Matlock is a former spa town that once had 20 hydros in its heyday. Today it is a family tourist attraction on weekdays and biker orientated meeting place at weekends and bank holidays. It has the feel of a seaside town with cable cars. I’m here today with my friend Sue who knows Derbyshire better than most.
Both the Derby Porcelain artists came here and both painted versions of Matlock High Tor so we head along the road looking for it. A few years ago the High Tor was an imposing sight rising up from the river. Not so much now that the trees have grown. Another few years and the top won’t even be visible! Thomas ‘Jockey’ Hill painted another couple of Matlock scenes that also look very sparse and scrubbed compared to the foliage carpeted area that I can now see.
I take the photos and we head for a cafe. It takes us a while to find one amonst the many fish and chip shops and ice cream parlours. The pseudo Victorian cafe looks best. Inside we are greeted with plastic flowers, plastic tablecloths and other things from the far east. There seems to be a museum in there too. Mercifully it is closed or I might be tempted to go in.
On the way back we stop in Belper and I get out my ‘Near Belper’ picture. It’s a house, high on the riverbank and there appears to be several trees or bushes strung across the river in front of it. We stand on the bridge near Strutts Mill and I can see a house up on the hill. It’s been modernised a lot but looking back down to the river I can see it becomes shallower there and some islands of shrubbery have formed.
I haven’t even searched for this but I doubt I’ll find a more convincing scene. On the picture the viewpoint is from the back of the house so I walk up the steep hill towards it. Unfortunately it is not photographer friendly with high fences, gates and dense trees shielding the property. I realise I’m looking like some sort of prowler. I wouldn’t want to see someone lurking in the bushes outside my house with a camera. There’s no way I’m getting the photo so I draw a line under this one.
