Enjoying retirement
In The Red Rose County
We had a few things to do today and I thought I had scheduled well. First to the Trafford Centre to get a refund at John Lewis. Next to Altrincham to pick up my leather jacket repaired by our Afghan tailor. What a lovely man. I asked him about some photos on his wall and he explained that he made a repair for the director of 'Real Housewives of Cheshire' and had then been invited along to the set and to a party with said very bosomy housewives. We must watch some time! Anyway we were now in Cheshire and on our way to Lyme Hall which is a fantastic NT place we can visit with our National Art Pass. We stopped for lunch at one of the Brunning and Price Group's pubs - the Bull's Head at Mottram. Great lunch, excellent value, terrific service, and all in the sort of pub where you really want to be. What an amazing formula B and P have come up with. Renovation of historic buildings, brilliant ales and food and exemplarary staff. Flagged floors, rugs, books, lots and lots of prints. What more could you ask. And we were served by a delightful girl in fetching shorts. Five-stars from me. On re-checking on my mobile for opening hours at Lyme Hall I discovered that my research had been faulty. Today the hall wasn't open! A quick decision was made to drive across the High Peak to Buxton . The last time we had both separately been there was the Sixties. The scenery on the way was amazing. Having parked we came across the main shopping street. Pedestrianised, and with hanging baskets, it looked the part. However on walking the street we discovered that the shops on offer were predominantly down-market. I counted 3 vape or similar shops, betting shops, charity shops etc. Not at all the Harrogate in the Peaks we expected. Disappointed, our spirits were raised somewhat by then coming to the famous Crescent. And very beautiful it was too. I loved seeing the crisp new stones with which it had been revived in recent times. The Buxton Crescent is an iconic, Grade I-listed, Georgian building; one of the most architecturally significant buildings in the country, and one of the first purpose-built hotels in the country. It was built by the fifth Duke of Devonshire in the 1780s as a centrepiece to establish Buxton as a fashionable Georgian spa town. Designed by John Carr of York, it originally housed two hotels and private lodging houses. Following various uses throughout the 20th Century, it closed in 1992. Essential repair works were carried out in the mid-1990s after which the ‘Buxton Crescent and Thermal Spa project’ was launched. The renovation was completed during the summer of 2020 with the hotel and spa opening, in October 2020. Opposite The Crescent is 'The Slopes' very appropriately named. After wandering up and down we crossed the road to the Pavilion Gardens and went in the Winter Conservatory. several rooms and very nice. At the other end of the conservatory we came across what we thought was an exhibition of classical cars. A huge range of splendid vehicles from Sprites to Maseratis. All had labels giving approximate values from roughly say £10k to 20k which I thought very reasonable. Fascinating to see the tremendous variety of cars and to stick ones nose through windows to smell leather and walnut...... What we hadn't twigged was this wasn't an exhibition but an auction taking place in the grand Octagon building. It was really interesting to see the bids going in, the hands being raised and the tension and excitement. We walked back through the rain via the lovely Pavilion Gardens..... At the back of the Crescent we came across this fine modern statue of the man responsible for it and so much else - William Cavendish the Fifth Duke of Devonshire. But why round the back? Next stop, the Savoy Cinema in Heaton Moor, one of Stockport's more affluent suburbs. And very nice it was too with its plush seats and the sort of toilets with real hand towels. We saw 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry' (the book we sold quite well in our shops). One long cliche with Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton as the chief protagonists. But I'm glad we have sen it at last.
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August 2023
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