And so to the Thursday morning, and the long journey home to Waterbeach, via Dereham. Via lots of food stops.
Starting with sour dough and creamed mushrooms round the corner from the Queen’s Head at Dubbin Gud Food, about as artisanal as Buxton gets.
Apart from the Discount Store, of course.
The journey home looks terrifying when you write it down.
Yes, we stopped in Hartington for the famous cheese shop. Big chunk of Peatland White.
No crusty bread, though.
The village store had all your useful essentials if you couldn’t make the weekly bus to Buxton.
We did a pretend walk as well, so I could tell Mrs RM I’d been walking in the Peaks.
We both like Wirksworth, even if the pub with Bass (and Bathams) is never open when either of us are there.
But Wirksworth had shops, and a GBG tick, almost my last in Derbyshire for the year.
As you’ll see, Charles isn’t going in though.
Due to “unforeseen circumstances“, the Feather Star couldn’t open at noon. “Come back in half an hour“. Grumble grumble.
The bakers in town had closed, the nice café Charles had used before was shut for the Easter Holidays “What !”, and we had to trundle back to the Co-Op for bread. The crumbs are still turning up in my Aygo.
Twenty minutes here gives you a sense of the relaxed feel of the town.
Neither of us actually believed the Feather would be opened when we returned at 12.32, but it was,
and of course there was already a couple of Old Boys in.
“Anyone seen Trevor ?”
“Think he had to go to hospital urgent”
“Oh dear”
At that moment, in walks Trevor and orders his pint.
“That was a miracle recovery, Trevor”
It was clearly going to take more than a trip to A&E to keep him from his lunchtime session and his pork pie.
That was typical of a stunning pubby atmosphere, a real companion piece to Monk Buxton.
We could have ate our bread and cheese in here and not made a mess in my car, it seems.
The landlady was astonishing, and BRAPA can’t get here soon enough. Cheery, irreverent, fastidious about her beer, in fact everything you want in a pub.
Shiny beers form Shiny Brewery that Charles thought the best of the trip, and a Wiper & True Milk Stout that was a bit of a revelation.
As was the upstairs record shop, a little treasure trove of vinyl joy.
And if that’s not enough, some sound advice in the Gents.
A wonderful end to the Buxton trip, though I somehow forgot to buy that Fonz LP when I left.
retiredmartin 
Trevor reminds me of an obit I read the other week about a legendary Fleet Street hack who disappeared from the office and wasn’t seen for three days.
On his return he was asked by the editor where he’d been.
” On the piss ” came the reply.
” Thank goodness for that ” said his editor ” we were beginning to worry that you might have been taken ill. ”
Anyway,trust my luck I stayed in tonight,couldn’t find an illegal stream of the Spurs game and only went and missed another great fightback.
This is what happens when you’re sensible.
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Wirksworth is the friendliest town I know.
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I can believe that. People really make pubs, and this was a bit special.
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Love Hartington. Spent some happy days there. Some old family friends come from the village.
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I went round the cheese factory in Hartington many years ago, a bit like a brewery but with more time for conditioning, and it’s a good one as they don’t pasteurise the cheese.
And I spent eighteen nights at Hartington Hall Youth Hostel from 1981 to 1990 so that was plenty of trips to the pubs thereabouts.
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My best memories of Hartington are of the Devonshire Arms, its DBA and its licensee who when we had a national conference of eighty people in the village realised he could sell us quite a few pints and so gave us free use of the function room for the band I had booked for the Saturday evening and did a marvellous buffet lunch, more than we could possibly eat, at £1.50 per head. That was in February 1988.
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Went to Wirksworth on the old-fangled Diesel from Duffield station. Nothing was open. Don’t think the missus is going to fall for that one again…
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Mark,
I remember that it was great being on the front row of passenger seats on those old-fangled Diesels.
Proper trains they were
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Is there an explanation as to why the Bathams has a “supplied by Burton Bridge Brewery” sticker on it?
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Bathams only delivery to a limited number of places and in this case Burton Bridge will have distributed if further afield, a bit like a beer agency.
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Thank you, that makes sense.
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“A little treasure trove of vinyl joy ” I have one of those upstairs if anyone wants to make me an offer -i’m sure it most be worth about a quid
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Haggle?
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Yours for 95p plus postage -about 50 LP s covering all genres
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Pauline,
‘Urinal joy’ is just as likely on this site.
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Wirksworth has blossomed in recent years and the Feather Star is excellent. Was there yesterday! Fonz album still unsold despite your no doubt hard-headed bargaining.
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The Fonz LP is worthwhile for the original version of “Ally’s Army”, subsequently covered by the 1978 Scottish World Cup squad.
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A top pub! Couldn’t agree more and nothing like a Micro – apart from it’s size and steamed up front shop window of course…did you know Wirksworth has some serous Motorhead connections….
https://lifeafterfootball839.wordpress.com/2017/12/06/we-are-the-road-crew-motorhead-roadies-in-wirksworth/
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