My other sister-in-law (who lives in Derbyshire) had arranged a family reunion for my sake on the Saturday. To make travelling a bit easier for some of the relatives, she had decided on Bakewell, a place I'd never been to before, and I was really looking forward to the day.
It took us about two hours to drive there, but good part of the drive was through beautiful countryside. A room was booked for the fourteen of us (not everyone could make it this year) at The Peacock, and we had good food in the nicest company you can imagine. It was great to see everyone again and catch up with them.
After the meal, we split up; some of us were more for staying at the pub for teas and coffees, while some others wanted to walk around and explore Bakewell before heading back home. Guess which group I was in ;-)
The town is picturesque, and I did enjoy walking around, but it was very, very busy. Full of tourists - to which the fourteen of us of course added - and I found it difficult to get a proper "feel" for the town's atmosphere, to imagine what living there would be like. It was impossible to take pictures without people on them.
Driving back took another two hours on the motorway, and we were all content in the evening to just have a sandwich and relax in front of the telly. I did my online check-in for the plane on the next day and found it hard to believe that my Yorkshire holiday had already come to an end.
Oh, I can't tell you much I LOVE this!!!
ReplyDeletePLEASE tell me that you had a BAKEWELL TART when you were in Bakewell!!
This just looks so beautiful and the weather just looks perfect!
Those gardens are just so gorgeous!
(I clicked on that link for The Peacock, it looks so nice, but SO expensive!!)
Actually, I did not have a Bakewell Tart while we were there, Kay, but my sister-in-law bought one and we shared it that night in front of the telly after our sarnies. Can't say I was impressed - it was alright, but I much prefer chocolatty desserts or home-made cakes and pies with fresh fruit.
DeleteThe gardens were indeed gorgeous, and with surprisingly few people around. Altogether, I did not enjoy Bakewell that much for the place, but for the meeting up with the family, which meant a lot to me.
I only know the Bakewell Tarts that you can buy in England and I was pleased to see that there is a real place in England called Bakewell, I had no idea.
DeleteIf a place has too many tourists, it can ruin it for me, as I like to be away from crowds.
I loved your photos from your holiday in England, everything looked jolly nice!
Kay, the funny thing about Bakewell is that there are at least TWO shops claiming THEY are the one where the original Bakewell Tart comes from :-) Both are very old buildings that have served as shops or inns for centuries. One has the whole story (legend) of the Bakewell Tart written on the wall. And they were selling teatowels with the "secret recipe" printed on them :-D
DeleteThis town is lovely, especially the gardens! A beautiful place to have in your life. All your holiday looks wonderful, Meike!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kristi! Yes, I am glad my sister-in-law who visits Bakewell often showed me around those gardens. They are certainly the best bit about it, and people take pride in them - rightly so, I think.
DeleteI've been to Bakewell many times Meike and your photos remind me of what parts of it look like. You may recall that i do not hold images in my head so cannot recall what the rest of the town looks like. It was on a road I used to travel frequently in the early years of the last decade but what else is quite odd is that, although I usually have in my mind a pretty good idea of how I reacted to a place when I was there, with Bakewell I have no such clear idea. I obviously couldn't have disliked it but perhaps I didn't positively like it either.
ReplyDeleteYou probably would your reaction to the place if it had been a stronger one, either positive or negative. For me, it was just too busy in a touristy way to fully enjoy it. Also, maybe by that stage I was already entering the mental state of "I don't want to leave", because the next morning I was to be on the train to the airport.
DeleteI used to live near Bakewell when I was young, (one of the many places I lived near) and when I stayed with my grandma we used to go out and visit places in the Peak District. I therefore knew it before it was touristy, just a little workaday town. It was very nice. At that time we visited the Olde Bakewell Pudding shop and had a very nice pudding and the shop was genuinely old fashioned - and the pudding was wonderful. I visited it last about 5 years ago and was aghast at how touristy it had become - and the pudding shop had renovated itself (renovated in an moderately olde worlde fashion but still it had completely lost its atmosphere. The puddings were really expensive too so I did not have one. They still looked as if they were very nice, though, I must admit.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I can say about that is that if it had not become touristy it might have been knocked down by now and replaced by bland parades of modern shops, or road improvement schemes.
I prefer to see them preserved.
Fully agree with you on that one, Jenny - better touristy than blandly "improved"!
DeleteHow interesting to read about the difference in your experiencing Bakewell back then and five years ago, thank you for sharing this!