Your tour: Derbyshire
Nigel and Kay Hutson find hidden gems to explore in a beautiful area that they know well
Earlier in the year, when we were dreaming of the time when we could get out and about with the ’van again, friends of ours, Mike and Janet, got in touch and asked if we’d like to meet up for a few days. They have a caravan and 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 felt that it would be good to visit a few places that are a little off the beaten track.
Relaxing in the sun
The day duly arrived and after making the easy hour’s journey from 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 on tour again .
Next morning, Kay and I decided to go and explore Buxton, as it’s been a while since we visited the place. Buxton is well known for its Georgian architecture and Buxton Water, and strolling around, we soon spotted the Buxton Crescent Health Spa Hotel.
Built in the 1780s by the Duke of Devonshire, this imposing mansion once housed two hotels. Now recently refurbished, this architectural masterpiece 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.
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 local residents. Of course, bottled Buxton Mineral Water is also 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 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.
Traditional shops
A short trip the next day took us to Tideswell, or Tidza, as it’s known locally. As well as being an attractive 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 – and pubs, chip shops and cafés (we enjoyed a coffee at High Nelly’s, on Bank Square, where I was tempted by a rather agreeable bacon sandwich).
Our next stop was Eyam (pronounced ‘Eem’), a handful of miles away. The village prospered centuries ago from lead mining, but its biggest claim to fame is how it came to be known as the Plague Village. The story is especially poignant, given the times we are all living through.