Derby and the National Arboretum

17 June 2014

We had to attend to a banking matter with the Yorkshire Bank and the closest branch to Ashford in the Water was in Derby, so we decided to combine it with a visit to the National Arboretum which we had been to back in 2004 when we were staying with Brian's brother-in-law Charlie.

I didn't like Derby very much.  It seemed to be pretty run down in places and we had a lot of trouble trying to find our way into the town centre.  It is probably because they are doing so much work around it that will probably make the city look better but it is certainly not very appealing at the moment.

The one thing that did catch my eye - how could they be ignored - are the bright yellow taxis.  I sent a photo to Janiece who is into yellow cars, and she wants to know if the traditional black London cabs could become yellow?  Comments please.

We enjoyed the Arboretum.  The trees have grown considerably and the gardens are lovely.  There appear to be more sculptures etc there than last time.  We found the Polish section very interesting especially the story about the breaking of the enigma code.  Also found the story about the Gallipoli landing interesting - the label acknowledges that the landing at Anzac Cove was the result of a mistake but leaves out completely who made the mistake.  The implication is that it was a mistake on the part of the Australian and New Zealanders!  We didn't see any mention anywhere about the fall of Singapore!



 

Well Dressing in Ashford in the Water

WELL DRESSING IN THE PEAK DISTRICT

According to the official programme,

"Well Dressing began in pagan times, as a form of thanking the Water Gods for clean water. ...gradually it changed to primitive man hanging garlands of flowers over the wells and then developed into creating pictures in clay and boards that were and still are displayed at wells and old pumps."

It is an activity found almost exclusively in Derbyshire.  It is done as a community activity and

"can be described as the art of decorating springs and wells with pictures made from local plant life such as petals of flowers like hydrangeas, forget-me-nots,berries and leaves as well as other natural materials like dried herbs, stones, pulses and seeds."

 













As mentioned in a previous blog, it started in Ashford in the Water the day we arrived and I dropped in on a couple of places where they were putting the pictures together during the week. 

When we got up Saturday morning they were all in place.  There are six wells in Ashford and we spent an interesting morning wandering around photographing them and talking to lots of people.  It is a major draw card for tourists and there have been bus loads arriving each day.

One of the ladies who helped with the Protection of Birds picture told us that as they were putting it together, they decided to replace the peanuts they had intended to put in the bird feeder with pulses because past experience has shown that some of the elements used in the artwork was also attractive to birds.  Apparently the birds find the wool used in some of the designs useful for their nests and corn and peanuts are an attractive bird food.  Will follow the happenings with interest  during this coming week while all the dressings are in place.

All the dressings are works of art but my favourite is the Top Pump well which is celebrating 450 years of Shakespeare.  I was watching as one of the women working on this one was painstakenly using carnation petals for the skirt in Titania's dress.

IN THE BEGINNING

As well as the Wells Dressing there is a beautiful exhibition of flowers in the Church.  The theme for the floral exhibition this year is Creation and one of the ministers had a joke based on that theme:  "A kid asks his Christian mother how the human race was made.  Her reply was that God did it.  He then asked his Atheistic dad who said that the human race had evolved from apes, gibbons,  monkeys etc.  When the kid told the mother she said "oh I was talking about my side of the family and he was talking about his."  He told this at the start of a ceremony which involved a service inside the Church and then a procession to bless each of the 6 wells. 

BIRDS OF THE AIR AND FISH OF THE SEA

GARLANDS AROUND THE PILLARS

 




The procession was led by the Bakewell Silver Band, and was followed by the clergy - but there were no women other than acolytes.  


 

 

THINK THIS MIGHT BE THE BISHOP. 

Prior to the procession there was also a demonstration of sheep washing which was practised by the local farmers because clean fleeces free from insects and lanolin fetched better prices.

GET READY

SPLASH

GET A GOOD HOLD

NOW A GOOD WASH

 around town there are also scarecrows.  Here are a couple of them:

The Bowler's HOLDING the Batsman's WILLEY

 (Norm Johnston)

SPIDERMAN TO THE RESCUE - DON'T UPSET THE WIFE.

Wales to the Peak District

 D DAY JUNE 6 2014

We left Ann and Sephen about 10.30am and headed north to the Peak District. Stopped off at a "services" on the way for lunch and arrived at Ashford about 5.00 pm. The trip was a good one, mostly on minor roads, but did join the motorways not far from Manchester.

We arrived and found the key and started moving into Black Swan Cottage. It is a Grade 2 Heritage listed building and both of us have nearly knocked ourselves out on at least one occasion. Once you hit your head hard enough though you are not keen to repeat the experience.

After unpacking we went for a walk around the village, found the shop and bought the essentials like, bread, and butter, and delicious raspberries and cream!

The owner, Kim knocked on the door late in the afternoon, and told us that we are brilliant peope because we had chosen to stay in the village for the best two weeks in the year.  They hold an annual festival here known as Well Dressing and the first public activity in this regard would take place around 6.30 down near the bridge.  So off we trotted to see many of the children of the village helping to fill picture frames with a clay type mud and in the process covering themselves with it as well.  Then going into the river to get it off!  Far too cold for me I'm afraid and many of them looked like drowned rats.

Saturday we relaxed and caught up with the domestic chores and the blog.   

Sunday went to Bakewell to have a look at a larger town and the Co-Op supermarket.  We saw the pudding - not the tart - that Bakewell is famous for, but neither of us is tempted to try one - they look revolting.  While I was working on the blog, Brian disappeared for a couple of hours exploring the walks around Ashford.  

Monday, we decided to do the walk from Ashton to Bakewell.  When we opened the curtains it looked like a really good day, but by the time we had had breakfast and got sorted, there were a few clouds around.  Stopped off to buy some water and the shopkeeper said he was not too sure about the weather but because it was still sunny we decided to continue.  Got into the first field we had to cross and it started sprinkling.  Got a bit further along and had to pull the rain coat out of the pack.  By this time the ground underfoot was pretty muddy and slippery - something I hate about walking in England, so decided to go back.  So glad we did because just after we arrived back at the house it came down in buckets, Queensland style.

Tuesday dawned bright and sunny again, so we decided to go to Edale to suss out the first of the long distance walks Brian wanted to do.  It is the start of the Pennine Way.  We did the lower end of the start of the walk and on the way met a couple with their two daughters.  The mother was from Oz and the father is a Brit.  The  mother grew up at Scarborough NSW and went to Scarborough primary school, and then Shellharbour Secondary.  They now live in Shellharbour and told us that they had had lunch at the Scarbourgh pub a couple of Sundays ago.  Small world as Ian lived in Scarborough for about 14 years and now works in Shellharbour and we still enjoy going to the Scarborough pub with its fantastic location.

We made the walk into a circular one and came back to the Ramblers Inn for a drink before driving on to where I would be picking Brian up at the end of the walk. 

When we got back to the cottage I looked up the options for the next day and decided that after dropping Brian at Edale, I would leave the car there, catch the train into Sheffield and have some retail therapy and then return by train in time to drive across to Crowden to collect him.

The parking was two pound fifty for the day and I got a special train ticket similar to a Seniors Day Rover for 6.00 pounds.  Working on an exchange rate of 2 to 1, this means that it cost $17.00 for the day out.  Expensive when compared with free public transport for us in Canberra and $2.50 to travel anywhere from Goulburn to Newcastle in NSW!


Meadowhall is a large shopping centre and I liked the way they have introduced a traditional theme by calling part of the complex "The Lanes".  Igt reminded me of some of the casinos in Macau and the shopping centre that the Da Costas took us to in Cape Town.  

I spent most of my time in M&S, but didn't buy anything and decided after a quick look at the other shops to go to the movies and see "Grace of Monaco"to fill in the rest of my waiting time.  I enjoyed the movie but  can't help thinking that the film makers strayed  a long way from the so called true story it is based on.  It is very pro American and Grace's final speech at a function to raise money for the Red Cross was so naive, it made it truly unbelieveable and embarrassing.

Caught the train back to Edale, collected the car and had my first drive since we hired it.  I like driving it, but it took a bit of getting used to.  The windscreen wipers and indicators are on the opposite side to our Subaru so when I tried to indicate, I switched on the wipers! 

Got to the pick-up point and only had to wait about 15 minutes for Brian to show up.  Having done 29 kms, he looked remarkably fit, but he had a blister on the soul of his foot and was pretty sore yesterday.

Thursday 12 June was another fine sunny day, but Brian did not feel like walking so we went into Bakewell for him to get a haircut and to do some food shopping at the Co-Op. In the afternoon he wrote his section of the blog about his walk and I went exploring in the village.  Called in to a couple of places where the women were working on their panels for the Well Dressing and took some photos of the scarecrows that have been put up around town.



 

 Scarecrows around town.  The festivities start tomorrow night with a hog roast in the grounds of the building on the left.   You might need to zoom in on the others to read what they say.  The centre one is "Spiderman to the rescue - don't upset the wife", and the one on the left says "Stay calm, I always look this good".

 A typical scene when we are walking.  Brian a long way in front!  Black Swan Cottage where we are staying is on the corner.  It is thought to be the oldest property in Ashford.  It dates back to 1550 and was named 'Black Swan' at the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

The red car is the one we are renting from Hertz.

 Friday 13 June 2014 

Another fine sunny morning, so we did the walk to Monsal Head.  Coffee at the pub, with Brian pouring over a map.  Then along a disused railway line through one of the very long tunnels, and across more fields to the Packhorse at Little Longstone for a beer.  Back across more fields to Ashford.  It was good to be out with the ground underfoot relatively dry.  Still full of the excrement and smell of farm animals and sloppy mud where they congregate  but I guess that is the price you have to pay to have such a green and pleasant land. 


It started raining late this afternoon, but it has not been too heavy.  I hope it does not continue for the whole weekend.  The locals have put so much effort into preparing for the Well Dressing, it will be a shame if the weather ruins it.