Bakewell Tart
Rehearsals Monday. Enough said. Had an extraordinarily good meal at Columbine Restaurant with some of the SavoyNet people - it is expensive, but worth every penny, the food was just superb.
On Tuesday, we got into the theatre. I wasn't entirely happy with my performance, but what can I say - if I'd had any more to give, I'd have given it - this was my lesson that I really, really need to take breaks more often. That said, the audience loved everything we did - they laughed in all the right places and applauded vigorously. Afterwards at the Festival Club, people came up and told me how much they'd enjoyed it - complete strangers I met in the street on Wednesday morning told me that they loved the show - the crowning moment came when I went to Bakewell on Wednesday afternoon, where I met someone who had seen the show and loved it (I was wearing the show T-shirt, which rather gave me away).
On Wednesday, I managed to catch up with Susan, Neil and Lucy, and meet Susan's parents. Susan's family are extraordinarily generous - they started out driving me around the countryside, then offered me a lift to Norwich, and now I've been offered an airbed in the spare room. So I guess tomorrow I'll be going to Norwich. It has been lovely having their company, it's sort of like having family holidays again (I should add at this point for the benefit of my family that there have been no bizarre disagreements or kiddy tantrums - Lucy is much better behaved than I was at her age!).
Wednesday morning we went to see Chatsworth, a stately home just outside Bakewell (http://www.cressbrook.co.uk/scripts/towns/villages.php?visitname=Bakewell%20Church&topX=4216&topY=3685&bottomX=4216&bottomY=3685&map=tile8). Bakewell is the second largest city in this area after Buxton. Its claim to fame is the invention of the Bakewell Pudding, a type of jam tart. In token of this, every second establishment in the CBD is a tea shop selling Bakewell Pudding and/or Bakewell Tart. Just so that tourists are aware that this delicacy is on offer, the tea shops are all called The (insert extra word here for legal reasons) Bakewell Pudding (or Tart) shop/tearooms/cafe. The word "Olde" also features prominently. Neil does an excellent line in Bakewell Tart double entendres, which keep us amused as we drive out to Chatsworth. It actually doesn't take that long to get to the Chatsworth grounds, which are massive and include two villages, one for current staff and one for retirees.
The house itself is unbelievably large and spectacular. I felt sorry for myself having to renovate my unit, but these people have been renovating and building extensions ever since they finished building in the 1500s. The Dukes have also been very busy in the gardening and landscaping department, the house is surrounded by some of the most outstanding gardens you could ever imagine. I wish I could post my photos! Try http://www.chatsworth.org/ for some pictures and a brief history of the house.
This morning (Thursday) I woke up bright and early (largely because my roommates at the YHA have weak bladders) and went to have a look at the church before taking a bus to Eyam(http://www.derbyshireuk.net/eyam.html). The church in Bakewell is small and extremely old, with parts of the original Saxon church still about and a Norman (?) font. The church also has a register of all the clergy who have served there, which starts at 1200 and goes through to the present day.
Eyam is famous largely because about one-third of the population died there during the plague. When the locals realised that the plague had come to the village, they imposed a quarantine on themselves - this saved a lot of people in the neighbouring villages, but meant that a massive number of people in Eyam itself died. The museum has a map of the town - each house has little people drawn in red (died of plague), blue (died during the quarantine of other causes), green (survived) or yellow (unknown). Many of the houses are filled with little red figures. Also unnerving are the little plaques outside the original houses, commemorating the people (often entire families) who died there during the quarantine. I walk along the street reading the plaques for a while - it started to freak me out after about half a dozen houses, particularly when I realised that the other side of the street was the same. I can't begin to imagine what it would have been like spending a year in a self-enforced quarantine, watching your family die one by one. Apparently there is a very good novel called 'The Year of Wonders' that deals with the Eyam quarantine - I must keep an eye out for it.
In the afternoon, I met up with Susan's family and we went to Haddon Hall (http://www.haddonhall.co.uk/). Haddon Hall looks exactly like a fairy-tale castle, except for the glass windows, which would rather impede anyone shooting from the bailey. I prefer it to Chatsworth, as it is more people-friendly - lots of lovely woodcarving and stonework, rooms that are roughly people-sized and lots of natural light.
I am almost at the end of my internet cafe credit, so I might end here and go to try to find out what has happened to my flight with this latest terrorist business.
On Tuesday, we got into the theatre. I wasn't entirely happy with my performance, but what can I say - if I'd had any more to give, I'd have given it - this was my lesson that I really, really need to take breaks more often. That said, the audience loved everything we did - they laughed in all the right places and applauded vigorously. Afterwards at the Festival Club, people came up and told me how much they'd enjoyed it - complete strangers I met in the street on Wednesday morning told me that they loved the show - the crowning moment came when I went to Bakewell on Wednesday afternoon, where I met someone who had seen the show and loved it (I was wearing the show T-shirt, which rather gave me away).
On Wednesday, I managed to catch up with Susan, Neil and Lucy, and meet Susan's parents. Susan's family are extraordinarily generous - they started out driving me around the countryside, then offered me a lift to Norwich, and now I've been offered an airbed in the spare room. So I guess tomorrow I'll be going to Norwich. It has been lovely having their company, it's sort of like having family holidays again (I should add at this point for the benefit of my family that there have been no bizarre disagreements or kiddy tantrums - Lucy is much better behaved than I was at her age!).
Wednesday morning we went to see Chatsworth, a stately home just outside Bakewell (http://www.cressbrook.co.uk/scripts/towns/villages.php?visitname=Bakewell%20Church&topX=4216&topY=3685&bottomX=4216&bottomY=3685&map=tile8). Bakewell is the second largest city in this area after Buxton. Its claim to fame is the invention of the Bakewell Pudding, a type of jam tart. In token of this, every second establishment in the CBD is a tea shop selling Bakewell Pudding and/or Bakewell Tart. Just so that tourists are aware that this delicacy is on offer, the tea shops are all called The (insert extra word here for legal reasons) Bakewell Pudding (or Tart) shop/tearooms/cafe. The word "Olde" also features prominently. Neil does an excellent line in Bakewell Tart double entendres, which keep us amused as we drive out to Chatsworth. It actually doesn't take that long to get to the Chatsworth grounds, which are massive and include two villages, one for current staff and one for retirees.
The house itself is unbelievably large and spectacular. I felt sorry for myself having to renovate my unit, but these people have been renovating and building extensions ever since they finished building in the 1500s. The Dukes have also been very busy in the gardening and landscaping department, the house is surrounded by some of the most outstanding gardens you could ever imagine. I wish I could post my photos! Try http://www.chatsworth.org/ for some pictures and a brief history of the house.
This morning (Thursday) I woke up bright and early (largely because my roommates at the YHA have weak bladders) and went to have a look at the church before taking a bus to Eyam(http://www.derbyshireuk.net/eyam.html). The church in Bakewell is small and extremely old, with parts of the original Saxon church still about and a Norman (?) font. The church also has a register of all the clergy who have served there, which starts at 1200 and goes through to the present day.
Eyam is famous largely because about one-third of the population died there during the plague. When the locals realised that the plague had come to the village, they imposed a quarantine on themselves - this saved a lot of people in the neighbouring villages, but meant that a massive number of people in Eyam itself died. The museum has a map of the town - each house has little people drawn in red (died of plague), blue (died during the quarantine of other causes), green (survived) or yellow (unknown). Many of the houses are filled with little red figures. Also unnerving are the little plaques outside the original houses, commemorating the people (often entire families) who died there during the quarantine. I walk along the street reading the plaques for a while - it started to freak me out after about half a dozen houses, particularly when I realised that the other side of the street was the same. I can't begin to imagine what it would have been like spending a year in a self-enforced quarantine, watching your family die one by one. Apparently there is a very good novel called 'The Year of Wonders' that deals with the Eyam quarantine - I must keep an eye out for it.
In the afternoon, I met up with Susan's family and we went to Haddon Hall (http://www.haddonhall.co.uk/). Haddon Hall looks exactly like a fairy-tale castle, except for the glass windows, which would rather impede anyone shooting from the bailey. I prefer it to Chatsworth, as it is more people-friendly - lots of lovely woodcarving and stonework, rooms that are roughly people-sized and lots of natural light.
I am almost at the end of my internet cafe credit, so I might end here and go to try to find out what has happened to my flight with this latest terrorist business.
posted by Andrea at
9:33 AM
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