Cromford

Firstly , Thank you everyone for the lovely comments , they always make me smile .

This is a non-stitchy post , but I will be back soon with posts about an exchange ,and updates of my new project .

Yesterday we went to Cromford for the afternoon , and had a lovely time . Cromford is close to Matlock Bath in the Derbyshire Peaks , for anyone who doesn't know . There is an old book shop there called Scarthin Books, that we go to occasionally. The shop is not for the faint hearted . It is chock full of books, to the point where you have to squeeze between the shelves , climb over them on the floor and climb up narrow rickety steps to the next level , but it can be a treasure trove of old, out of print ,second hand titles ,as well as the new stuff.

They have a modern art/sculpture on the front wall. Not a great picture , but you get the idea .

We also like to have a look round the old Mill , which now houses a few different shops , but used to be a working mill owned by Sir Richard Arkwright .

So , after browsing the shops and looking at the "waterfall" , we had to pay for more parking so we could go and have an ice cream (a must for the kids ) , and a walk along the old canal tow path. We didn't go as far as we normally do , due to time , but had a nice wander .

I remember when I was at junior school ,we had a trip to Cromford ,and they had an old barge that we took a ride on. It was pulled by a pony called Strawberry , and the people who owned it had a dog called Friday as he just turned up one Friday and decided to stay.

When we got to this bridge , they had to unhook Strawberry and take him over the top , and push the barge through . After that I always had a fascination for canals and barges and did a huge project on them one summer holiday .Whilst walking ,we came across these two baby ducklings on the side of the canal . Mama duck wasn't too far away ,so we stayed back and watched them for a while .And here are some more views from along the way .Hope you enjoy .

Thanks for dropping by , I'll be back soon.

Cath