Introduction
My brother and his family live in Matlock, which is a pretty small town (either way you read that) in the Peak District. They invited both my family and my parents to visit; we stayed in a house near theirs.
Sunday
We all took the train to the even prettier and smaller nearby town of Cromford. To start with, we walked around by the river and the bottom of the cliff.
We had lunch in a café, then set off toward Cromford‘s main attraction, the historic mills (which I've visited before). Bizarrely, these were occupied by a Dalek (and lots of other SF characters) because there was a Comicon in progress.
After one of the party ditched us for that event, we crossed to the canal basin - next to which was, I don‘t know why, a model railway exhibition. It‘s all go in Cromford. After looking at that we took a short walk down the canal to see the dinosaur before finishing the day in another café.
I woke up in the middle of the night and took a picture out of the window. Matlock‘s crane (folded up for the night) was visible from almost everywhere in the town, although it was due to leave shortly after us.
Monday
Our idea of a high-effort day with a three-year-old was if we maybe make it to a Costa, but my brother is made of sterner stuff, and leads countryside walks for the local toddlers (with their parents, he‘s not a complete idiot). This one was to Matlock Bath. It‘s not very far but there is a big hill in the way.
In Matlock Bath we visited the mining museum, which has lots of small tunnels you can climb up/down (for children disappointed by the sad lack of chimney-based employment opportunities).
Tuesday
We took a short walk around and near the town on our own.
I joined my parents for an evening walk, abandoning the rest of my family. We walked across town and (on roads) up the hill on the other side.
There used to be a cable-powered tramway to make it easier to get up the fairly steep street, but we just had to walk.
The attraction at the top of the tramway (not the top of the hill; we walked a little further up) was the ‘hydropathic hotel‘, which is now the headquarters of Derbyshire county council.
Wednesday
There is a preserved railway from Matlock; it continues a few stops after the real railway ends. Would be more useful if they hadn’t got rid of it in the first place, but on the flip side: our son’s first trip on a steam train! (He wasn’t all that bothered.)
From the terminus (after lunch in their quite nice café) we took a short riverside walk.
Then train back.
In the evening we went to Matlock Bath (by bus this time) for a meal out – pizza in a pub – and a short walk afterwards.
Thursday
R wanted a trip to Chatsworth, which is relatively nearby: two buses, the second one being a very nice open-top job.
We’ve visited before so this time we just did the garden, which is very nice and substantially more three-year-old-appropriate than the house.
There is a ridiculously powerful fountain, built to impress the Czar of Russia, who then didn’t visit.
It’s not visible at this size but the house has gold lettering near the roof: ‘Cavendo Tutus’, which is Latin for ‘Far too much ****ing money’.
Friday
On our last day we visited Bakewell, where we neglected to eat a Bakewell tart.
We went to the ‘Old House Museum’, which is great and has (toy) rats you can try to spot in all the rooms.
In the evening we got a takeaway meal and, later, R and I took a walk around nearby parts of Matlock.
That’s it! The next day we were back to slightly-less-picturesque Milton Keynes.