Peak District: Bakewell & Pooles cavern

We drove up to Derbyshire on Saturday from the south coast, arriving oat out holiday apartment in Litton in the early evening. The apartment we’ve rented is amazing. The living room is probably only a little smaller than our entire flat, it’s in a converted mill building so the ceilings are high and the windows are huge, with views over the river next to us.We’re holidaying with our friends and their little girl, and Athena is madly chasing all over the place after her as she’s a year older and runs rather than crawls!

On Mothers day we strolled around Bakewell, stopping for fish and chips next to the river to feed the ducks and a quick look at the footbridge, which has succumbed to the padlock craze (I wrote more about love padlocks when I visited Frankfurt) but there were loads of people milling about so we didn’t get too close.    

After we’d explored Bakewell a little we drove the scenic route to Buxton, passing quaint little villages and spectacular views across the Dales. We took a tour of Pooles Cavern where we learnt about the history of the caves, dating back 2 million years. There were stalactites and stalagmites, and graffiti dated 1066! How insane is that? Obviously photos don’t do it justice, even if we managed to get good(ish) ones but there are a few above. It is fairly baby friendly, we carried Athena but on the way out we passed a group that had a buggy with them, and as the steps are fairly shallow and only around 20 or so it would be easy to navigate with a buggy.

When we got home we went for a quick walk across the little bridge near the mill to feed the fish, and take stupid family photos, of course!