[England 2014] Bakewell part 1 of...a thousand.

[moonvoice]

Yeah I have a lot of Bakewell photos.
Bakewell, home of the Bakewell tart!
(Proper Bakewell tarts were weird, but not bad).
Actually, three different places claim they are the original home
of the Bakewell tart,
just like two different place claim to be Shakespeare's official place of birth, so huzzah for cashing in on tourism!







A grey day when we arrived.









A lovely, lovely country town. I actually fucking loved it here. There were still horses clip-clopping down the streets most mornings. It's steeped in history, and most places were made of this lovely stone.





(Mum and Simon)





Me catching a photo of Glen and deciding to do this instead.





Village green.





Up at the Bakewell Church





Moss!









The Bakewell church is a heritage listed church, and is known as the All Saints Church. It was founded in 920, and has two 9th century Saxon Crosses still standing in its graveyard. There were also ancient stone coffins, but those photos didn't turn out.









This little area, which had a chocolatier, tobacconist, tea room, and a lot of other little boutique shops in it, had actually once been an abbatoir, centuries ago. It got purchased and converted.





Hot chocolate at the lavender tea rooms.





Glen being a doofus, wearing Simon's hat.





Pia needs sleep. I was very ill.









More of that little alcove.





Stairway tucked away.





The All Saints Church was like that uncle that gets into all of your photos.









Friends Sarah and Michael. Sarah I know from highschool. We didn't get along much in highschool but then became very close after, due to penpalling (the old-fashioned way, via snail-mail). Around the time she met Michael on the internet, and they started a long-distance romance for a few years. Anyway, she moved to England, it turned out they were really in love, and they're married and have been living together ever since! He's lovely. Sarah and Michael drove four hours up from Dorset to come see us for the weekend in Bakewell, on icy roads, they are the greatest, and we had a fantastic time.





View from the Church to the hills, and some stratus rolling in.

Comments

[cazzyline]

My friend's mum used to work in the Olde Pudding Shoppe! She said the only tarts in Bakewell were the ones on the street corners - tarts have shortcrust pastry, puddings have flaky pastry. Though with the mass production they seem quite greasy to me now.

I grew up about 15-20 miles from there and now live in Nuneaton, kind of halfway between Stratford and Bakewell! Sorry I missed you, but probably would have given you extra germs.

Hope you had a wonderful time. Did you visit Chatsworth House? Or the caves around Castleton? A couple of my favourite spots in Derbyshire.

[moonvoice]

I was too sick to really do much more than sleep. I was able to walk around Bakewell a bit, but I was running like a fever of 39-40C+ for a few days. (Actually on and off, for some time). I wish we'd had more time. It was also really hard to do things we wanted to do, since we were restricted to my parents and where they wanted to go - and they didn't want to go to those places. :/

[transcendancing]

Such beautiful scenery! Some gorgeous photos you have there :)

[moonvoice]

*hugs* Thank you!

[contrarywise]

Thanks for sharing these. I'm sorry you were ill on your trip, but glad you still went and got to visit interesting places and see friends while there.

[moonvoice]

Yeah, I was very lucky to have been able to have gone at all. I would not have been able to afford something like this without the generous help of my parents.

[wendelah1]

Gorgeous pictures. Thanks for sharing them.

[moonvoice]

Ah thank you! <3

[shistavanenjedi]

Cool. My part of the world (almost!). Did you visit the Bakewell Bookshop while you were there? I find it a good place for pagan and wildlife books. Haven't been there for awhile, though. Did you go anywhere else in Derbyshire/Peak District?

[moonvoice]

Not the firsthand bookstore, though we did walk past it a few times. I did visit the secondhand bookstore though (which is under new ownership) and ended up talking to the new shop owner for a while, who was great.

We didn't get to go anywhere else, I was very ill.

[cmcmck]

Such a lovely part of the world that. I haven't walked the peaks for years- really ought to get back.

[moonvoice]

I'd love to go there again, I loved Bakewell.

[starstrider]

That place looks awesome. Were they pleasure horses, or work horses, do you know? Also, that hot chocolate looked divine. Mm.

[moonvoice]

Not sure about the horses, sorry! And yes the hot chocolate was very delicious - though the best hot chocolate we had ended up being in Singapore. :D

[kehleyr]

Gorgeous photos!!

[moonvoice]

Thank you! :)

[kath_ballantyne]

Oh these are gorgeous. I get so wistful for stone houses, cobbled streets and grey skies. I didn't even live in a place like that when I was in England but it makes me ache to see them. I love living here but I also want to live in a little stone cottage somewhere with a built history. Wish I could switch between the two and not have to spend an awful hot summer here. But then I'd miss the berries and stone fruit in season. hmm.

So pretty

[moonvoice]

Yeah, the stone and cobbled streets, I can really see why people love it all so much, I loved it there. As well as the harmony of an aesthetic that is uniform? Where all people make an effort to sort of make the town look similar and use the same materials? Whereas Perth has no architectural identity at all.

[silverjackal]

Super photos, and you make me want to run off to England. I am seriously tempted! Perhaps next year in the spring, depending on how things go. I have too many things to put my expendable income towards right at the moment already.

[moonvoice]

Yes! Oh man, hopefully you can. It would be awesome, and I think you'd find so many amazing places to go. I have my sights set on Scotland for next time.

[silverjackal]

I'm actually not likely to have the money or the time to get outside of London, but we'll see. It's been an age since I was last in London for more than a quick stopover, and the British Museum is of course irresistible to me. And the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, and the Natural History Museum and the Zoo. I'd also like to go back to the Kensal Green Cemetery, and Christchurch Greyfriars Garden, and... and... :D Heh. I suspect I'd even get a kick out of the Shard. So much to do, so much beer to drink!

The magnetic pull of London quite aside I'd love to ramble around the country a bit, and particularly take in the various stone age sites and megaliths but that would likely require more time than I'd be comfortable taking off. Still, something for the bucket list yes?