Derby

The weather today turned out to be pretty much as forecast, raining until noon followed by three or four hours of brighter periods, and then showers after teatime...by which time we were heading back north in the car. 

I've only ever been to Derby maybe four or five times previously and have never visited the combined museum and art gallery, and the Silk Mill. The museum/art gallery was nothing special and there was nothing to see at the Silk Mill apart from an exhibition related to the 'Weeping Window' display of remembrance poppies.

The journey down to Derby didn't go exactly to plan. We stopped off at Hardwick  Park hoping to eat our sandwiches before going for a short walk around the lakes. The last time we visited I'm sure it was free to park here, but when I saw it would cost £4 we didn't bother and parked up in a lay-by to eat our lunches.

In order to join the trunk road down to Derby we had to pass through Tibshelf and Alfreton and were delayed in both towns; by the carnival procession at Tibshelf and by cars queueing to enter the supermarket car park at Alfreton.

We had nearly four hours in the city, plenty of time for me to take a few photographs...and enjoy a cream tea in the cathedral cafe.

Although I wasn't particularly impressed by the museum the natural history gallery was quite good; plenty of stuffed animals and mounted skeletons.

I've been inside the cathedral before; today's best shots feature the outside of the building though.

The best of the weather conditions coincided with our visit to the Silk Mill; there were plenty of other people taking photographs of the poppies as I patiently waited my turn for the best angles.

We popped in to half a dozen charity shops on our way back to the car park; I bought a couple of pairs of sturdy hiking trousers, with plenty of pockets with zips or buttons.