Blogs from Bakewell, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

A tart or a pudding? Choices, choices. It is the burning question in the small Derbyshire market town of Bakewell. Always. The town is known for Bakewell Pudding - essentially a jam pastry with a filling that has been enriched with egg and ground almond. Meanwhile the Bakewell Tart is a different beast altogether. It is made with shortcrust pastry, an almond topping and a sponge and jam filling. The confectionery brand, Mr Kipling, confuse matters even further with their "Cherry Bakewells". Topped with icing and a glace cherry seemingly randomly plonked on top, we grew up with the product. Exceedingly good or so their advertising campaign would have you believe. The voice was instantly recognisable, the name behind it was not. The "Cherry Bakewells" of course were nothing to do with Bakewell. They were made ... read more

Jim and Janet headed off on Tuesday to pick up their new caravan a couple of hours drive away, very exciting. Rob and I spent a relaxing morning then headed into Bakewall for a while in the afternoon to post some postcards and say hi to Bob and June. The caravan was collected and they set up in a caravan park near the dealer to do a test run for the night. Wednesday I took Bob and June to a medical appointment then Rob over to Chesterfield to a specialist appointment. Arriving at the Hospital in Chesterfield I was amazed to see there was a fruit and veg stall at the entrance! Apparently the NHS food is that bad. Had to take a photo of that! Arrived home to Jim and Janet pulling in the caravan ... read more

Fridays Janet volunteers at Chatsworth House, which is about 3 miles away. It is a very impressive house that is well worth a look both the house and the gardens. Each year they hold a country fair which I have been hearing about for years but this year I'm here for it. Rob, Jim and I went on Friday and Janet, Jim and Jim's mum Ann went on Saturday. It was a bit like the Perth Show without all the judging of things. There was a main arena with displays all day and some rides and then rows and rows of tents selling everything from country clothing, petware, gifts, food and samples, lots of gin stalls to cars and BBQ huts. We had pretty good weather with a few small showers but nothing to put a ... read more

We set off from York to go to Bakewell today. This is a halfway stop on our way to Wales, so we are just staying the one night. Our aim was to visit Chatsworth house, before going on to a small B and B near Youlgreave. We arrived at Chatsworth mid morning and parked the car. We were surprised at how full the car park was, especially as it was not a weekend and the weather was not fantastic! ( We later found out that Chatsworth is the most visited stately homes in England) We started our visit in the house. As the Duchess of Devonshire is interested in fashion- as is one of her children as well, Stella Tarrant - the emphasis on the display in the house at present is fashion. It also has ... read more

There is a chinese proverb that says that you should be not afraid of growing slowly , you should be more afraid of standing still. So today was a day of not standing still. Where shall we go? We needed somewhere fairly close. We needed somewhere we had not been to before. That is getting harder and harder as we exhaust places that are within travelling distance of home. So it was that we took the book out and looked at possible places to go and visit. Haddon Hall. Just down the road from us. About 8 miles away. Good idea- but we have been there before. OK but that was over 12 years ago. Surely we can go again. So what swung it then? A two for one offer from the Caravan Club where we ... read more