Trip to Derbyshire - Day 2

On the Sunday of our trip we were both up and ready quite early - Lucinda, it turned out, because her bed was a bit broken so she hadn't had a very comfortable night's sleep, bless her. We set off for Eyam quite early as it wasn't too far away. It is the Plague Village - the only place outside of London where the bubonic plague spread in 1665. Villagers sequestered themselves, leaving money in vinegar at the village boundary posts so that nearby villages could bring them goods without risking infection themselves. A stupid number of villagers died, and Eyam now sells itself on the story. I actually read a book set in the village during the plague and reviewed it here several years ago. But I'd never been to the village so was excited to do so. 

We parked near Eyam Hall to begin with, and walked around a little bit, looking at the hall and a small visitors' centre before going up to look at the plague cottages (which sadly aren't original, but are on the site of where they think the plague broke out) and then to the church where only one plague victim is buried - the vicar's wife - as everyone else buried their dead at home or outside of the village boundaries, in the countryside. There were some schoolkids on a trip close by too, they were very well behaved and kept giving me (a disabled person) room to walk on the pavements which is considerate and really helpful to me.

We then went up to the museum, which is pretty cheap and has a lot of history about the plague, of course. Including some science about why some families weren't affected at all, which is interesting as today scientists are saying the same thing about Covid. It wasn't an expensive museum and was pretty cute! 

We then drove up to Mompesson's Well; he was the vicar in the village and I can't remember the facts about it but we did go. By this time we were hungry for lunch so we went to a village nearby and found a cute cafe where we both had focaccia and vegetables. We then went to High Peak Bookstore which I'd been promising Lucinda. I love it there, the books are cheap and they have SO many. We split up and wandered around - I was done earlier than Lucinda so went and sat in the cafe and waited for her, which was of course fine. Then we both had cake and a hot drink before going back to the cottage. We did quite writing for a bit which was good, and I did some cross stitch. We had a picky tea for tea which Lucinda lovingly prepared as I was in quite a lot of pain. It was a good day though. 

Signs in and around Eyam

Eyam (pronounced Eem) Hall

The site of some of the plague cottages

So many people died from so many families, it must have just been horrific

Eyam church, and Lucinda

In the museum

I HATE plague doctors' outfits, they scare the shit out of me! 

Mompesson's Well - Lucinda went closer but I didn't

Focaccia and salad

And mint Aero cake! 

And finally here's what I bought in the bookshop