Peak District Day 1 - Sheffield, Higger Tor, Chatsworth House & Bakewell
We both ordered Andy Hash - potatoes, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, cheese, and fried egg. It came to the table steamy hot! I found several chunky mushrooms and peppers, but only a few potatoes. It was like shakshuka rather than hash. Cheese was a little bit too much, but overall I liked the dish.
After the rich breakfast, we said bye-bye to Sheffield and headed to Higger Tor hiking trail in Peak District. When we entered the national park, we found ourselves in deep fog...
It was a circular walk to reach Higger Tor, a large gritstone rock formation. However, somehow we took a different path to a deep valley and had to climb up in wild fields to reach an original path that we should have been on. We missed Higger Tor. Instead we had our own special adventure!
Our next stop was Chatsworth House. It's home to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire and has been passed down through 16 generations of the Cavendish family. Fog was gone and the sun came back when we arrived there.
The house has recently completed its biggest renovation in 200 years, spending 10 years and more than 32 million pounds. Now it's shiny both inside and outside. Inside was lavishly decorated with paintings and sculptures. It wasn't like a home but a museum.
After the self-house tour, we explored the 105-acre Chatsworth Garden. Well, we did just a part of it.
Perhaps my favorite part of the garden was Rock Garden. Some trees had lovely autumn colors!
There was a maze. It wan't huge but more complicated than I expected. We gave up reaching the center of the maze...
We also stopped by at Chatsworth Estate Farm Shop and Cafe and had a lunch. We were seated at an outdoor table. I had avocado smash sourdough toasts and J had grilled chicken wraps. Strangely I couldn't find any photos from the lunch. Anyway it was ok. Then we drove to Bakewell, a market town in the Peak District. The town sits on the bank of River Wye. We walked across an old stone bridge (Bakewell Bridge) toward the town center to find the town's most famous desserts - Bakewell puddings and Bakewell tarts!
It is said that Bakewell puddings were invented by a cook at a local inn, then called the White Horse in the 19th century by accident. Bakewell tarts appeared in the 20th century as a variant of the Bakewell puddings. Today Bakewell tarts are very common in England. You can easily find at a bakery and a grocery store. On the other hand, the puddings are not. This was the first time I saw Bakewell puddings in person.
There were several shops that make and sell the tarts and puddings in the town. We tried The Original Bakewell Pudding Shop. They claim that they make puddings by hand from the secret recipe that the shop's founder Mrs Wilson obtained from....whom? This part wasn't clearly explained on their website, but I guess from Mrs Greaves, the White Horse inn's mistress or the cook who invented the recipe?? Anyway, they have such a story to tell about their authenticity as well as a cafe space in the shop, which many competitors don't offer. It was the right place to enjoy a freshly baked pudding in the town!
By the way both the puddings and cakes are made with similar ingredients, so they have similar flavors. However, they are different texture. Bakewell puddings consist of flaky puff pastry shell, jam (raspberry or strawberry), and a custard cream version of almond frangipane filling; Bakewell tarts consists of shortcrust shell, jam (raspberry or strawberry), a cakey sponge version of almond frangipane filling, and a topping of flaked almonds or icing sugar with a candied cherry.
We ordered a large pudding to share. You can choose custard or fresh cream to go with the pudding. We chose custard. The pudding was really hot so was the custard sauce! It was tasty but pretty sweet.
The little town of Bakewell was packed with shops and visitors. With just less than 10 minutes (I guess) walk, we arrived at a church on the hill. It was a peaceful spot looking over the bustling town center. The church, called All Saints church, is recognized as one of the finest medieval parish churches in England.
Most of the current church was built in Early English style in the 13th century while some Norman parts including the large arches at the west end of the nave are remains from the 12th century. The original church at this site was much older. The great collection of Saxon carvings seen inside and outside of the church was proof of it. Other interesting parts of the church were medieval monuments of the Vernon and Manners, including a large tomb of Sir George "King of the Peak" Vernon with his wives. The families controlled around the area for over 900 years.
A nice nature walk, a luxurious stately home and gardens, a picturesque village with an English famous dessert - we have already had a lot of fun on Day 1!
To be continued...
