Blogtober - Day Fourteen

It looked as if it was going to be a lovely morning so we decided to have a day out in Bakewell, one of our favourite places.  Paul wanted a new woolly jumper for the winter and we thought it was just the place to get one.  It takes about an hour to get there so first thing we wanted was a coffee.

Of course now we are home I'm tired so just a short post today with a few words and photos taken as we wandered around.

Above Bath Gardens

The Grade 1 listed stone arch bridge which spans the River Wye in the town.

 The five arch bridge dates from the 14th century and is made of ashlar gritstone.

 Above and below - views from either side of the bridge down the river.  I remember a picnic many years ago on the banks of the river to the right of the photo when a group of friends and various of their children gathered for a huge picnic.  It was one of those enchanted days still remembered.

Below the other well known bridge in town 

 

 is famous or infamous for its love locks.

Above the Riverside Garden which houses a sensory garden, we sat and had our sandwich lunch in here after a succesful jumper purchase.

 Above and below the Rutland Recreation Ground.

Again some happy memories from childhood as this was one of three destinations for a Sunday afternoon outing.  It was the furthest away from home.  The next nearest was Matlock Bath and the nearest  to home was Clumber Park. 

 Bakewell Church in the distance taken from the recreation ground.

We have flu jabs tomorrow morning - I guess there will be a queue outside the surgery.

 

A Festival of Trees

Recently, whilst on the travels I mentioned in my last post, we dropped into Bakewell in Derbyshire where there was a wonderful Christmas Tree Festival in All Saints church.

Luckily it was a bright and sunny morning as we walked up to the church. 

Inside it was warm and welcoming even the church cat was waiting at the door.  It was of course trying to get inside where there were lots of trees to climb.

My camera took lovely photos out in the open but some of my interior shots were dismal.  There were also lots of people inside but I manged to get a few photos and below are some of my favourites.

The tree above was by the bell ringers of All Saints commemorating all the bell ringers lost during the first world war.

 Decorated by Hassop Church Choir

 Christian Aid working to help restore dignity out of poverty.

 Bakewell Visitor Centre

 The Prayer Tree

 Above and below......

... by A J Welldressers

 Above and below Bakewell U3A Craft Group

 Bakewell Alms Houses and Bakewell Town Guild

 Methodist Junior School

 I loved this one, all the details with sugar mice, goose eggs and robins in watering cans by The Georgian Sweet Shop

 Above and below a selection of tree to be found in the sanctuary.

Tiroler Stuberl is an Austrian coffee shop in the town.

The Peak Advertiser and Wee Dram

 Bird Song

 Above the Family History Group, Brides of Bakewell and Bakewell in Bloom.

Just down the road from Bakewell is Haddon Hall where we spent a couple of hours  in the land of fairy tales.  

 I'll take you there in my next post.

At Bakewell

Having spent two or three days around home and not travelling very far we decided that if it was going to be dryer and brighter today that we would venture out a bit further.  The weather on the local breakfast news looked favourable so off we went to one of our favourite places the little town of Bakewell in Derbyshire.  I've taken you here in several posts before but it is somewhere I never tire of and I hope you don't either.

We were in search of a warm, winter shirt for Paul and new jar labels for the jars of  chutney we made over the weekend.  Dear friends from Nottingham visited us for lunch last Friday and brought more apples from their garden with them. You may remember I wrote about making plum and apple jam with the apples they gave us a few weeks ago, this time we made a spiced apple relish and some apple and prune chutney. 

We had a lovely wander around the town and I took a few photos along the way.

 The water in the River Wye was very high as we crossed over the bridge from the car park on the other side.

 

 It was frothing and cascading over the little water falls as it travelled at quite a rapid pace through the town, past Haddon Hall on its way to the village of Rowsley where it joins the River Derwent.

  It always seems that little bit colder down by the water, where the gulls dip and dive and look for food from passers by.

The metal bridge is festooned with love locks, I had read somewhere that these may have to be removed as they are undermining the structure of the bridge.  For the moment they are still there.

 In the centre of Bakewell are lots of little alleyways and courtyards full of interesting shops.

 We always enjoy mooching around them looking in the shop windows and sometimes venturing inside.

 We managed to get some labels from a kitchen shop

I bet this cafe looks lovely all lit up in the early evening.  I wouldn't want to sit outside  at this time of year though.

 Apparently Hulley's of Baslow have been offering bus services in the Peak District and South Yorkshire since 1921.

 The church of All Saints stands high above the main part of the town.  I wrote about it in a post on 26th August 2013 (link here)  It looks from the scaffolding around the tower as if restoration work is being done.

Many shop windows were decked out with Christmas displays and I was drawn to them like a child to the window of a toy shop.

 

These bears were my favourites standing in the door of a clothing shop.  We went in, we bought a winter shirt for Paul at an eye watering cost but as he's been looking for months for a warm, checked casual shirt that was two inches longer in the sleeve we felt it was worth every penny.  Most shops now stock only standard sizes and those that do offer a longer sleeve length only produce them in blue, grey or white cotton for business and working purposes rather than every day casual and leisure wear.

After that it was time to set out for home, we called at the bookshops at both Hassop and Brierlow Bar on the way home.  Hassop was heaving, mostly in the cafe section, but Brierlow Bar was quiet and peaceful much more conducive for looking at books.

Water Everywhere

Well it's just like me to decide to write a 'watery' post on a day that rain is teeming down outside.  I struggled against the gusting wind and driving rain to get the wheelie bins out this morning.  Our blue bins are for plastics and they are so lightweight that most people's down the street are blowing all over the road.  I've managed to wedge ours with the paper bin the contents of which are more like papier mache now as the lid blew off overnight.

The garden looks rather forlorn - our two carved pumpkins still sit near the birdbath and the soggy lawn is covered with leaves, several rocket sticks from the weekend's fireworks and the remains of a Chinese lantern.  I watched several wafting in the air and travelling quite quickly towards us on Saturday night - one of them must have landed in the garden.

I took this first picture the weekend before last.  We drove out to Bakewell on the Saturday and the ducks, geese and gulls were as usual on the river crowded around the pedestrian bridges which go over to the car parks and cattle market.  It was very busy as there was a farmer's market too.

Yesterday we went for a walk around the lake at Trentham; in fact we walked around it twice!  We walked round one way, stopped for coffee and toasted tea-cakes and then walked back round the opposite way.  I took a few photos of the reflections on the lake.

The ducks were watching the swans dipping their heads into the water - and popping up with their beaks  covered in weed.

The reflection of the clouds looks like a smoky mist on the water.

Peering through the branches

What a difference a day makes!  I'm so glad we managed to get out into the fresh air and sunshine for a long walk as it looks as if the rest of the week is going to be very wet and windy.