Autumn Holiday Part Six - Duck, Buxton & A Sporty Afternoon

 It seemed like a horrendous journey from Skegness to Matlock, but I think that was just the fact that it we doubled back on ourselves passing Lincoln, which we had driven the day before. We couldn't check in until 4pm, so we headed past Matlock and headed over to Peak Village, for a little bit of shopping therapy. I mean why not! 

Before we even got in, we had already caused a scene in the car park. We pulled up, and James spotted there was a couple of ducks sat in the middle of the car park, just chilling out. Being the good samaritans we are, we pulled up nearby, got out and brought the bag of birdseed over with us.

Two ducks became three ducks, then three became five, five became twelve, twelve became twenty, and then I started to lose count!

There were ducks everywhere, and more kept appearing, both flying in and coming from the tree's the other side of the car park. We were mobbed, and we got to the point where our kilo bag of birdseed ran out very quickly. It was like a scene from the bible, James feeding the five thousand ducks! 

We had a good mooch through Peak Village (@peakvillage.co.uk) where I saw this adorable sign in one of the windows, and I got a couple of Halloween bits, as it was only just around the corner! Gotta get prepared for it! We then grabbed a late lunch at the pub just next to the car park, the Grouse & Claret, where we had a very tasty burger each, before heading to the lodge at Darwin Forest.  (@darwinforest.co.uk). This was actually a fantastic place to stay. And that evening I enjoyed sitting in the hot tub under the dark blue evening sky. The hot tub was helping with the back ache I seemed to be getting more often again. It would return for a couple of days, then I would be fine for a couple of days, and then it would return. I couldn't quite work out what was causing it, was it the constant changes of beds? Was I moving in a weird way. I couldn't be sure.

Here was the beautiful view from the hot tub. It was peaceful, with just the birds rustling about. The site was really well looked after, and there was also activities on site, with mini golf, tennis & a leisure centre with gym & swimming pool included.

The next day me and James went for a swim, before we headed to Buxton for the day. One of the original spa towns, it grew enormously popular during the Georgian period, and the arrival of the railways helped fuel the touristic boom in 1863. As you can see above, with this view of the Buxton Crescent, the town became very wealthy indeed, all from some fancy water!

The water is heated to a lovely 28 degrees, and it pumped to a tap opposite the crescent, but also into the pumping room just next to it. Here is where the water would have come up, and people could bathe in it. The water was famed for it's healing & restorative qualities, and it was interesting to find out that the Romans had indeed been here first. Along with Bath, these are the only two known sites of Roman Bath Towns in Britain, although we didn't see any traces or remains of the Romans.

Something that is worth having a wander through is the restored Thermal Baths, which closed in the sixties and were abandoned for two decades before being restored and reopened as the Cavendish Arcade, a shopping area full of local & artisan boutiques and shops while keeping as much of the original building & interior as possible. It's well worth a look through, even just to marvel at. I did buy a christmas card though, I know it's far too early but I just couldn't resist, it was perfect for one of my friends!

We had a wander around the gardens, before heading back to the town centre to marvel at the train station. Originally two railway stations were built next to each other by rival companies offering different services. However with the decline of Buxton, there was also a decline in the amount of rail services, and the line to Derby was closed with the Beeching axe in 1967. The line to Manchester remains, although cruelly, the building was almost fully demolished to save maintenance money, except for the very end of it with the beautiful fan window. Something we learnt about it was that the station was designed by Joseph Paxton, who designed the Crystal Palace in London. It's a shame that all that is left is the window, but I suppose we should be glad that at least that part has survived. Nowadays we are much better at preserving historical, notable & beautiful buildings, but back in the 50's & 60's after the war, there was a real drive for modernity and rebuilding a damaged country which I get. We never would have seen the brutalist or modernist movements if it hadn't have been for the need to rebuild. But sometimes, it's nice to keep things because they look nice, and they bring us joy to look at.

Heading back to Matlock from Buxton, we came across this fantastic viewpoint, and we couldn't resist a stop to enjoy the view! What a beautiful place! 

And in the lower middle of this picture, you can see an old railway viaduct, no longer in use. After the Beeching cuts, many railways in the United Kingdom were torn up or abandoned. Many remained that way, but a lot of others either became heritage lines, or were turned into walking & cycling trails. This viaduct forms part of the Monsal Trail, and 8.5 mile long walking path on the old trackway of the former Manchester, Buxton, Matlock & Midlands railway. It's something I would love to do one day, and me and James agreed that we would come back one day and walk it.

We then headed back to Darwin Forest for the afternoon, and made the most of the activities onsite. We had two rounds of mini golf, which I lost both times, a couple of games of tennis, which again I lost both times, but I did score the most points for balls fired outside of the court. We then finished the afternoon with afternoon in the pool with some gentle swimming, before making some dinner for ourselves. As you can imagine, I slept very soundly that night!