Today…

I went on a little adventure to Cromford near Matlock, in the beautiful Derbyshire countryside. I got a train from Leicester station and met up with Kay Ogilvie, my new friend & fellow Curator/colleague, whom I will be working alongside at @macearchive.

The MACE Archive http://www.macearchive.org/

We will be helping people to conduct film searches throughout the East & West Midlands as part of The Full Circle Project, which is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. http://macearchive.wordpress.com/ MACE blog. 

Today we visited the Arkwright Society Mill in Cromford. http://www.arkwrightsociety.org.uk/ and had tea and scones in the coffee shop. Delicious!

After that we then visited The National Stone Centre, Derbyshire. http://www.nationalstonecentre.org.uk/ and checked out the remains of old lead mines, quarrying & had a little hunt for fossils. There is a beautiful Millennium Wall, which is a dry stone wall comprising of rocks from all over the U.K. http://www.nationalstonecentre.org.uk/vs_millenniumwall.html

We then had a drive over to the quaint little town of Wirksworth. http://www.peakdistrictinformation.com/towns/wirksworth.php Where we indulged in a spot of shopping at The Vintage Rooms. A gorgeous boutique selling an array of vintage paraphernalia, so much so that I found it very hard not to buy the whole shop! I left happy with my purchase of a lovely old Pepsi-Cola advertisement clock for just £5! 

After storing the clock safely in the back of Kay’s car, we trundled back down the road to Bonsall, and went to see Kay’s studio where she creates beautiful hand-made textile pieces and then went back to hers for a fresh pot of coffee and a natter.

Before, finally, taking Holly the dog for a walk around the Cromford Meadows.

Then I was on a train again heading back to Leicester.

Home.