September trip to Derbyshire and Coventry

In September we took a week’s break to Wirksworth in Derbyshire, via Stratford where we stopped over to see a production of ‘Alls Well that Ends Well’ – a strange play, I would say, but always enjoyable to visit the RSC. The next day we headed north with brief detours to Leamington Spa and Coventry. Coventry has a special significance for Nick as it’s where he was a boy chorister.

The original cathedral was destroyed by bombs in November 1941, when in a single night over 500 people were killed and the city lost two-thirds of its buildings.  The ruins and tower of the old cathedral is joined to the ‘new’ one, which was designed by Sir Basil Spence and finished in 1962.

 

 

 

As well as the Cathedral, we took ourselves on a mini tour of some of the city’s interesting architecture and features… this is the wonderful staircase in the Herbert Art Gallery:

And who knew there was anything Tudor left in Coventry? Look at this courtyard spotted behind railings in Spon Street…

Our next stop was Wirksworth, just north of Derby. We had booked a self-catering flat right in the centre, and I have to say we rather lucked out.

As well as enjoying lolling around in the flat, we managed to get out and about a fair bit.

Our first day trip out was to Eyam, famous for isolating itself during the Black Death. As luck would have it, it was Eyam Carnival that day…

One of the traditions is the roasting of a sheep over a spit – I won’t post a pic of that, but here’s the traditional fayre minus the roast sheep…

Somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit was Hardwick Hall. Sadly half the famous frontage was under scaffolding, but I did my best to avoid it in the photos!

Meanwhile, above stairs…

Difficult not to be impressed by the sheer scale of the rooms and the tapestries, wallpaper and wood carving. It’s a dark interior though, and didn’t feel like there had been a lot of happiness there.

By way of contrast, I absolutely loved Kedleston Hall; actually we both did.

We walked around the perimeter and dodged the showers, before eating our packed lunch on the lawn. On the way home we were caught in a sudden torrential storm – “apocalyptic!” I said to Nick. Then in the pub that evening we learnt that the Queen had died. A sad end to a lovely day.