Dore to Door internet edition

General interest - Summer 2001

Bakewell Museum - Poem - A short break at the Hasty Choice Hotel - Stars in Dore

Bakewell museum

The Old House Museum is probably Bakewell's best kept secret, tucked away in one of the oldest parts of the town behind the parish church.

The early Tudor building in which it is based, Parsonage House, is reputedly the oldest building in Bakewell, dating from 1538, and is every bit as much of an exhibit as anything in the folk museum itself. The story of its history and rescue from decline and demolition is fascinating.
During the Civil War it was in the ownership of the Parliamentarian Sir John Gell and then leased to Sir Richard Arkwright in the 1740s. His son bought it outright in 1796 and converted it into five tenements for his millworkers. In 1865 the house was acquired briefly by the Duke of Devonshire who then sold it to a local workhouse master called Edward Cunningham.

After his death, 'Cunningham Place', as it was then known, was bought by a Mr Longsden, who re-faced the early 17th century extension and added a scullery. It then passed through the hands of several owners before eventually being condemned by the council in the 1930s. Fortunately the house was eventually saved from demolition by the Bakewell Historical Society, who took it over in 1954.
The tenement partitions and staircases installed by Arkwright were removed and today, thanks to the Society's efforts, Parsonage House exists in something close to its original state, complete with open-timbered chambers and original wattle-and-daub interior walls.
The local bygones in the museum have been donated over the years by local people and all the items have strong associations with Bakewell. Much of the house is re-created as it would have been in Victorian times, with a playroom full of antique toys, a Kitchen and buttery, and displays of agricultural implements and equipment once used by local farriers, cobblers and other craftsmen.

Of particular interest are the excellent antique lace and period costume collections, kept in a carefully controlled atmosphere to protect the delicate fabrics. Other gems include a Tudor plank cupboard discovered plastered into one of the partitioning walls, and an exquisite, inlaid, black Ashford marble table.

To visit The Old House Museum is to take a fascinating journey into the past. The wardens and tour guides all dedicated volunteers - are knowledgeable and, passionate about their subject. It is well worth the walk up from the centre of town and the reasonable entrance fee.

Verb Conjugations

I am a freedom fighter.
You are a guerilla.
He is a terrorist.

I am determined.
You are stubborn.
He is pig-headed.

I am dedicated.
You are single-minded.
He is fanatical.

I am a radical.
You are a socialist.
He is a left-wing loony.

I am right of centre.
You are a Conservative.
He is a hidebound Tory.

I am a Renaissance man.
You are a Jack-of-all-trades.
He is having an Identity crisis.

Ray Butterfield

A short break at the Hasty Choice Hotel

Jingling clothes hangers, as Alec Guinness says in 'My Name Escapes Me', always indicate a third-rate hotel. Sometimes you don't even reach these jinglers, as your spouse (partner) has de-armed or decapitated you by suddenly sliding the wardrobe door across. In some expensive hotels where you might think they'd know better, you lift the hanger off by its stalk, then try to drag your clothes round it. You can't. You've only two hands and one's holding up the hanger. Thief-proof, yes and guest proof too.

Why is there never anywhere to put anything down? No table, no window-sill, just this mammoth built in vertical coffin with two or three dolls' drawers beside it. If there is a table, it's covered in tea-making equipment, often with every variety of tea. Well, almost. No Indian tea, but there is nettle weed, hyacinth-root and ground elder. Or the tea-bar may be crowded onto your bedside locker, with - in the hole where the chamber-pot used to go - a huge leather bound Hotel Guide, smug and important. And an average of three Gideon Bibles.
I was once in a B & B of the dainty kind, which compensated for its scalp-you-now Sir? ceiling with bedside lockers a foot high, which you had to kneel to use.

Dainty B&B's don't approve of reading in bed. If there are bedside lights they give an eerie glimmer, enough to frighten you in the huge wardrobe mirror opposite. What's that haggard elderly person peering at? Is he that same bald man with a waistcoat but no collar, in the sepia photograph on the wall.

Though in hotels there's often nothing on the wall. Nothing that is, except 'What to do in case of fire', and in French, German and Japanese. What it doesn't tell you is how, in your few desperate seconds, to develop enough muscle to open the fire doors which you'll find every few yards along the corridor.

You'll find four identical white towels in your bathroom, two large and two small. How to tell, tomorrow morning, which are yours and which your spouse's (partner's)? Sort it out immediately upon arrival. If there is a hook on the bathroom door, one of you might use that, but hooks are rare in hotels, perhaps to discourage suicide, always a nuisance for hoteliers.

You may find a note exhorting you to use your towels more than once. This you're told will protect the Umwelt (environment). If you don't want to protect the umwelt, it says, throw your towel on the floor! (NB if you do the result will be just the same as if you drape it over the bath. The chamber maid (chamber-person) doesn't want to protect the umwelt.)

If you use the shower you need at least two arms, one to hold the shower over you, and one to wash yourself with. If your don't hold it, it'll slide round immediately and drench the ceiling, the floor and the towels you've put on the corner of the bath for your spouse (partner).
This refinement, like the hand-basin plug that's worked by a knob between the taps, is meant to keep you alert. Look away and your basin is empty. So hold the plug down firmly with one hand. With the other you can do whatever you like.

Thank you for staying at the Hasty Choice Hotel. While we telephone your bank, please fill in this questionnaire and you'll be included in a Prize Draw. If everything wasn't quite to your liking, your friendly staff would like to know. Have a nice day. Come back soon. Enjoy your meal. Drive carefully now.

Glen Fallows

Stars in Dore

Many people are thinking of summer holidays, quite probably to exotic islands where the June/July sunshine may be captured. The further south one goes this summer the more impressive the early evening sky becomes, with the red planet Mars shining brilliantly in the southeast. To the right of Mars is the constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpio) with another very red, but somewhat fainter, object in it. This star is the supergiant Antares, the 'rival to Mars' as the Greeks called it.

The Moon is full on June 5th, glaringly bright, sitting just above Mars, so whilst holiday-makers pose on their hotel balconies in their holiday outfits with a cool glass of Chardonnay, expecting to see Mars, do not anticipate too much during the first two weeks of June. Those on an Hellenic cruise wandering along the deck or returning from a late-night party may notice the planet Venus low in the east just before dawn ! A beautiful crescent Moon hangs beneath Venus on 17th and 18th June. This spectacle can also be seen in Dore. Many of us, I know, prefer to spend summer nearer the Costa del Dore !

Our star chart depicts the mid-summer night sky at 11pm (British Summer Time) in London looking towards the south around 23rd June. It is fairly representative for most places in northern Europe, including Dore, with allowance for time differences as one travels either east or west.

The brightest star high in the east, moving to practically overhead as the night proceeds, is Vega in the constellation of the Harp (Lyra). Very low in the north is Capella (in Auriga, the Charioteer) which twinkles a great deal due to its being seen through the Earth's turbulent and shimmering atmosphere at a very low altitude. Undoubtedly the prettiest constellation is the so-called Northern Crown (Corona Borealis). Seen practically overhead and best when there is no moon about, this little constellation represents a crown given by Bacchus to Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos of Crete. The constellation Hercules lies somewhat lower and to the left.

One point of interest with Hercules is that the Sun appears to be heading in this direction (the solar apex) at 20 kilometres per second if we compare the Sun with all its nearest neighbours. In fact, the Sun, and all the rest of the great local galaxy of stars (the Milky Way) that we belong to, is rotating at more than ten times this speed. One complete rotation takes about 230 million years, so "we" have rotated as a galaxy less than 40 to 50 times since the Big Bang. Not a hectic performance! One is so accustomed to large numbers in astronomy.
One question that is frequently asked by parents is what telescope they should buy for their children when they express a serious interest in the stars. Sharing a telescope with Mum or Dad is probably a good idea since this kind of instrument does require some special care. Also, since a telescope tends to be expensive if it is any good, one should perhaps consider its re-sale if enthusiasm falls off after a year. The fact that it is re-sellable might mean that parents put their hands a little deeper in their pockets!

Most telescopes sold in newspapers or catalogues that come through the front door are a waste of time and money. They neither perform as well as claimed, nor are they as impressive and substantial as the illustrations suggest. A 4- or 5-inch diameter reflecting telescope on a robust mounting, perhaps a Dobsonian mounting, is excellent for a beginner. One should go for the largest diameter affordable and not worry about high magnifications.

If possible, three eyepieces, magnifying x20, x60 and x120, is a good idea for a 4- or 5-inch. Telescopes with electric drives tend to be expensive for a given size of telescope, but if that is what one wants, try a Russian-made instrument by Helios. Computer-controlled telescopes are also available.

Large photographic shops stock telescopes although one could go to Birmingham or Manchester, for example, to specialised astronomical telescope stores. Prices could range from £100 to £400. If interest in the stars continues, then enthusiasts are encouraged to join their local astronomical society. Meetings begin again in the autumn. There is one in Sheffield (Mayfield Educational Centre) and also in Chesterfield. Try contacting Darren at 0114-269-2291. Contact with the author can also be made through the editorial office of Dore to Door magazine, or by e-mail to sales@wheelers-warehouse.co.uk.

Well Dressing Diary 2001

Throughout the spring and summer, a succession of old Derbyshire villages put on well dressings, often associated with a week of village festivities. Sadly due to the Foot & Mouth outbreak some have been cancelled this year, but you can check the up to date situation by ringing the Chesterfield Tourist Information Centre on 01246 345777/8.