A trip to Derbyshire

On 17 May 2010 (our son's 35 birthday), I found myself at Chesterfield station in Derbyshire with a little time of my hands.

To my surprise I discovered a statue of George Stephenson (supposedly one of our distant relatives) of Rocket fame outside the station entrance.

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Stephenson died in Chesterfield and is buried in the nearby churchyard at the church with its famous crooked spire.

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The bronze statue was erected in in 2005 to mark the opening of the new station entrance hall with a man who was so instrumental in the establishment of travel by train.

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I wandered psychogeographically round the precincts of the station entrance admiring the solid red brick architecture.

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And the intricacy of the view up Corporation Street from Crow Lane.

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I also enjoyed the sight and sweetly pungent smell of a flowering dwarf broom hedge (possibly Cytisus x praecox 'Allgold').

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Soon though I was speeding through the Derbyshire Dales countryside at its late spring best en route to East Lodge Hotel, Rowsley (near Chatsworth).

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The teddy bear isn't mine - just part of the hotel service.

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