The Peak District - A Visit to Buxton

Again, please don't be too cross!  I know Buxton isn't technically in The Peak District, though it is surrounded by it.

It was Tuesday morning and, after a wonderful night's sleep, I was woken by the sound of a hailstorm!!  The weather overnight had been pretty wild with strong winds, which had blown over lots of the pots and even some of the garden furniture around the cottage. 

Mum and dad were joining us again for the day and the plan today was to head for Buxton.  The weather forecast was mixed so we made sure that all the wet weather gear was in the car and headed out. 

We parked in the Pavilion Gardens car park and wandered through the gardens to St Anne's Well, where we got the information we needed to complete an Earth cache.

We were really surprised to see a constant stream of people filling up water bottles from the well. We took some photos and were really shocked to feel the temperature of the water. We had expected it to be icy cold but it wasn't, it was actually really pleasantly warm, 28 degrees to be precise!

We dodged another pretty heavy hailstorm whilst in the Old Thermal Baths, which has been very sympathetically converted into a small shopping arcade, retaining lots of the original features. 

It was really charming, with some lovely vintage and olde worlde shops and lots of evidence of the original purpose of the building, including the old tiling and one of the old baths. 

It was then back outside to pick up another cache up by the railway station before having a good wander up and down the main shopping street.

By now we were pretty darn cold, though we had done really well in missing the showers, and it was time to start to make our way back towards the car. We did this via the No 6, The Square, Tea Rooms. We had a welcome warm up, hot drink and a piece of Mars Bar cheesecake, which was scrummy, for me, before heading back out into the cold. 

We picked up another couple of caches before having a wander through the Pavilion. 

Then it was a few more caches in the park, which is where our luck with the weather ran out and we spent a good few minutes under the trees, sheltering from heavy sleet and rain. It soon passed and we managed to finish our mission before heading back to the car. 

We'd spent a lovely few hours in Buxton and would definitely recommend it for a visit. It was ideal for us today with the weather not being so good. We managed to stay dry, see lots of interesting things and have a good walk too. 

From there it was back to Hartington where we were planning on eating in one of the local pubs. Before we decided where to eat we picked up another couple of caches and made a visit to the cheese shop, where Martin stocked up for the rest of the week.  

We then ummed and ahed on where to eat, between the Devonshire and the hotel and ended up plumping for the hotel, which didn't end up being the best move. 

Whilst our meal was nice enough, the portion size was pretty small, considering the prices charged. It didn't spoil our day, but it didn't really add much to it either. 

We don't know what it would have been like in The Devonshire, but if we eat in this area again, that's where we will try. 

It was then back to The Haybarn for a quick coffee before waving off mum and dad as they headed for home and peace and tranquility reigned again .... Otherwise known as long lie ins and general idleness.