Books and Baskets

 On Wednesday we had a lovely day out when we met up with old friends from Beeston, Nottingham at the village of Cromford in Derbyshire. (I mention Nottingham as there is also a Beeston in Cheshire, not so many miles away)   Cromford is a great place to meet up being about halfway between their home and ours.

Cromford is most famous for its industrial history and heritage.  It's two mills - Arkwright's Mill and the later Masson Mill - both are open for visits, although perhaps seasonal in the case of the latter. The village is also known for its canal side walks and I've taken you to these places many times over the years I've been writing this blog.  In fact my very first post was about Dab Chicks on the Cromford Canal. 

On this visit we stayed in the centre of the village.  One of it's main attraction is, of course, Scarthin Books - link to their website.  Again I've written about the shop before.  I love its higgledy-piggledy rooms, creaky stairs and overloaded bookshelves also the café hidden behind them. 

After morning coffee there we spent ages looking at the books.  Our friends bought some books but this time we didn't make any purchases.  

When we visited  earlier this year I bought a Persephone book. Here is a link to the post I wrote in January. I always love their bright window boxes.

After a leisurely lunch at The Boat Inn went in search of the basket makers - link to their website.

They are based at the Water Mill on Water Lane across the mill pond from the bookshop.

There were lots of lovely baskets in the retail area.  

Our friends wanted to enquire about basket repairs as they had an old beloved basket that had a broken handle.

All too soon it was time to say farewell and set off for home. 

Twenty

 On Monday 14th March 2005, I hit the publish button on my first ever post on this blog.  Twenty years have passed and I'm still writing posts although not as frequently as I did back then.  Also today there are far more photos than words as digital photography has made it so much easier to add them to a post.

My first post was called 'Dab Chicks Galore' and was about our seeing them during a walk along the Cromford Canal.  Recently we walked along the canal looking for Dab Chicks or Little Grebes but we didn't find any.  Is this a sign of the times?  

The canal was covered in places by a blueish green algae, although we saw a few Mallards and Canada Geese and the occasional Moorhen and Coot.

It was quite cold as we walked along with a slight mizzle in the air.  Above is the area near the Wharf shed where the Dab Chicks used to congregate.

Above High Peak Junction

Leawood Pump House

Aqueduct Cottage

I am so grateful for all those people who visit here and read my ramblings, especially to all those who leave comments.  Some of you have been visiting for a long time, some more recently.  Thank you. Lots of bloggers have now stopped writing for one reason or another.  I'm still in touch with two or three bloggers via face book and other media even though they no longer have blogs anymore.  I've been lucky to meet up with a few of them over the years. Others have just disappeared or moved on.  Some are no longer with us.

I had toyed with the idea of not writing here anymore once I'd reached the anniversary but amazingly I still enjoy blogging so I will continue for a little while longer.   

All for now.  Take care.

A Stop on the Way Home

In my last post I hoped that snow or fog wouldn't affect our journey and thankfully we had neither.  Lots of heavy frost though.

 The day of the funeral was cold and dry and the sun came out to shine through the windows of the chapel at the crematorium. Snow had been forecast for later the next day so we decided to go straight home after breakfast.

The golden stag was outside the East Midlands Designer Outlet which was on the opposite side of the road to our hotel.  We had a wander around the shops just as it was getting dark before going back to the hotel for an evening meal.

On Saturday morning we stopped in Cromford for a short walk around the village rather than down by the Mill and canal.  It was so cold.

Above and below Cromford Mill Pond.

We were headed for a favourite book shop. I've written posts about it a few times over the years.  Hard to take in that I'll have been blogging for twenty years in March of this year.  Where has all that time gone?

Inside it felt warm and we were greeted with a friendly welcome.

I treated myself to a book I'd wanted for ages, I found a new copy but the member of staff who greeted us heard our conversation and came to say that she had a second hand copy of the same book which was much reduced and that the previous owner seemed hardly to have looked at it.  She thought it would find a good home with me. How kind and thoughtful.

It is a Persephone publication Long Live Great Bardfield: the Autobiography of Tirzah Garwood.  Tirzah Garwood was a wood engraver and artist and a member of the Great Bardfield group of artists.  She was also the wife of the noted painter, wood engraver and book illustrator Eric Ravilious who is one of my favourite artists.  The other favourites are Gwen John and Dame Laura Knight.

 

The bad weather closed in just a few hours after we got home and we woke up to a white dusting of snow all over the garden.  

We are now at home for a few days and without an oven as, for some reason, it stopped working on New Year's Day.  We have a separate hob and a microwave so that will keep us going until the electrician comes on Wednesday evening. He seems confident that it can be mended.

Belated best wishes to you all for the New Year.

Water Voles

 In a comment on my last post Caroline from Ragged Robin blog reminded me that as well as seeng Little Grebes on the Cromford Canal in Derbyshire we had also seen Water Voles. 

I didn't think I'd taken any photos of them as I had a small camera then but I knew Paul had taken a few photos.  After a quick trawl back through photos stored on a hard drive he found his photos.

Here they are.  

Such beautiful little creatures.  As these photos were taken on 28th February 2008 these particular ones will be long gone, but not forgotten.  It was such a joy to see them.  

 

Water Voles are red listed as they have become an endangered species.

Here is more information from The Wildlife Trust website

 

Along the Cromford Canal - Part Two

After sitting at the side of the canal with a warming mug of coffee watched over by our little friend (see my last post) who was probably hoping in vain for a crumb or two we went to explore the workshop and engine nearby.

Above a brake van or guard's van.  The guard would be on the lookout in case the brakes had to be used.  You can clamber onto the van and see inside.

The buildings have been recorded as the world's oldest surviving railway workshop.

 The workers here looking after the nearby railway since c1830.  The railway was known as the Cromford and High Peak railway and was built to transport minerals between the Cromford Canal and the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge.

The railway line was finally closed in the 1960s and in 1971 the line was bought by the Peak Park planning board and Derbyshire County Council and turned into the High Peak Trail.

 

After looking around the railway sheds we wandered back towards the wharf and crossed the road for a quick visit (time was running out on our parking ticket) to Cromford Mill.

We visited the Mill shop and also the craft shop. We had a mooch around one or two of the Antique shops there.

There were guides in costume for those going inside the mill.  No photographs as they were all leading groups of children who were visiting in half term.

I know I've taken you inside the mill before but I can't find the post to link to.  I'll edit this post if I find it.  In the meantime here is a - link - to the Mill's website for more information.

 

There were lots of fascinating objects both inside and ouside the shops.

I loved all the baskets.  I have three wicker baskets, including a Norfolk potato basket,  which years ago were well used but I never use them now other than for storing things in on top of the wardrobe.  I remember having a basket for Domestic Science at school as we had to take ingredients into school and travel back on the school bus with the finished product.

You hardly ever see baskets used now. In the late 1960s I used to carry a soft basket in stead of a handbag.  Gone are the days of shopping baskets, wicker shopping trolleys and baskets on the front of bicycles.  Now we carry bags for life recycled from milk bottles, tote bags or back packs and yet baskets will last for many years.  A couple of mine must be at least forty years old.  We do take one of them out occasionally for picnics.

 

I'm always fascinated by old bottles and jars and the details on them.  One of my ancestors was born in Staveley where the family had moved for work.  Some of the family members stayed there others returned to their original home or moved elsewhere.  They seemed to move around quite a bit in a smallish area over the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire borders.

All for now.

Along the Cromford Canal - Part 1

It was a cool, slightly damp morning as we set out along the Cromford Canal starting at Cromford Wharf.

It was quiet around the wharf and along the towpath, the car park was nearly empty.  We didn't see another soul for ages.

 

The Canada Geese decided they were going to make a fuss and palaver with much honking and low flying and skimming of the water until they had all settled their differences.

Calm returned for a short while

We spotted what we thought was a Whitethroat (John at By Stargoose and Hanglands has pointed out that it's actually a Stonechat) thank you John.  This isn't a good photo but I've used it to show the molehills behind.  Has anyone else noticed that there seems to be far more molehills around this year?  Everywhere we go when out walking we are seeing far more than normal.  Has the last year been good for moles?  The only time I've seen a live mole was, funnily enough, on Nefyn beach in Wales.  It was running along at the side of lumps of earth brought down by a landslide from the cliffs above. It disappeared very quickly.

We also spotted a couple of snoozing Dab Chicks or Little Grebes not far from where we first spotted Water Voles.  We didn't see any voles this time but we did see a few more Dab Chicks.  We could hear their distinctive whistle as they dived for food.

 

They were hunting and diving in pairs.  The male has a reddish throat.

 

We reached High Peak Junction where you can visit the oldest railway workshop and sit with a cup of coffee.  We decided to walk further along the canal and then come back for refreshments later.

 

The Leawood Pump House across the other side of the canal.

 

At the bridge we crossed the canal to look at the grade II listed 19th century Aqueduct Cottage.  There is a lot of repair and renovation work being done.  The old lock keeper's cottage fell into disrepair and developers wanted to purchase it but volunteers from the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust raised enough money to outbid them and for the last three years they have been working tirelessly to bring it back to it's former glory.

Work was going on as we paused to look at how the cottage had changed since we last saw it.  The cottage was built in 1802 by Peter Nightingale who was a great uncle of Florence Nightingale who grew up nearby.  He was the main financier for Richard Arkwright who built the mills at Cromford and later at Masson. 

 

The cottage as it looked when we photographed it back in September 2018.  It was described in 1884 by local author Alison Uttley.

 

'The cottage was the dividing place between work and play, between fairy tale and reality and we were bound for fairy tale'
 

Here is a - link - to much more about the cottage.  

 

We had crossed the canal and headed back towards High Peak junction for a warm drink where we were joined by a colourful little friend.

 

More in part two.