On my recent visit to Quarry Bank Mill I was reminded of a post from ‘Books Rock My World’ about bookmarks

The Books Rock My World post focused on what people use as bookmarks other than a purpose made bookmark.

Quarry Bank Mill had a display in their second hand bookshop showing bookmarks found within the covers of donated books. In the display is a page from ‘The Windsor Castle Times’ that features Quarry Bank Mill.

For breakfast I chose a variation on my choice of the previous day, scrambled eggs with bacon. It was delicious.

After checking out of the hotel, we drove to Quarry Bank Mill. We had been meaning to return after our previous brief visit for a cup of tea the day before we travelled to Rome in August 2024.

Once again, we started with a cup of tea in the café next to the upper garden before heading to the apprentice house for a guided tour. The tour was interesting but we both felt that our guide was placing today’s values (and her personal point of view) on that period of history. She seemed not to appreciate that the conditions in Quarry Bank Mill were superior to most other mills in the area. The mill owner and his wife took a paternalistic approach towards workers, providing medical care for all and food and limited education to child labourers.

When we left the apprentice house there was torrential rain. We walked to the lower café next to the mill where we had lunch, in my case a Danish pastry. The service in the café was not very efficient leaving Mr C and others to wait an excessive time for tea to be brought to a table next to the serving area.

We visited the mill and its exhibitions showing how the cotton spinning industry developed from hand spinning to increasingly more efficient mechanised spinning and later weaving techniques. The mill was, and still is, powered by a water wheel fed from the nearby River Bollin.

To this day the mill still produces Calico Cotton. I found the history particularly interesting as I have recently read Ken Follet’s book, The Armour of Light, which covers this period of time.

My mother and her family lived in this area and I was aware that one of our ancestors worked in the cotton industry. Looking back at my records after I returned home, I was excited to find that it is possible that he was an overlooker in this mill (I need to do more research).

When we left the mill, we had a mooch around the shop and pre-loved bookshop. It was still raining so we decided not to explore the wider estate walks, leaving them for another day.

On our way home we stopped at Fordhall Farm to pick up some pork and Morrisons to pick up the remaining ingredients for our evening meal of Lemony Pork Piccata. Not quite the same as our tasting menu of the day before but delicious all the same.

Khalil Gibran

On Bank Holiday Monday Paddington Bear invited me to Snugburys to sample his marmalade ice cream. When I arrived, he doffed his hat to welcome me.

Thank you, Paddington. The ice cream was delicious.

We arrived just in time for lunch, my coronation chicken sandwich was delicious. After lunch we had an enjoyable afternoon with a visit to the house followed by a walk round the gardens and woodland.

It was good to visit after over 30 years of driving past the hall when visiting relatives in the Manchester area.

One year later (minus a week) we revisited Jodrell Bank in order to see the new First Light Pavilion which is located within the arboretum. It was still under construction on our previous visit.

Inside the First Light Pavilion will be a spectacular exhibition,  in which visitors can engage with the stories of the amazing scientists and engineers who have worked at Jodrell Bank over the years, and whose stories continue today.

This innovative and interactive new gallery will include displays, objects and artefacts from the site’s rich history and will incorporate the fabric of the original 1957 surface of the Lovell Telescope. Archive footage and large-scale projections will animate the exhibition and bring the past to life.

A beautiful new 130 seat auditorium will also feature, housing an immersive projection space where visitors will be able to watch an animated history of Jodrell Bank. *

Our first stop was Oswestry to pick up a friend of Mr C. The in-car SatNav then took us on an unexpected (un)magical mystery tour through never ending traffic queues. The conversation and laughs we had made up for the inconvenience but I regretted not picking up my portable SatNav which is far better at route planning. When we arrived at Jodrell Bank, 45 minutes later than we planned it was time for lunch, which we enjoyed in the First Light café.

After lunch we walked to the Lovell Telescope and explored the Space Pavilion before it was time for our pre-booked Dome Show. We all thought that the show was rather bland and lacked something. The interactive gallery and display in the other half of the Dome made up for this, the exhibits drew us in to explore the history of the Lovell Telescope and explorations of Space. We will be back to explore the gallery in more detail on a future occasion.

We had afternoon tea including ‘naughty cakes’ and browsed the shop before leaving (empty handed) on our homeward journey. The SatNav behaved itself and took us in the direction we had expected to travel on our outward journey!

*Quoted from the Jodrell Bank website in 2021

After our long day out we decided dine in the Red House on our way home.

The weather was perfect for an afternoon excursion to Beeston Castle. It must be over 20 years since my last visit so most of it was new and surprising to me. The steep arched bridge to the inner keep is my main memory of the castle from my previous visit.

The walk to the inner keep is a steep uphill climb but well worth it for the views that can be seen from there. On a clear day, as today was the Wrekin is visible as are many other distant landmarks.

Whilst in the keep I had a misstep, my foot landed on some dry soil causing me to slide. Rather than slide or fall awkwardly, potentially hurting myself I shifted my balance so that I landed safely on my hands and knees. As I landed there was a loud clunk as my camera (in its case) came in contact with the rocks. I lady quickly rushed to my aid to see if I was alright, followed by a gentleman asking if I needed help to get up. I was grateful to both for caring but a bit bemused by the comment ‘did I need help to get up’. I thanked them both and quickly moved on and as I was ‘carefully’ picking my way along an uneven pathway I was asked ‘if I needed help’. It was a lovely gesture but it left me wondering if I look old and vulnerable!

Safely out of the inner keep we walked through the woods to the amazing reconstructed roundhouse before making our way to the café for afternoon refreshments that included ice cream rather than the usual ‘naughty cake’.

Arthur Rimbaud