Puttin' on the Ritz

Fun packed 2 days with Margaret and Steve in Crich this Easter weekend - but for the first time ever my trusty Fuji Finepix failed me and the 64 beautiful photos I had so carefully and artisticlaly composed were badly corrupted and wouldn't download!

So you won't see the proud photos of Steve showing off his sparkly new kitchen and Margaret with her magnificent simnel cake.

And, after the Good Friday hot cross buns, the photos from our first outing might have been:

• the geosteps
• glimpses of, yes, the Earth's very Crust in the deep lagoon
• the fossil remains of a 75cm long crinoid
• or even the 19 different drystone walling styles from all over Britain (including, I was thrilled to see, one from the Llyn - see a report of a later sighting here)

So where were we?    Well  . . . . the fastinating National Stone Centre Wirksworth of course.

Later that evening I even got a lovely night-time shot of the amazing Ritz Cinema in Belper as we left.  You have just got to go there to experience the ultimate in luxury, intimate cinema experiences.  Just 99 fantasticly wide comfy seats with bags of leg room and drinks holders, huge quality screen and luxury loos to die for just like the real Ritz!!!  And onwards to the Fresh Ground cafe over the road for great little supper with fruit beers.

Then on Easter Saturday, after a sturdy Derbyshire breakfast with it's famous oatcakes, we headed to Heage windmill where the millers greeted us in full dress, before driving over to the opulant Kedleston Hall where you'll just have to imagine my classy photos of the beautifully curved floorboards and the magnificent corinthian pillars in the great entrance hall.

Few images pinched from other sources here:

 

Crinoid diagram (from National Stone Centre website)

A hazier photo than the one I took - but thanks anyway to the Peak District Tourist Board for this image

Kedleston Hall, with thanks to gardenvisit.com