Five posts now and we’ve still not made the ferry.

After Melton Mowbray we travelled through Rutland and saw a bit of Rutland Water. Not the most scenic lake I’ve ever seen. The good lady spotted a sign to Barnsdale. This was the garden of the late lamented Geoffrey Hamilton (so it goes) of whom the good lady was a fan and it is still running as a commercial concern in the shape of the gardens – for which we had too little time to visit – and a plant centre. Two plants were duly bought.

Then it was a long haul down the A 14 and M 11, then along the A 120, where we stopped at Braintree and shopped at an outlet centre we remembered from three years ago. Once more we dined at the old Embassy Cinema in Braintree.

Along the A 120 once more, then the A 12, stopping for petrol on the outskirts of Colchester. The service area was directly opposite a stadium – which of course I had to photograph. As I suspected it turned out to be Colchester Community Stadium, home of Colchester United FC (since 2008.) Situated at the delightfully named Cuckoo Farm it’s a good, tidy example of the modern stadium style.

When I lived in Braintree I never made it to Colchester’s old ground at Layer Road. I never will now.

Finally along the continued A 120 to Harwich for the night and the morning ferry.

Yet more deco style in Melton Mowbray – mainly in the horizontals and verticals. This is The Mall:-

Just to the right in the picture above you can see the building below whose gable end and central feature suggest deco:

The doorway has strong deco styling. Inscribed above it is Harwood House and round it is, “By Farmers for Farmers” but I think it’s a solicitor’s now.

Higher still the detail shows a cow’s head and a stylised human one.

There was another shop with deco styling, Townrow. The window styling here argues for deco, and the horizontal and vertical stepping, but this part may be pre-deco.

The extension on the right hand side has had its windows mucked up.

The brickwork on yet another shop also argues for deco. If the original windows had been retained that might have clinched it.

And there’s more…. Iceland. Deco stepping over main door:-

Side door detailing:-

Upper portion detailing:-

Round the corner is taken by Boyes:-

Detailing on Boyes’s portion:-

I make that twelve Deco buildings for Melton Mowbray – all packed into a small area.

As I spotted the Regal Cinema I looked down a side street and saw a Deco roofline. I made a mental note but when we worked round to the main street I saw it again. Right beside the building which houses Lloyds Bank.

This building isn’t really curved. The picture is a stitch of two photos to show it all. Good frieze here above the circular feature. At the extreme right in the photo above is the building with the roofline I’d seen earlier. It has a strong corner element:-

Even before those two I’d already photographed Middletons. Good windows and the detail on the roofline at the angled frontage is pleasing:-

Melton Mowbray’s Bargain Buys might be deco. Nice brickwork, whatever.

Bailey’s definitely fits the bill though. Good strong horizontals and verticals:-

We spent the first night away from home in a hotel just outside Derby. On our way there from the motorway we travelled along Brian Clough Way, a nondescript, even dowdy, dual carriageway. Surely there’s a better way to commemorate the man. In the morning we drove into Derby but didn’t know of any suitable parking space so gave up after a drive around the inner ring road and skedaddled back along Mr Clough’s memorial road, taking a right towards the South at Nottingham. (A curiosity was we came across two roundabouts that had roads through their middles, something I’ve never seen before. Is it a Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire thing?)

We stopped at Melton Mowbray, “the Rural Capital of Food.” (Well, 3 years ago we went to Bakewell.) Unfortunately it was market day and the place was heaving. As a result I couldn’t get a photograph of the Pork Pie shop (there was a stall in the way) but we did buy a pie and very nice it was too. Enough for lunch that day and the next. We passed on the Stilton cheese though.

What I didn’t expect was Art Deco. The place is liberally strewn with it. Remarkable for a relatively small town.

The first thing I saw on leaving the car park was the brick side of what looked like a school building but is (now, at any rate,) the King Street Building of Brooksby Melton College.

A bit rectilinear but nice iron work protecting the small windows flanking the entrance. The fan light above the door is good as is the frieze on the portico. Amazingly the windows don’t seem to have been mucked about with.

The next building along is also Deco! The Regal Cinema is a stunner. The decoration on it is sublime. It’s still a working cinema.

See more here.

Superb!

While our main purpose in travelling to Derbyshire was to go round Chatsworth House, it’s only a few miles from Bakewell and I couldn’t resist the urge to visit there.

It’s a lovely small town with a beautiful tree-lined river, the Wye, and made nicer for most of the buildings being constructed from stone rather than, as is mostly the case in England, brick.

This is a view from very close to the town centre. Plenty of geese as you can see, but there were also ducks and swans.

There was a second hand book shop at the edge of the town centre but it wasn’t up to much. The antiques centre off a square had prices which were off-putting.

However, you cannot go to Bakewell without being reminded of its contribution to the culinary world.

I present the Original Bakewell Pudding shop.

I had to cross the road to get the whole shop in.

On the left is a crop of the above photo to show the lettering.

The puddings themselves were displayed in the window on the left of the shop but that’s obscured by the blue car. It has to be said they looked a bit misshapen and amateurish.

That may be to enhance their “home-baked” charm.

But in Bakewell you are spoiled for choice. Trawling further round the town centre I came upon this.

That doesn’t claim to be the original pudding shop.

But just across the street from it is this:-

The first and only original Bakewell Pudding Shop.

Well! Someone’s telling porkies. (Which reminds me. Must get to Melton Mowbray sometime.)

The do all share a green colour scheme though, for some reason.

In the end we didn’t sample a pudding from any of those three.

The Bakewell deli features this placard in its window. Spot the huge meringues on the right of the photo.

Are you a pudding or a tart person?

We opted for a slice each of pudding from here.

Be warned. That stuff is calorific.