We don’t have very many family traditions in our small family, but there are a few games that have been passed down through the generations on my mum’s side, some of which are played whenever there is an extended family gathering at Christmas. One such game involves standing in a circle with everyone holding a big continuous loop of string that passes through everyone’s hands. On the string are one or more rings, borrowed from someone’s finger. The idea is to pass the ring around the circle along the string without the person in middle spotting it’s progress. This is done while we all sing a song called “Paddy From Home” about a young Derby lad who has never ridden on a train. A main part of the lyrics is about Derby Arboretum, a place I had never visited. Now, as my train from Hathersage pulled into Derby station, it was time to put that right.
It turned out that Derby Arboretum is, as the song suggests, beautiful and all serene, fit for any king or queen. It’s perhaps not quite the place it once was. It was Britain’s first specially designed urban public park and was founded in 1840 for the benefit of the citizens of Derby. It was commissioned by local mill owner and one time mayor Joseph Strutt. The adjacent Rose Hill playing field was one of the first areas in England specifically set aside for public sports and games. But for every faded old brick building, like the two Tudor style lodges and what I took to be an old orangery, there was something shiny and new, like tennis courts or some exciting children’s play equipment. There was a fountain and a cafe and, of course, plenty of trees, mostly in their autumn foliage. Local people were out enjoying the sunshine. You could even cycle through it. Heritage Lottery funding in 2002 helped to restore the run down park to what it is again today. I don’t know what I was expecting from this inner city park; but it was an altogether positive experience and I’m very glad I took the trouble.
From here unfolded another very pleasant afternoon of cycling across the midlands along my SSE line to Rugby, a journey of about fifty miles. The first hour from the edge of Derby was along the Cloud Trail, a well surfaced old railway that kept me away from traffic and took me into the National Forest. The countryside Today was pretty gentle, but it was a perfect time to be among trees. Autumn had arrived and it was looking pretty. I had lunch in Coalville, which – as the name suggests – lies at the centre of a former mining area. That has all gone, but the towns and a villages around here are testament to those times. The roads took me through places I didn’t know, in the country between Leicester and Coventry. A lot of it was attractive, and there were some thatched houses and good looking villages to enjoy.
I stopped for a pint in the sinking sun in Lutterworth, a busy little town near the M1, before trotting off the remaining miles to Rugby, where I found a cracking pub serving Belgian Beers. I don’t remember much else after that!
Coalville statue