We were in an English lesson in the lower sixth and the people taking Geography were off on yet another field trip. We may have advanced the observation that it was not fair.
Our English teacher Mr Haydon or Haden - given how good he was I am ashamed that I cannot be sure of his name - told us to leave it with him.
One of the books we were studying was The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence and. sure enough, he put together a trip to Lawrence Country.
We camped at Whatstandwell in the Derwent valley for a couple of nights and visited Cossall (the Cossethay of the novel) and Eastwood library, which housed a large collection of items connected with Lawrence.
Ever since, the Derwent valley has been special to me and I try to visit Cromford (one station to the north of Whatstandwell on the Matlock branch) every summer.
This is the first of a couple of posts featuring photos taken at Cromford last Augsut. It concentrates on the bridge over the Derwent, Willersley Castle and the part of the village called Scarthin, with its wonderful bookshop and repurposed chapels.
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In 1985, the centenary of Lawrence's birth, an arts bloke told me that it wasn't a good thing to talk about Lawrence in Eastwood. Bert had been dead for years but parents and grandparents had told their stories about him. Bert had patronised, humiliated and embarrassed the people where he lived and who had provided his education. He had adopted a posh name, took up with a bunch of pseuds, and written mucky books. People "who visited Eastwood to discover Lawrence" were just mucky book readers.
On that trip we met a woman in the churchyard at Cossall who told us she preferred books that made you turn the page.
My mother once met a man who had been taught by Lawrence as a boy. He said Lawrence was not slow to use the cane.
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