My Adventures 3

On Saturday the 3^rd August 2024 we woke up after a good night’s sleep at Poplars Farm Campsite. I cooked some bacon rolls and had coffee before we head off out for the day.

We drove for about 40 minutes and parked up at a free spot on Burlington Road in Buxton.

Buxton again is another place on my want to visit list!

We leave the car and walk through the pretty Pavilion Gardens.

Buxton Pavilion Gardens is a Victorian landscaped public park in the spa town of Buxton in Derbyshire. The River Wye flows through the gardens, which are a Grade II* listed public park of Special Historic Interest.

So what I thought was a lake is in supplied by the River Wye.

The park was designed by Edward Milner for the Buxton Improvements Company, following the arrival of the railway to Buxton in 1863. It was opened in August 1871 on a 12-acre site (on the land of the Hall Gardens, given by the 7th Duke of Devonshire) and in 1876 was extended to its present 23 acres of gardens and lakes. There was originally an admission charge to enter the gardens via a ticket office with turnstiles. Milner's design was a development of the 1830s landscape design of the Serpentine Walks (along the River Wye) by Joseph Paxton for the 6th Duke of Devonshire, on what was previously the private gardens of Buxton Old Hall. The three original rustic bridges were removed in Milner's design, with the introduction of ornate iron footbridges, the main one known as the Milner Bridge.

King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra took a tour of the Pavilion Gardens when they visited Buxton in January 1905. During World War I Royal Engineers soldiers based in Buxton used the Pavilion Garden lakes for training exercises to build pontoon bridges. In 1927 responsibility for the Pavilion Gardens was transferred from the Buxton Gardens Company to the Buxton Borough Council.

The old bandstand platform is all that is left of an ancient Celtic temple. It was described in 1755 as having an octagonal base and a faint inscription appearing as 'Aeona'. It was concluded that the temple was dedicated to either Epona (goddess of horses) or more appropriately Apona (goddess of healing waters). When Edward Milner remodelled the Pavilion Gardens in 1871 the 2,000-year-old temple was demolished and only the base now remains.

We follow the path through until we reach the Pavilion itself.

A series of Grade II listed Victorian buildings overlook the Gardens from its northern boundary with a wide promenade in front. The main Pavilion and Conservatory are cast-iron and glass structures from 1870, designed by Milner in the style of London's Crystal Palace. The two-storey central hall of the Pavilion (which now houses the café) was rebuilt in 1983 after a fire. The Conservatory was originally used as a small concert hall with a stage and organ. In 1982 it was remodelled as a greenhouse conservatory with tropical plants and a fish pond.

The Pavilion was extended with the construction in 1875 of the Octagon Concert Hall (by Robert Rippon Duke). With capacity for 800 people, the hall has been used over the years for musical concerts, tea dances, conferences, trade shows, antique fairs and farmers' markets. The Beatles played in the Octagon Concert Hall on two occasions in 1963. The Octagon reopened in 2018 after a three-year £3m refurbishment.

At the north east corner of the Pavilion Gardens is the Buxton Opera House (designed by Frank Matcham). Built in 1903, it is the town's principal theatrical venue with 900 seats. The Opera House was primarily used as a cinema from 1932 until its closure in 1976. The Edwardian theatre reopened for stage productions following its restoration in 1979. Since its full renovation in 2001, the theatre has developed a busy programme of events covering drama, musical concerts, comedy, dance, opera and pantomime. It is also hosts the annual Buxton Festival.

Within the main pavilion complex, the Pavilion Arts Centre on St John's Road has a theatre with 360 seats and it has been the home of the Buxton Cinema since 2017. The building was designed by William Bryden and was built as the Entertainment Stage theatre in 1889. It replaced an earlier theatre in the old hall stables, facing the Old Hall Hotel at the foot of Hall Bank. In 1833 the world-famous violinist Niccolo Paganini performed there but the theatre was demolished in 1854. After the opening of the Buxton Opera House, the Entertainment Stage was converted to show silent movies and was renamed as the Hippodrome. In 1932 it reverted to being used as a performance theatre called The Playhouse. It was subsequently known as the Paxton Suite from 1979 to 2010.

We have a walk about inside and look at the craft stalls and a Buxton Brewery Shop.

We walk out onto The Square and look back at the Opera House, what a great piece of architecture.

Buxton Opera House is in The Square, Buxton, Derbyshire, England. It is a 902-seat opera house that hosts the annual Buxton Festival and the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, among others, as well as pantomime at Christmas, musicals and other entertainments year-round. Hosting live performances until 1927, the theatre then was used mostly as a cinema until 1976. In 1979, it was refurbished and reopened as a venue for live performance.

The Buxton Opera House was built in 1903 and designed by Frank Matcham, who designed the London Palladium, the London Coliseum and many other theatres throughout the UK. The first production at the theatre was Mrs Willoughby’s Kiss. The Opera House ran as a successful theatre, receiving touring companies until 1927, when it was turned into a cinema. Silent films were shown until 1932 when the theatre was wired for sound and could present "talkies". The Opera House also became the venue for an annual summer theatre festival from 1936 to 1942, two of them in conjunction with Lilian Baylis and her London-based Old Vic company. People who performed at the opera house include the actor Alec Guinness, the comedians Ken Dodd, Peter Kay, Harry Hill, Sarah Millican and John Bishop, the musical artists Howard Jones, Aled Jones, Leo Sayer and Razorlight, and the ballerina Anna Pavlova.

After the Second World War, the theatre continued to serve primarily as a cinema. The building was designated a Grade II* listed building in 1970. The Opera House gradually fell into disrepair. In 1976, it was closed and rumours circulated that it would never reopen.

We walk on and turn left onto The Crescent and pass St Ann’s Well.

St Ann's Well is an ancient natural warm spring in Buxton, Derbyshire in England. The drinking well is located at the foot of The Slopes (formerly St Ann's Cliff) and opposite the Crescent hotel and the Old Hall Hotel.

The natural warm waters of Buxton have been revered since Roman times. By the 1520s the spring was dedicated to St Anne (mother of the Virgin Mary) and the curative powers of the waters from the well were reported. A 16th-century act of parliament ruled that a free supply of the spring water must be provided for the town's residents. The geothermal spring rises from about half a mile (1 km) below ground and about a quarter of a million gallons (a million litres) of water flow out per day. The mineral water emerges at a steady 27°C (80°F). Analysis of the water has indicated that it has a high magnesium content and that it originated from rainwater from around 5,000 years ago. The same spring water is bottled and sold as Buxton Mineral Water.

The new St Ann's drinking well of 1852 was designed by architect Henry Currey and it dispensed warm chalybeate (mineral-bearing) spring water alongside a cold water pump. The Pump Room was built next to St Ann's Well in 1894 to dispense the well's water from taps for drinking. The building (designed by Henry Currey) was a gift to the town by the 8th Duke of Devonshire, to safeguard the free public access to the water. In 1895 a new public drinking pump was erected next to the Pump Room. The current water fountain was built in 1940 and is a Grade II listed structure. It is made of ashlar gritstone with a brass lion's head spout pouring water into a marble trough. The inscription over the well is a tribute to Emelie Dorothy Bounds, Councillor of this Borough, by her husband and daughter. The bronze statue of St Ann and child is by the English sculptor Herbert William Palliser (1883–1963). The Pump Room is a Grade II listed building and is now the Buxton Tourist Information centre.

We fill our bottles with free Buxton spring water, it is very warm!

We pop into the visitor centre next door and buy some bottles and fill these for gifts for our children back home.

Opposite the Tourist information is the Crescent itself.

Buxton Crescent is a Grade-I-listed building in the town of Buxton, Derbyshire, England. It owes much to the Royal Crescent in Bath, but has been described by the Royal Institution of British Architects as "more richly decorated and altogether more complex".] It was designed by the architect John Carr of York, and built for the 5th Duke of Devonshire between 1780 and 1789. In 2020, following a multi-year restoration and redevelopment project supported by the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Derbyshire County Council, The Crescent was reopened as a 5-star spa hotel.

The Crescent was built for William Cavendish, the 5th Duke of Devonshire, as part of his scheme to establish Buxton as a fashionable Georgian spa town. The facade forms an arc of a circle facing south-east. It was built as a unified structure incorporating a hotel, five lodging houses, and a grand assembly room with a fine painted ceiling. The Assembly Rooms became the social heart of 18th-century Buxton.

On the ground floor arcade were shops (including a hair and wig-dresser) and kitchens were in the basement. The Great Stables were built in the 1780s (also designed by John Carr for the 5th Duke of Devonshire) to stable up to 120 horses of the guests of the Crescent. A huge central dome was later added and the building is now known as the Devonshire Dome.

By the visitor centre are a collection of classic cars you could hire for a drive around the peaks.

We walk on crossing Terrace Road and onto Spring Gardens to have a look around the shops here.

At the end of Spring Gardens is the railway Viaduct spanning the roads below.

We walk back up the way we came and stop for a Costa Coffee before we head back down to Terrace Road and turn left to head up to the market.

Well the market wasn’t very impressive so we walk back down Terrace Road again and head on down The Slopes.

The Slopes (formerly known as The Terrace) is a Grade-II-listed public park in Buxton, Derbyshire in England. The area was laid out by landscape architect Jeffry Wyatville in 1811 for William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, as pleasure grounds for the guests of The Crescent hotel to promenade. The design of The Terrace was modified further by Sir Joseph Paxton in 1859.

The grassed bank of The Slopes lies between the Town Hall and Higher Buxton at the top and St Ann's Well and the Pump Room (into which the Buxton spring mineral waters were piped) at the bottom, facing The Crescent hotel, the Victorian spa baths and the Old Hall Hotel. The terraced area is intersected with numerous footpaths. The Terrace had previously been a bare hillside known as St Ann's Cliff. In 1787 Major Hayman Rooke uncovered a long section of the Roman town wall, which is now beneath the landscaped hillside of The Slopes. At the same time Rooke also documented details of the base of a temple in the same area, overlooking the site of the baths and springs. The temple was dedicated to the water deity Arnemetia. It had a shrine room set on a rectangular podium, with a columned portico at the front.

Twelve Grade-II*-listed 18th-century decorated limestone urns (originally from Lord Burlington's estate at Londesborough Hall in Yorkshire) are set on gritstone plinths along walled footpaths and stone steps.

Buxton Town Hall looks down from the top of The Slopes. It was designed by William Pollard in a French Renaissance style and built between 1887 and 1889.

The Grade-II-listed war memorial from c.1920 commemorates the soldiers from Buxton who perished in the two World Wars. An ashlar obelisk on a stepped platform is fronted by a bronze statue of Winged Victory holding a sword and a laurel wreath. The sculptor was Louis Frederick Roslyn.

The Met Office climatological station for Buxton is situated on The Slopes directly above the war memorial. The instruments at the station record various meteorological measurements (including temperatures, rainfall, humidity and wind speed and direction), which are read daily by volunteers. Buxton's weather was formally recorded in the grounds of Devonshire Royal Hospital since 1865. The climatological station was relocated to its present site in 1925. It is one of the oldest weather stations in the UK.

The Slopes were restored in 1994 with grants from the European Commission and English Heritage.

We get great views from here back down to The Crescent.

We are now back down on The Crescent and we visit Cavendish Arcades.

Nothing special about the shops, but you can see the old Buxton Bath here which was special.

Buxton's development as a Victorian spa town centred on the reputed healing powers of its natural mineral baths. The Buxton Bath Charity and numerous independent establishments offered hydropathic treatments using the thermal spring waters. Dr William Henry Robertson wrote the definitive guide to the Buxton waters, with its analysis of their medicinal properties.

The Natural Mineral Baths evolved over many centuries and occupy the site of ancient Roman baths and later Georgian baths situated over the main mineral water spring. The current building was constructed in 1853 to the design of Henry Curry and was altered in the 1920s. It was partly refurbished in the mid 20th Century as the town’s tourist information centre but the majority of the building lay empty since 1972.

The baths, along with parts of the adjacent Old Hall Hotel, are now part of the Ensana Buxton Crescent Health Spa Hotel as the Wellness Spa.

We walk back through the Pavilion Gardens and back to the car. We drive on to visit Castleton. I’ve visited here before but wanted Mel to see it and the amazing Winnats Pass to get there.

We reach Winnatts Pass and I’m still in awe driving through here!

Winnats Pass is a hill pass and limestone gorge in the Peak District of Derbyshire, England. The name is a corruption of 'wind gates' due to the swirling winds through the pass. It lies west of the village of Castleton, in the National Trust's High Peak Estate and the High Peak borough of Derbyshire. The road winds through a cleft, surrounded by high limestone ridges. At the foot of the pass is the entrance to Speedwell Cavern, a karst cave accessed through a flooded lead mine, and which is a popular tourist attraction.

In the 1930s, Winnats Pass was the location used for annual access rallies in support of greater access to the moorlands or the Peak District, around the time of the Mass Trespass of Kinder Scout. At their peak these were attended by up to 10,000 people.

The permanent closure of the main A625 road at Mam Tor in 1979 due to subsidence has resulted in Winnats Pass being heavily used by road traffic. However, the narrowness of the road and its maximum gradient of over 28% has caused it to be closed to buses, coaches and vehicles over 7.5 tonnes (7.4 long tons; 8.3 short tons) in weight. The road regularly features in the Tour of the Peak cycle race each autumn.

The gorge of Winnats Pass was once thought to have originated as a giant collapsed cavern; however, this idea has since been superseded. Winnats Pass can be seen to cut steeply down through Lower Carboniferous limestone rocks. These were formed approximately 340 million years ago as a reef fringing a shallow lagoon, with deeper water beyond. The presence of a small outcrop of fossiliferous rock (known as 'beach beds') at the base of Winnats Pass, close to Speedwell Cavern, suggests that a contemporary underwater cleft or canyon once existed within the active reef which caused the build up of shelly and crinoidal remains at its base. All these sediments were subsequently buried together under Namurian sandstones and shales in the subsequent Upper Carboniferous period. They were subsequently uplifted, but were only re-exposed by periglacial erosion towards the end of the Pleistocene. Melting water would have flowed along any lines of weakness within the reef limestone, such as those created by the presence of the original underwater cleft in the reef, carving out the gorge seen today.

Local legend is that the pass is haunted by a young couple Alan and Clara who eloped in 1758, only to be robbed and murdered by miners as they headed through Winnats Pass, on their way to Peak Forest Chapel. The miners hid their bodies in a mine shaft where they were discovered 10 years later.

We drive through Castleton and park at a car park just out of town and walk back in.

We walk up Howe Lane into Castleton, stopping to look in shops.

Castleton is a village and civil parish in the High Peak district of Derbyshire, England, at the western end of the Hope Valley on the Peakshole Water, a tributary of the River Noe, between the Dark Peak to the north and the White Peak to the south. The population was 642 at the 2011 Census.

Castleton village was mentioned as Pechesers in Domesday Book in 1086 where "Arnbiorn and Hundingr held the land of William Peverel's castle in Castleton". This land and Peverel's castle were amongst the manors belonging to William Peverel that also included Bolsover and Glapwell.

We walk up Castle Street and stop to have a cream tea.

Up above is Peveril Castle.

Peveril Castle is a ruined 11th-century castle overlooking the village of Castleton.

St Edmund's Norman church was restored about 1837. It has late 13th-century tracery and an ashlar-faced Perpendicular tower. Its box pews are dated 1661, 1662, 1663 and 1676.

A medieval leper hospital (the Hospital of Saint Mary in the Peak) is thought to have been on the eastern boundary of Castleton, though some locals believe it to have been just south of the Speedwell Cavern footpath from the village. University of Sheffield archaeologists are investigating 'Castle of the Peak', which was reputedly founded by the wife of one of the William Peverels before 1153, and continued until about the 1543 Dissolution. They say the earliest documents referring to Spital Field are a grant and a Charter from the early 14th century. They are also investigating the 12th-century planned town at the foot of the castle hill. Castleton's medieval town defences are still evident in the village and are a Scheduled monument.

We walk on and stop by the Castleton War Memorial and stop in the shop here.

We then walk along The Stones to the picturesque view of the cottages beside the Peakshole Water.

Castleton had a long history of lead mining; the Odin Mine, one of the oldest lead mines in the country, is situated 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mi) west of the village (see also Derbyshire lead mining history). Researchers studying an ice core from a Swiss glacier have found that levels of lead air pollution across Europe during the period 1170–1216 was as high as those of the Industrial Revolution, and the principal source was Peak District mines such as Castleton and Wirksworth. The mining created and enlarged local caverns, four of which are now open to the public as Peak Cavern, Blue John Cavern, Speedwell Cavern and Treak Cliff Cavern. A small amount of Blue John is mined locally, and sold in a number of local gift shops, one of which is located in the 17th-century tollhouse.

Since the 1920s the main mineral industry in the area has been cement. Hope Cement Works is closer to Hope, but its quarry is closer to Castleton. A war memorial stands in the Market Place, in memory of local residents that died during both World Wars.

We walk back through town and back to the car.

We drive back to the campsite and I try to walk a short way from the campsite on the footpath there. I didn’t get far it was all overgrown. I got as far a field full of cows that had calves with them. They wasn’t happy to see me. One was mooing angrily and the whole herd started to chase me. Sod this I thought and headed back to camp.