Last two days in Ashford in the Water

Wednesday, 18 June 2014

Left fairly early so that we could find the car park for the walk from Youlgreave.  Drove through Bakewell and then up to Youlgreave.  Apparently locals call it Youlgrave.  Found a park at the end of the village and the found the start of the walk.  It was a good one - the paths were mainly old packhorse roads.  There were a few fields, but as there had not been a lot of rain, they were not muddy, and some of them had been freshly mown so the smell was not bad.  In fact I find the smell of freshly mown fields pleasant.

We ran into a number of people on the walk.  Some looked like Duke of Edinburgh people; there were also some school groups and a few like us just out for the walk.  We spent a bit of time talking to a man with a north of England accent, but whom we think now lives in Wales.  He was a keen walker and knew all the spots we were talking about.

The walk ran alongside the river on both sides of parts of it.  It was pretty narrow in parts and I didn't enjoy the thistles and other weeds, especially when I brushed past them.  It seems to take forever to get rid of the sting from a nettle.

The walk was about 13 Kms and my hips were feeling it at the end.  It was listed as moderate and took in Lathkill Dale, and Bradford Dale.  We saw trout pools and some trout (Brian didn't tickle them) ducks with ducklings, and waterhens with chicks.  Also saw lots of entrances to the now disused lead mines.  My thoughts were that for all the mining activity, the area now is almost natural.  You can still see parts of where the mining took place, but the greenery has taken over and except for the weeds, it is very pleasant. We passed a number of signs which indicated that it is a Natural England Reserve.  Brian's nephew Tim works for this organisation.

Got lost as usual and ended up at the opposite end of the village, but that meant walking past the George Hotel, so of course we had to call in for a drink on the way back to the car.

We didn't take any photos on this walk.  Sometimes it is just too hard to photograph the scenery.

Thursday, 19 June 2014

Another fine sunny day so we decided on a local walk to Bakewell - the one we started out on early in our stay and had to turn back because of the rain.  This time the fields were relativity dry.  It has really been a great week weather wise.  Hardly any rain and what little there has been has only been a light shower or at night.  The last few days have been sunny and the day we did the Youlgreave walk it was really hot.

Got into the town, on a different path to the one in the book and saw different parts of Bakewell as a result.  On the way back we discovered the path we should have taken on the way in and were able to advise another couple not to make the same mistake we did.

Got back in time to drive to Matlock Bath which is where Richard Arkwright known as one of the movers and shakers of the Industrial revolution in England, had his showpiece mill.  Known as Masson Mill the guide claims “it is the finest surviving and best preserved example of an Arkwright cotton mill and is the Gateway to the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site."

The Derwent River near Masson Mills

Entrance to theMill central tower stairwell

Arkwright is described as being "the father of the factory system" and the guide claims that:

The central tower which houses the staircase, WC’s and offices, was a simple, effective and unique design... [which] allowed the main production areas...to remain unencumbered.  The benefits of this design were soon recognised and the idea spread rapidly throughout Britain and to America, where it became the defining architectural feature of many early North American textile mills.  The staircase in Masson Mill is the first and most complete surviving example in the world."

It was an interesting place to visit.  They still weave cloth there and there are some huge machines stored in the Museum.  We were not there at the right time, but there are guided machinery demonstrations in the Weaving shed and you can get more info by using your Wi-Fi devices via the codes - trouble was I forgot to charge my phone up before we went and I could only get a couple of photos.  However, there was a man working one of the machines and it was really noisy so hate to think what it would have been like working there when they were all operating.

I was impressed by the amount of water that went under the mill and which was obviously necessary to power the waterwheel that was there when Arkwright purchased it.  - it was originally a paper mill, so maybe it was the builder of the paper mill who should be recognised as being as equally as important as Arkwright with regard to the introduction of the factory system during the Industrial Revolution?

As well as having demonstrations at the Museum, the various floors of the building have been converted into outlet shops for a number of clothing, food and giftware manufacturers/designers, as well as restaurant, coffee shop etc.  I would not say it is a must see place, but worth a visit if you happen to be passing.