A Stroll through the Park

Yesterday we stopped at Matlock on our way over to Chesterfield to visit family. We parked at the back of the shops on Dale Road and walked over the footbridge into Hall Leys Park. From this footbridge you can see along the river Derwent to the old stone road bridge which has recently been relieved of most of its heavy traffic by the building of a new bypass.

The park itself was looking very well kept and pretty, and although I'm not a huge fan of municipal planting schemes I had to admit that the flower beds had been well thought out and the colours were stunning in the morning light.

Here is a close up of the pink bedding flowers around the fountain, I'm not sure what they are but they looked very pretty, almost like little pom poms.

The colours of the tulips had been mixed to good effect, all contrasting nicely with each other.

I thought this bed of blue pansies was particularly colourful. I'm very fond of blue flowers, as well as white ones.

We walked up by the clock tower and crossed over the road where we went into the newsagents - the last building on the terrace you can see.

We bought a newspaper and wandered into the back of the shop where the owners have a little cafe overlooking the river. We sat in the bow window and sipped coffee and generally let the world pass us by for a little while. The photo below was taken from the window of the cafe/newsagents and you can see the other side of the old road bridge.

Then it was back across the park which benefits from superb views of the hills around the town. You can't have a town park without a band stand, can you?

As we walked back through the park we could see Riber Castle up on the hill. We headed back to the car by the river and through the sensory garden over the footbridge.

On a cool April morning early in the day what could be nicer than a stroll through an attractive park, a good cup of coffee in pleasant surroundings and Saturday's newspaper full of interesting supplements to read?