Nigel and Kay Hutson spend a relaxed few days in the Peak District, discovering some hidden gems
Nigel and Kay Hutson joined friends for a relaxing short break, to discover less familiar places in a beautiful region they know well
Earlier in the year, when we were dreaming of the time when we could get out and about with the caravan again, some friends of ours, Mike and Janet, got in touch and asked if we’d like to meet up for a few days with the caravans. They suggested Beech Croft Farm Caravan Park & Campsite, near Buxton in the Peak District.
Being local to the Peak District, we’re very familiar with the tourist hotspots (Chatsworth, Bakewell and Hope Valley, to name just a few) and try to avoid them at popular times – it can be a nightmare making the short journey to visit relatives in Hope Valley at weekends – so we thought it would be good to visit places that are a little off the beaten track.
Relaxing in the sun
The day duly arrived and after making the easy hour-long journey from our home, we were welcomed by the very friendly staff at Beech Croft Farm, which is in the hamlet of Blackwell, some five miles to the east of the spa town of Buxton (the highest market town in England!).
After setting up on one of the spacious pitches on the terraced site, we relaxed in the sunshine, enjoying a beer (or two) with Mike and Janet, celebrating the fact that we were out and about again in the caravan.
Next morning, Kay and I decided to go and explore Buxton, as it’s been a while since we visited the place. We discovered a convenient car park at the end of the main shopping street, Spring Gardens.
Buxton is well known for its Georgian architecture and Buxton Water, and once we’d escaped the shops, we found ourselves opposite Buxton Crescent Health Spa
Hotel. Originally built in the 1780s by the Duke of Devonshire, this imposing mansion once housed two hotels.
Recently refurbished, this masterpiece of Georgian architecture is in the shape of a crescent, as its name suggests.
Facing the Crescent, we’d had our backs to the Buxton Visitor Centre, which itself is housed in an old Victorian Pump Room. This is the place to go for information about Buxton and the surrounding area.
St Anne’s Well is just to the side of the Visitor Centre and, judging by the queue of people filling up bottles and flasks, the warm (27°C) natural mineral water remains as popular today as it was back in the 16th century, when an Act of Parliament ruled that a free supply of spring water must be provided for the town’s residents.
Of course, bottled Buxton Mineral Water is commercially available nowadays.
After a wander in the Pavilion Gardens, walking past Buxton Opera House (Kay and I had been due to see a show there in 2020, until Covid-19 changed everyone’s plans), we found the Devonshire Dome (not that it’s hard to find). The building now belongs to the University of Derby and at our time of visiting, was closed to the public, but when it was built in the late 1700s, this was the largest unsupported dome in the world. Over the years, its many different guises have included being used as a hospital.
We were ready for refreshments, and a place we’ve been to before is the café above the Hargreaves and Son homeware and kitchenware shop, on Spring Gardens.
Kay enjoys a wander around the classy shop downstairs, and there’s an almost ‘olde world’ atmosphere in the café.
Worth a visit when you’re in Buxton.
Mike and Janet are the proud owners of an Adria van, and a while ago, at one of the shows, I was given a branded tea towel by Adria. On this trip, Mike had mentioned (several times) that he’d done the washing up, so when we met them later that day, I presented him with the tea towel, and we celebrated with a glass or two!
Traditional shops
A short drive the following day took us to Tideswell – or Tidza as it’s known locally. As well as being an attractive Derbyshire village, it has a huge church (for the size of the place), dedicated to John the Baptist and known as the Cathedral of the Peak.
After Bakewell, Tideswell is the largest settlement in the Peak District. Although there’s not much here in terms of tourist attractions, it is a thriving village and has a number of traditional shops – butchers, greengrocers and so on, as well as pubs, chip shops and cafés (we enjoyed a coffee at High Nelly’s, on Bank Square, where I was tempted into demolishing a rather agreeable bacon sandwich).
Our next stop was Eyam (pronounced ‘Eem’), just a handful of miles away. There is evidence the village prospered centuries ago from lead mining, but Eyam’s biggest
‘In the 16th century, Parliament ruled that spring water must be provided for Buxton’s residents’
claim to fame is how it came to be known as the Plague Village. The story is especially poignant, given the times we’re currently all living through.
In 1665, a flea-infested bundle of cloth arrived from London at the workshop of the village tailor, Alexander Hadfield. Within a week, Hadfield’s assistant George Vickers was dead, and other members of the household soon followed.
The disease started to spread rapidly through the village and the residents then turned to local clergy, William Mompesson and Thomas Stanley, for guidance.
Going into quarantine
They introduced a number of measures to try to stop the spread, which included quarantining the whole village, among other things. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
The plague ran for more than a year and although there is no definitive number of victims, the church has a record of 273 deaths attributed to the disease.
The village is also home to Eyam Hall, a fine Jacobean manor house built by local landowner Thomas Wright as a wedding gift for his son John and his wife Elizabeth in 1672. It remains in the Wright family’s ownership, and these days, is a popular wedding and events venue.
Unfortunately, Eyam Museum (located near the main car park) was closed when we visited, but when open, this fascinating museum provides a history of the village and a detailed story of the plague times.
The church, however, was open, where you can see the record of deaths on display, as well as a history of the event and some extraordinary stories. A fine stained glass window is a permanent memorial.
After visiting the church, Kay and I made the steep climb to Mompesson’s Well, half a mile from the church. If you are less able, I would suggest you avoid this walk!
The well is not much to look at, but it is historically significant. Together with the Boundary Stone (on the Stoney Middleton side of Eyam), it was where supplies for the villagers were left during the quarantine. In return, money (soaked in vinegar, thought to kill the plague) was left for the suppliers.
The Riley Graves, half a mile to the east of Eyam, tell just one tragic story of the plague. In the space of a week, Elizabeth Hancock lost her farmer husband and six children to it. She had to bury them herself and took the bodies singlehandedly from their home at Riley Farm to a small patch of land on the nearby hillside.
It is thought that Elizabeth brought the disease to her family after helping to bury another villager’s body. What she couldn’t have imagined is that 350 years later, people would be visiting the graves and admiring the stunning views from there.
Detour to the viaduct
Our route back to the caravan took us via Monsal Head. This isn’t the most direct route, but it’s worth the detour. Thinking we’d only be there for a while, soaking up the views, we stopped in the short-term car park. However, I wasn’t satisfied with just looking, so I did the two miles or so circular route that took me from being way above the Headstone Viaduct to walking beneath it and back – rather quickly!
Next day we had a lazy morning at the van, preparing for a superb Sunday lunch at the Church Inn, at nearby Chelmorton. This is within strolling distance of the site, but we had plans for a walk later on, so made it a short drive instead. All I will say is that none of us was disappointed!
Our plan for the afternoon was to walk from the site down to the Monsal Trail.
‘Measures were introduced to stop the plague, including quarantining. Sound familiar?’
Now a cycling, walking and riding route, Monsal Trail runs for about eight and a half miles from Topley Pike Junction to Coombs Viaduct, south-east of Bakewell. It follows the route of the former Matlock to Buxton railway, which closed in 1968.
The trail was opened in 1981 and passes through six tunnels (mainly well lit) and across Headstone Viaduct, which crosses the River Wye at Monsal Head.
Walking trails
Kay and I have walked along that trail quite a few times, but on this visit, we weren’t so energetic, and ‘only’ walked the circular route from the campsite, on a bridle path to Blackwell Mill, on to Miller’s Dale and then back up the B6049 towards the site.
The latter option wasn’t the best – there are no pavements at the side of the B6049, so if we did it again, we’d take a different way back. I subsequently found a footpath marked on the OS map, which leads from the trail near Miller’s Dale directly to the back of the campsite.
When we got back to the caravans, we were well and truly worn out and knew we must have burned off a good proportion of the calories we consumed at lunchtime, so it had all been worth it.
Sadly, as they always do, our final day arrived far too soon, but we still had plans for things to see and do. A nine-mile drive to the south took us to English Heritage’s Neolithic henge at Arbor Low and Gib Hill
Barrow. There is a small area for parking on the track leading to the farm (the yard of which you pass through to get to the site, and you’re asked to pay a ‘toll’ of £1 to do so, although entry to the site is free).
Accessing the site itself does involve walking along a rough track and through a field. Set high on a hill within an earthen bank and ditch, a circle of some 50 white limestone slabs (now fallen) surrounds a central stone ‘cove’. If you are up to the walk, it’s worth making the effort for the surrounding views, if nothing else.
Cheese, please
Our final stop was at the nearby village of Hartington, in particular to visit the cheese shop. A creamery was first established in Hartington in the 1870s. By the 1930s, it was one of a handful of creameries that could legally produce Blue Stilton.
The creamery closed in 2009, but in 2012 the new Hartington Creamery at Pikehall Farm, a few miles from the village, opened.
The outlet for the cheeses is The Old Cheese Shop, in the centre of Hartington. There’s a huge variety of different cheeses on sale here, and we came away with a very nice Peakland White with smoked tomato and garlic. It didn’t last long!
Heading for home after a great trip, we reflected on having had a splendid few days in an area we know and love. As a bonus, it was really relaxing to visit places a little off the beaten track for a change.