Bakewell Wool Gathering

Bakewell Wool Gathering was celebrating it's tenth birthday this year. It's a yarn show which isn't all that far away from me, we visit Bakewell and its surrounding areas on days out, and as I hadn't visited this show in the previous nine years, I thought I would rectify that.

It's a much smaller yarn show than something along the lines of Yarndale, but with more than forty exhibitors, there was plenty to see. The £5 entry fee was much more reasonable than the larger shows too. We took Archie with us so Mick walked him by the river whilst I perused the show to my heart's content.

Afterwards, we had a wander around the town. Bakewell Agricultural Centre, where the Wool Gathering is held, is just across a small bridge from the carpark which we usually use, so we were almost in the centre of town anyway. Bakewell is the biggest town in the Peak District's National Park and is situated on the banks of the River Wye.

Padlocks, or lovelocks, have been added to the bridge since 2012 and there really is no space left to add more now, though plans are apparently underway by the county council to remove them so they're able to do routine maintenance work. There must be thousands there, they stretch right the way across the bridge on both sides.

It's a busy town but charming nonetheless. A lot of traffic passes through but there are lots of small streets and quaint courtyards.

I enjoy looking round the small independent shops and gift shops.

Quite a few of the shops are dog friendly too so we're able to look round even when we have Archie with us.

Bakewell is known for it's Bakewell Tart and Bakewell Pudding, and if you're not sure of the difference, take a look at my Bakewell Pudding V Bakewell Tart post which I wrote a few years ago.

There's many shops which sell this local delicacy around the town.

We noticed all these pigeons sat on the roof of a building near the river as we wandered back to the car. "But wait!", I hear you say. "We want to see what you bought at the Wool Gathering".

Just a small, modest haul.

I bought two yarn cakes from Wool is the Answer. They had so many gorgeous colourways, I could have bought more. These are Cinder Toffee and Summer Garden. The Ducky Darlings colourway is Winter Pink.

I don't knit many hats but I thought it would be fun to knit one for myself  and add this faux fur pompom. I bought some stitch holder cords, very handy when you want to try a garment on when you're half way through knitting it. You just slip the stitches onto the cords to make it easier than grappling with a half-knit garment while the stitches are still being held on the needles. I couldn't resist the Christmas Robin kit, it will look cute hanging from the Christmas tree. I did buy something else but that's for a gift so I shall keep that to myself.

There was a lovely bookshop in the town so I also treated myself to a couple of books to add to my classics collection. I've never read either of these before, The Jungle Book and Animal Farm.

It was a lovely day out, a beautiful part of the country with yarn involved too, what more could you ask for.