A Buxton weekend
The Lonely Planet says that the Old Sun Inn offers plain, good quality pub fare. It does. I got a pie with chips and peas, which doesn't sound very inspiring, but it was really well done - home made pastry, readily identifiable meat - chips weren't greasy - peas were nice and fresh - I was rapt. They had some quite tasty-sounding desserts too, but I couldn't have eaten them for quids, I was so full.
Yesterday, I wasn't called for rehearsal until 1:30, so I did the Buxton tour. My first stop was St Anne's Church, which is just up the road near the most amazing second hand bookshop (four storeys high, all crammed full of books - I am in love!). St Anne's is an ex-drovers' byre. During the Middle Ages, farmers would bring their cows, sheep and other miscellaneous livestock to town for sale and leave them overnight in the byre while they headed off down the pub. In 1625, some brave soul decided to clean the place up and consecrate it. The church is absolutely adorable, and I take heaps of photos. There is only one other tourist in the place, she comes from Sydney. We talk to the clergyman in charge - very pleasant way to pass the time and avoid going out in the rain. The clergyman (I'm not sure what denomination the church is, and it seems rude to ask) gives us a short history of the church. Apparently, St Anne's Church was originally situated near the mineral spring called St Anne's Well. When the Reformation occurred, a group of Cromwell's soldiers came to Buxton and demolished the church on the grounds that it promoted heathen practices - many people who were cured left offerings at the church, which wasn't in keeping with the Puritan ethic. The church has a Saxon font, a massive, weathered block of stone. Apparently a farmer was using it as a pig trough - he kindly donated it when the new church opened. The clergyman believes that the font may have been the font from the original church, salvaged after the soldiers had finished their demolition job. No proof either way, but it's a very plausible explanation.
I head up to the Market Place - there is a market here on Tuesdays and Saturdays, the rest of the time it's surrounded by supermarkets. There are more supermarket chains here than there are in Australia, and they try harder - they all seem to have a good range of organic stuff (mostly from NZ, which says a lot about Little Johnnie's trade and GE policies!) - and they seem very responsive to health issues. For example, Marks and Spencer have cut out all those revolting commercial fats that are so bad for you and I think Tesco's will follow suit later this year.
Anyway, that's the Market Square as I pass through - supermarkets and rain. The Town Hall is marked on my tourist map as an attraction, but at the moment it is covered in scaffolding so it isn't really very attractive!! The market cross in front of it is aged and weathered to a nub - it has been here for at least as long as there has been a settlement - it looks like it might even have been around for longer!!
I walk down Hall Bank past the Slopes, a cute little public garden which is nearly, but not quite, vertical. Hall Bank has lovely old Georgian houses, but so does everywhere else around here. From Hall Bank, it is on to the Opera House and St John's Church. St John's is the complete antithesis of St Anne's. I walk around the graveyard for a while, and have a slightly trippy moment when my camera flash suddenly goes off of its own accord (the camera was locked at the time). That will teach me to go walking over graves! St John's is hosting a flower festival - the signs say entry by donation, but when I get in, it turns out to be entry by purchasing a program. There's a bit of confusion and much embarrassment on my side when I wander in and make a donation, then refuse to buy a program thinking that it is extra. The flower festival is an interesting idea - the locals have made tableaux of flowers showing Buxton's history. All very well done, but not entirely my cup of tea. On my way out, to atone for the program business, I purchase a tombola ticket from a lovely lady with relatives in Melbourne ("they live in some unpronounceable suburb I've only ever seen written down"). It costs £1 per ticket and I win a £5 Woolworths voucher - God has obviously forgiven me.
From the church, I go up to the old hospital building (being converted to a university), the Palace Hotel (they aren't joking, the place is massive in a very tastefully done way) and the railway station. I come back via the Cavendish Arcade (world's largest secular stained glass ceiling - but alas, no public loos) and the old Baths (which are now an art gallery). A quick trip to St Anne's Well for some free mineral water, a dekka at some public memorials and I'm back at the other end of the road where I started. I round the tour off with a quick trot through the museum and art gallery, which are just a nice size to occupy a couple of hours.
And back to rehearsal again... I see my costumes for the first time. They are truly amazing. And more to the point, they fit almost perfectly. There are some hassles with my second act costume, but that is because I've been provided with genuine Victorian underwear - when I lose the pantalettes, the chemise and the corset, it fits quite well. Overall, rehearsals are going quite well. There are still a few things, which worries me - I'd like to be much better - but I guess I have to accept that there are some things I'll only get right when I have the real set to work on. At least, I hope so!!
After rehearsal, a group of us grab dinner at a tapas bar - very nice thank you, I'd never have thought of coming to Buxton for the tapas, but I'll certainly go back there any day. We then go on to the Southhampton G&S Society's production of 'The Grand Duke'. I've never seen the show before, and I think it's very good - it's a shame it isn't done more often. The group have updated it to World War II with a sort of Producers-meets-'Allo, 'allo look - I don't have a problem with it, but some people walk out. There are two lovely old things two seats behind me who talk right through the first act, and I want to throttle them. Luckily they don't come back for Act Two. Generally, the acting and singing are good - the costumes are very well done - all in all, I enjoyed myself. I'm too tired to go on to the cabaret afterwards... I walk home with a couple of the other Ruddygore people who are up my end of town.
At some bizarre hour, I get a phone call from Australia. One of the BNI people has either forgotten that I've gone to the UK, or they have something really important to tell me. I have no idea, as I can't access my voicemail. I ring the number (which I don't recognise) at about 6am when I realise that I'm not actually going to go back to sleep, in case it's important. The woman who answers the phone has no idea what the call was about, so the heck with it. If it is important, whoever it is can send me an e-mail. I did explain to her that I was in England, where it was 6am, that the phone call had cost me roughly $15 and that I wasn't overjoyed, so could she please not ask anyone to call me back.
At least I had plenty of time for a run. I went up to the Broad Walk, which runs alongside the Pavilion Gardens - it is a road, but it's closed to traffic and it's very pretty. As I jog along, plastic rain poncho flapping in the breeze, I scare the living daylights out of a couple of grey squirrels. For those of you who read and loved the story of Squirrel Nutkin - forget it!! Grey squirrels are manky little things that look like rats. I get up an amazing turn of speed until I realise what they are, then I double back for a look. If Beatrix Potter had had these little horrors for models, she would have written a story about boot-boys stealing cars and beating up old ladies. They don't appeal to me particularly. I find out later that grey squirrels are actually from America and they are pests - enough said! I get in a lap of the gardens before rehearsal and get back in exactly an hour.
I'm on my way home now with a selection of Marks & Spencer salads for tea, planning to spend a happy hour going over my words and music one more time. More news tomorrow!!
Yesterday, I wasn't called for rehearsal until 1:30, so I did the Buxton tour. My first stop was St Anne's Church, which is just up the road near the most amazing second hand bookshop (four storeys high, all crammed full of books - I am in love!). St Anne's is an ex-drovers' byre. During the Middle Ages, farmers would bring their cows, sheep and other miscellaneous livestock to town for sale and leave them overnight in the byre while they headed off down the pub. In 1625, some brave soul decided to clean the place up and consecrate it. The church is absolutely adorable, and I take heaps of photos. There is only one other tourist in the place, she comes from Sydney. We talk to the clergyman in charge - very pleasant way to pass the time and avoid going out in the rain. The clergyman (I'm not sure what denomination the church is, and it seems rude to ask) gives us a short history of the church. Apparently, St Anne's Church was originally situated near the mineral spring called St Anne's Well. When the Reformation occurred, a group of Cromwell's soldiers came to Buxton and demolished the church on the grounds that it promoted heathen practices - many people who were cured left offerings at the church, which wasn't in keeping with the Puritan ethic. The church has a Saxon font, a massive, weathered block of stone. Apparently a farmer was using it as a pig trough - he kindly donated it when the new church opened. The clergyman believes that the font may have been the font from the original church, salvaged after the soldiers had finished their demolition job. No proof either way, but it's a very plausible explanation.
I head up to the Market Place - there is a market here on Tuesdays and Saturdays, the rest of the time it's surrounded by supermarkets. There are more supermarket chains here than there are in Australia, and they try harder - they all seem to have a good range of organic stuff (mostly from NZ, which says a lot about Little Johnnie's trade and GE policies!) - and they seem very responsive to health issues. For example, Marks and Spencer have cut out all those revolting commercial fats that are so bad for you and I think Tesco's will follow suit later this year.
Anyway, that's the Market Square as I pass through - supermarkets and rain. The Town Hall is marked on my tourist map as an attraction, but at the moment it is covered in scaffolding so it isn't really very attractive!! The market cross in front of it is aged and weathered to a nub - it has been here for at least as long as there has been a settlement - it looks like it might even have been around for longer!!
I walk down Hall Bank past the Slopes, a cute little public garden which is nearly, but not quite, vertical. Hall Bank has lovely old Georgian houses, but so does everywhere else around here. From Hall Bank, it is on to the Opera House and St John's Church. St John's is the complete antithesis of St Anne's. I walk around the graveyard for a while, and have a slightly trippy moment when my camera flash suddenly goes off of its own accord (the camera was locked at the time). That will teach me to go walking over graves! St John's is hosting a flower festival - the signs say entry by donation, but when I get in, it turns out to be entry by purchasing a program. There's a bit of confusion and much embarrassment on my side when I wander in and make a donation, then refuse to buy a program thinking that it is extra. The flower festival is an interesting idea - the locals have made tableaux of flowers showing Buxton's history. All very well done, but not entirely my cup of tea. On my way out, to atone for the program business, I purchase a tombola ticket from a lovely lady with relatives in Melbourne ("they live in some unpronounceable suburb I've only ever seen written down"). It costs £1 per ticket and I win a £5 Woolworths voucher - God has obviously forgiven me.
From the church, I go up to the old hospital building (being converted to a university), the Palace Hotel (they aren't joking, the place is massive in a very tastefully done way) and the railway station. I come back via the Cavendish Arcade (world's largest secular stained glass ceiling - but alas, no public loos) and the old Baths (which are now an art gallery). A quick trip to St Anne's Well for some free mineral water, a dekka at some public memorials and I'm back at the other end of the road where I started. I round the tour off with a quick trot through the museum and art gallery, which are just a nice size to occupy a couple of hours.
And back to rehearsal again... I see my costumes for the first time. They are truly amazing. And more to the point, they fit almost perfectly. There are some hassles with my second act costume, but that is because I've been provided with genuine Victorian underwear - when I lose the pantalettes, the chemise and the corset, it fits quite well. Overall, rehearsals are going quite well. There are still a few things, which worries me - I'd like to be much better - but I guess I have to accept that there are some things I'll only get right when I have the real set to work on. At least, I hope so!!
After rehearsal, a group of us grab dinner at a tapas bar - very nice thank you, I'd never have thought of coming to Buxton for the tapas, but I'll certainly go back there any day. We then go on to the Southhampton G&S Society's production of 'The Grand Duke'. I've never seen the show before, and I think it's very good - it's a shame it isn't done more often. The group have updated it to World War II with a sort of Producers-meets-'Allo, 'allo look - I don't have a problem with it, but some people walk out. There are two lovely old things two seats behind me who talk right through the first act, and I want to throttle them. Luckily they don't come back for Act Two. Generally, the acting and singing are good - the costumes are very well done - all in all, I enjoyed myself. I'm too tired to go on to the cabaret afterwards... I walk home with a couple of the other Ruddygore people who are up my end of town.
At some bizarre hour, I get a phone call from Australia. One of the BNI people has either forgotten that I've gone to the UK, or they have something really important to tell me. I have no idea, as I can't access my voicemail. I ring the number (which I don't recognise) at about 6am when I realise that I'm not actually going to go back to sleep, in case it's important. The woman who answers the phone has no idea what the call was about, so the heck with it. If it is important, whoever it is can send me an e-mail. I did explain to her that I was in England, where it was 6am, that the phone call had cost me roughly $15 and that I wasn't overjoyed, so could she please not ask anyone to call me back.
At least I had plenty of time for a run. I went up to the Broad Walk, which runs alongside the Pavilion Gardens - it is a road, but it's closed to traffic and it's very pretty. As I jog along, plastic rain poncho flapping in the breeze, I scare the living daylights out of a couple of grey squirrels. For those of you who read and loved the story of Squirrel Nutkin - forget it!! Grey squirrels are manky little things that look like rats. I get up an amazing turn of speed until I realise what they are, then I double back for a look. If Beatrix Potter had had these little horrors for models, she would have written a story about boot-boys stealing cars and beating up old ladies. They don't appeal to me particularly. I find out later that grey squirrels are actually from America and they are pests - enough said! I get in a lap of the gardens before rehearsal and get back in exactly an hour.
I'm on my way home now with a selection of Marks & Spencer salads for tea, planning to spend a happy hour going over my words and music one more time. More news tomorrow!!
posted by Andrea at
10:17 AM
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