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. 

Hopton Hall Gardens

On Friday we'd arranged to meet a couple of friends at Hopton Hall, Carsington, Derbyshire.  The hall is open through July specifically for the rose gardens.  We've been several times when they open in February for their Snowdrop walks but never at this time of year. 

It was certainly much warmer than our February visits.  I think we chose the hottest day of July so far.  We had coffee from the 'pop-up' cafe before we followed the trail into the gardens.

We sheltered under the cover of this lovely summer house a couple of times during our visit.

 

The rose gardens were looking good although some of the roses were going over.  Others were looking gorgeous in the sunshine.

Above a small section of the 'crinkle crankle' wall. Some of it was hidden by scaffolding.  It is best viewed from outside as you pass by in the car towards the entrance.  No photos as it was a narrow road and quite busy as people arrived to view the gardens.

I liked the raised beds on one of the terraces.  These looked new.

The back of the hall.  Holiday accommodation is offered here.  

There are two ponds, this is the smaller one.  Damselflies and Dragonflies were hovering over the surface of the water.  The Damselflies an iridescent blue.

It was a lovely afternoon full of chatter but the heat was getting to all of us.  We moved on for a late lunch at The Miners Arms in Carsington village where most people were sitting outside in the sunshine, inside it was cool.  As we left children were coming out of school, excitedly rushing to the nearby play area on the village green.  I guess it was the last day of the summer term and they were filled with the thoughts of days of freedom stretching ahead of them.   I remember that feeling.  Do you?

Five on Friday - Recently

1. LastThursday we went over to Nottingham to have lunch with some friends.  We drove our usual route from here to Ashbourne and then to Belper before driving through Kilburn and Codnor on our way to Beeston.

We stopped in Belper for a coffee and leg stretch on the way and I spotted the wall painting as we walked around. 

2. At Trentham Gardens the circus has arrived in readiness for the half term holidays next week.  I remember being taken to see a circus when I was a small child.  It was in the Blackpool Tower and ended with a water scene when the whole arena filled with water and some of the entertainers were stood like statues on plinths above it.  I don't remember much from the experience except perhaps that I felt sad for the animals and that I wasn't sure about the clowns, they seemed a bit scary. I think one of them was Charlie Cairoli and there was another clown with a painted white face, wide trousers and a pointy hat. I've no idea how old I was, perhaps five or six. Elsewhere in the building I remember a huge organ rising up out of the floor with a tremendous noise and applause from the crowd .  My mother told me later that the organ was a Wurlitzer and the person playing it was called Reginald Dixon.  I also remember feeling so sleepy as we sat on a coach driving through all the lights on the sea front.  I expect it was the illuminations.  Did we go for the day?  Did we stay overnight?  I have no idea.  All these memories from the sight of one big top.

3. I've found another family photo.  Back to 1908 again and the same time and place as the wedding photo I showed you a post or two ago. These are just the Edwards Family rather than the whole wedding party.  My great grandfather Thomas Edwards, my great grandmother Sarah Ann in the middle at the front  and their eleven children, one of them, Rose, is my grandmother.  I know the names of them all and have identified eight of them on the photo.  There are just three sisters on the back row who I'm unsure about.

 

Back row Thomas, Rose, ?, Ellen, ?, ?, John

front row George, Clara, Edith and Alvin.  The other sisters are Sarah Ann, Elizabeth and Mary.  I'd love to identify them on the photo. I know that two of the daughters, Ellen and Clara, were in service at Catton Hall in Derbyshire.

 

4. Two books from the library.  I've never read either author before but they were mentioned on various forums by  authors that I have read.  I hope I'll enjoy reading them.

5. We popped up to the City Museum to visit a new exhibition. Carboniferous Monsters.

 

Fortified by coffee and a shared slice of cake we made our way to the gallery tickets in hand.
 

What a fabulous exhibition it was.

Creatures from land and sea that pre-dated dinosaurs by 100,000 years.

 

I was rather taken with the dragonflies.

All for now.  I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. 

Out and About

Yesterday we had arranged to visit friends who live in the North East Derbyshire village of Holmesfield which isn't far from the National Trust's Longshaw Estate.

We were awake quite early and set out a lot earlier than we had thought so had extra time to meander around the pretty town of Bakewell which is one of my favourite things to do.

We spent a couple of hours in their lovely garden, unfortunatley Ian gets very tired as his illness progresses, so we said our goodbyes, promising to visit again before the end of Summer and drove home past the Longshaw Estate and through Hathersage down to Hassop and the bookshop and cafe at Hassop Station.

 It was very busy!  Notices said to take a seat under the outside canopies and then order on line.  We assumed that one had to have a smart phone to do that so, as we only wanted a drink of tea or coffee, we moved on.

 The Hassop Station cafe, gift and book shop is on the Monsal Trail.  Just a little further up the trail is another place we have visited before, Thornbridge Hall.  We realised that we weren't that far away so decided to try there.  Oh, how different it was from previous visits.

We had been here before a couple of times.  We first visited on a friend's birthday and had a tasty lunch in the coach house and a wander around the lovely gardens and extensive plant sales area. 

Later the same year we met up with the friends I mentioned above and visitied the gardens for a second time. 

How things had changed.  The coach house is now only open for special events and weddings.  There is a new car park which takes you to a newly built cafe called Quackers and the plants sales area seemed a lot smaller.  

I expect the gardens are still as lovely as they were but we didn't go in this time as we still had about an hours journey ahead.  

There is a path up to Quackers from the Monsal Trail with some lovely views of the trail and the surrouding countryside from the old bridge.

At the moment I'm struggling with my smaller camera as my Fuji bridge camera keeps telling me to take the lens cap off, even though it is off, and won't let me take photos.  The smaller camera won't accept the date and time and wants me to put it in every time I switch it on so the only way to take photos is to leave it switched on but then the photos are all over the place and not in the order they were taken. All very irritating.  I may eventually have to look for a new camera.  I've had a look online but they are so expensive.  I'll eventually go and look at some when things feel safer.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

The Joy of Windfall Apples

When we visited our friends in Beeston recently we came home with the gift of a box of windfall apples from trees in their garden.  They were a mixture of  Bramley cooking apples and an unknown desert apple variety.

When we got them home they were sorted into those that needed dealing with at once and those that could wait a day or two.  The first batch were peeled, chopped, bagged and frozen.

The next day we found some 'wonky' plums in a nearby supermarket.  They didn't look in the least 'wonky' to me but luckily they had also been reduced in price.   They were chopped and quartered and the rest of the apples prepared for making jam.

Today the last few apples have been chopped and cooked and made into a crumble.

Some of the frozen apple pieces may sometime in the future be turned into chutney or perhaps more crumbles.  

Two pots of jam will be taken back to Beeston as a thank you. Sharing - just one of the joys of windfall apples. 

Recently.......

Recently.....

 We've made Wild Garlic and Cashew Nut Pesto with wild garlic from the garden.  The aroma in the kitchen was wonderful.

It was very tasty on tagliatelle for an evening meal with a glass of red grape juice.

Spotted a family of Greylag Geese by the lake at Trentham - there were in fact two families with eight goslings each, I hope they all survive.  Greylags are my favourite geese.

Also at Trentham the wisteria on the old sculpture gallery is in bloom.  It looks wonderful against the flaking paint on the old building. 

Yesterday we met with friends, one of whom was celebrating a birthday, at the Blubell Dairy Ice Cream Farm at Spondon near Derby. The drive over to Spondon was wonderful.  The road sides and verges were full of Joie de Vivre with Cow Parsley and Hawthorn both in frothy, white bloom whilst lilacs blossomed over garden fences and Wisteria dangled lazily over gates and door fronts swaying gently in the breeze.  Even though chilly first thing the light and colour en route was glorious.

We had a lovely lunch - mine was Cheese and Onion Quiche and Salad.  After a walk around the farm and a look at the animals we returned to the cafe for an ice cream. Two scoops each and I chose Pear and Elderflower sorbet and Rhubarb Ripple ice cream - both delicious. The rhubarb ripple was creamy and fruity and the sorbet had a delicate flavour which would be so refreshing on a red hot summer's day.

We then made our way to the nearby village of Dale Abbey where we discovered more joys in a meadow of buttercups.

 We all agreed it was idyllic

 Below are what remains of St Mary's Abbey - the imposing arch of the East window.

 A priory was originally founded here c 1150 by the Augustinian Canons from Calke Abbey. Around 1200 Premonstratensian cannons from an order founded by St Norbert in Premontre in  France took over and the Abbey flourished until the Dissolution c1538.  Stone from the Abbey ruins can be found in many buildings in and around the village.

 A view of the arch from the nearby churchyard.

 The church of All Saints is accessed through private land and is only the part of the building seen to the left in the photo above,  the gabled part on the right is now a private house.  As we arrived the owner was leaving in her car and informed us that the key to the church was held in the next village so unfortunately we didn't see the interior.  Inside the church is tiny around 25ft by 26ft.

 Parts of the church date from c 1150.  According to the village information board pre 1754 couples could be married quickly here without banns.  Apparently the Abbey infirmary was built onto the church and people on stretchers were able to see the altar from the upstairs gallery.  This infirmary later became the Bluebell Inn and the connecting door was said to lead from 'salvation to damnation'  it is now the private house next to the little church.

All too soon it was time to go our separate ways and make our way home.  We had a lovely afternoon with dear friends and thoughts of friendship, ice cream and buttercups are still fresh in my mind.