besides. I’m going to have to use the word “lovely” here. It’s a high praise, and in danger of being gushing, but they deserve it.

Julia says the blank spot in the middle reminds her of something off CSI – the murder of an innocent cake

So, to sum up, a nice simple stop for tea, cake, ice cream and raw milk. Lovely staff, a pleasant experience and something to look forward to next time I take a trip to Derbyshire.

A List of Things I will Probably Do

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We’ve done enough today to give me the material for several posts.

We rose late, which is not unusual, and won’t be mentioned again.

After that we had breakfast at Sainsbury’s. That will provide material for a blog post.

Sainsbury’s Arnold, Notts

The journey into Derbyshire, with a detour and two queues may well rate a mention, though maybe not a post on its own. In fact I may as well mention it now. Having a choice of routes, I decided to go via South Wingfield.

Unfortunately, someone had had an accident at the junction and the road was blocked. I ended up using a lane I’ve never used before, despite 30 years of travelling in the area. It was a pleasant diversion, though the fact that it had grass growing down the middle should have been a warning that it was going to be a bit narrow. We met eight cars coming the opposite way, probably diverted by the accident because I doubt that it sees eight cars a day on most days. Most of the drivers were women, and most of them seemed to be preserving the chariot driving traditions of Boadicea.

At Matlock we had to queue, due to weight of traffic. I hadn’t expected it to be so bad, as I was thinking that people would probably still be on holiday. Maybe they were on holiday, and had decided to spend the day in a traffic jam in a picturesque old town.

After that we joined a queue to get through Bakewell. See my comments on Matlock. The only difference was that it was market day and the queue was longer and slower.

At Brierlow Bar we visited the increasingly disappointing bookshop. People who like their reviews laced with sarcasm may like this one.

Grim view from the Bookshop

The third visit of the day was to Tagg Lane Dairy for raw milk. While we were there we had a cup of tea and a slice of cake. There will be a review later. I was tempted by the gelato but I thought I’d wait until the Spring.

Finally, we went home. The traffic on the outskirts of Nottingham was very light, so maybe my thoughts on people going away were correct in this case.

Sunset at Langley Mill

I also managed to get a few photographs, having read an article of landscape photography last night. I am hoping to use them for this series of posts, as I could do with some new photos. They aren’t particularly good, but you have to start somewhere.

I used one of my old cameras because I still can’t remember what all the buttons do on the new one.

Bad Day in Bakewell (and Brierlow Bar)

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Well, it wasn’t actually a bad day, but when we went to the car park to leave I decided to use the toilet. This is what I found.

Sign at Bakewell, Derbyshire

It would have been nice for them to have put up a big sign I could have seen earlier. Then I’d have been able to plan better.

Plan B, because I couldn’t be bothered to walk back into town, was to hang on until we got to our next stop – Brierlow Books.

The toilet bit of the shop visit went well, though there was a queue. There was a queue last time we called too – suggesting the facilities aren’t keeping up with the increasing number of customers. The book buying bit was a disaster, with nothing that caught my eye. So was the plan to buy a nice card for Julia’s sister’s birthday, as they no longer stock the cards we like. The whole place was congested and the two staff at the desk were offhand, to say the least, one to the point of rudeness, when Julia went to pay. This has never happened before – the staff (whatever I may think about the direction the shop is taking) have always been extremely pleasant over the years.

However, even this couldn’t spoil an enjoyable day. In fact, by falling short the bookshop cheered me up – I love it when predictions of doom come true.

You’ll have to read the next post to see why I was happy.

Butterflies, Curries and Clerihews

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We went to Derbyshire today. Despite being a Bank Holiday it wasn’t crowded and we managed to buy Julia the shoes she needed for the Maltese trip. We also bought some books and ice-cream.

We saw half a dozen Orange Tips and a pair of Brimstones. It really is looking like a good year for both species – I don’t remember seeing as many as this before.

On our return home we scurried round, changed and went for a birthday curry with my fellow shop workers and a few customers. It was a good night, and unlike last time, I was on time (just!), parked across the road and didn’t get rained on.

Yes, for those of you who may be wondering, I am now 60. That’s the “three score years” done with – just the next ten to worry about now.

I’m now going to write some poetry as part of my 200 poems in a fortnight challenge. Don’t worry, I won’t be subjecting you to my efforts, unless I write more limericks or clerihews. I seem to remember I was supposed to be writing more clerihews.

Saturday, books and snow

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Saturday stretched ahead, with nothing to do and nobody to do it with (Julia was at work as usual). It was a lovely day, not at all suitable for staying in doing housework, and so I decided that a visit to a bookshop sounded good.

When does a visit to a bookshop ever not sound good?

View from the bookshop

Bookshop – Brierlow Bar

View from Brierlow Bar

There’s an element of irony in driving 40 miles to look at books on nature and sustainability, but I can live with that. I can live with most things that allow me to visit a bookshop. Anyway, I’m giving up meat two days a week, grow my own veg and make compost so I’ll allow myself a little backsliding.

It was a patchy journey, mixing sunshine with overcast skies. It improved steadily until I reached Cromford and turned off on the A5012. It’s a minor road, as you can guess from the number. It also runs through a narrow wooded valley, which makes it picturesque in summer (possibly even “bosky”). In winter, it has a tendency to shelter snow and ice in the shadows.

It is known locally as the Via Gellia as it was built in the 18th century by the Gell famiy. They are said to have built it around 1790 to connect their lead mines to the new smelter at Cromford, though it may have been built to serve their quarries as early as 1720. It still has quarries along its length, and large lorries can be a bit of a hazard at times.

Part way up there’s a lay-by with several dozen bird feeders. Someone has obviously made a lot of effort to make and maintain the feeding station. The light was going by the time I stopped, so I couldn’t get any decent photographs of anything that moved, but I did see a variety of birds – Chaffinches, Great tits, Blue Tits, a Coal Tit and a Goldcrest. Somebody is doing good work here.

Bird feeders Via Gallia, Cromford

Bird feeders, Cromford

Bird feeders – Via Gellia

The bookshop, for once, let me down. Stock has been moved and the nature section seems smaller. I don’t like it when things change. Doesn’t make it a bad bookshop, just one with a cafe, a smaller nature section and a sense of panic when I can’t find things where I normally find them. It will be better next time.

If it isn’t better next time I will have to develop an interest in military history or art, or even the birds of countries I will never visit. There are many ways of working round a situation.

The photographs were taken using my old camera, please ignore the black splodge in the top right corner. As you can see, as I progressed in the journey (and gained height) it became more wintry.

Peak District

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Life after the Care Farm