27 July 2016 - Buxton Caravan Club Site, Derbyshire

Pat, our hostess, bid us a fond farewell, with a large home-grown tomato as a parting gift. We thanked her for her hospitality but lamented the fact that we had not stayed long enough to see all there was  in the area. We omitted to say that while Sutton Bonington is truly a delightful place to stay, it is not well suited for the likes of us to explore the region; most of what we were interested in was either further north or to the west. While suggesting we might return next year when we caught up on those omissions, I was silently thinking that we would do better to find a base elsewhere.

Our route took us westward along the A50 toward Uttoxeter, pronounced You-toxitor rather than Utta-exeter as I had dared to mouth to my better educated spouse. We turned north a little short of that strangely named town, on the A515, now on a two lane country style road, lined with high hedges in the main part, with few laybys, following  the contour of the land rather than the attempt to avoid up and down-hills that motorways follow.

The countryside in Derbyshire is just lovely, undulating more than that through the counties travelled over the past couple of weeks. Sheep and cattle farming seem to dominate the agricultural scene. And even on arriving and passing through the charming town of Ashbourne on the River Dove, we were soon again into the green open pastoral countryside of the Peak District National Park and in normal keeping with English “National Parks”, populated and worked like any other part of the rural landscape. 

We found a most satisfactory sanctuary near Alsop en le Dale , once the site of a railway station, now a car park and picnic area for those choosing to enjoy the recycled rail trail, either on foot or by cycle. It should therefore come as no surprise that this was a Pay & Display parking area, and to my husband’s credit, he was less scathing about that than I. It would seem he is becoming more tolerant of this than I!

After an hour’s break, time to squeeze in a mid-morning coffee followed by an early lunch, we completed our journey through to Buxton, or more correctly our camp in the Grin Low & Buxton Country Park. 

The town of Buxton is situated in a crater-like indentation of the Peak District, and the park is on the southern lip of the crater, limestone cliffs rising above on one side and pastoral land all about. Approaching Buxton, we noted the many limestone quarries near the road, massive operations, and apparently still very active. Our camp is nestled in the base of such a quarry, but one rehabilitated many years ago.

The 100 acre wood nearby was planted by the 6^th Duke of Devonshire around 1820 to hide the eyesore caused by such quarrying and lime burning in years even earlier. The area is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to the rich variety of animals and birdlife. The level open glades, probably such as we are sitting in, are the remains of waste ash from the 17^th and 18^th century lime burning kilns.

Chris’s sister recommended this camp to us some time ago, remembering the wonderful trips she took with her late husband many years ago. She told us that it was in an old quarry and that birds of prey often nested high on the cliffs, monitored by rangers to see they were not disturbed. Now this was some years ago, and we should have twigged, or at least thought about all of this in a more modern context; there is no internet, no cellphone and no TV reception apart from that via a special booster connection on each site’s service post. I doubt this was even in an issue when Margie and Dave used to go off on their caravan holidays.

After setting up camp this afternoon, and hanging the week’s laundry securely on my little line, we headed across town to the caravan accessory store to buy some fittings for the required TV aerial, so I can now report that my husband is happily watching programmes of his preference. Happy husband; happy life!

Our trip across town was slow due to a multitude of roads either closed or partially closed due to road works. It was not a good introduction to the town, however we were surprised to find it to be larger than expected, and invited further exploration another day.

Our quarry camp

Buxton’s spring of pure water, gushing from the depths of the earth at the rate of 1,500 gallons an hour, were popularised during the late 18^th century by the 5^th Duke of Devonshire. He built grand edifices to draw the tourists to this spot here in the Peaks District and it remained a popular spa town through the Victorian era, although never as popular as those of Bath. However their popularity waned and the spa was eventually closed in 1972.

Later this afternoon, when the sun had made a late appearance and the numbers of fellow campers had swelled, we examined our maps and tour guides and wondered how we would juggle our wish list, especially when considering the dodgy weather forecasted. Only the days ahead will tell.