Monday 17 June 2019

Tissington Well Dressing

After my post a few weeks ago about A Day Out In Derbyshire, I had a lovely message from an Instagram friend who reads my blog telling me about Tissington, which isn't very far away from an area we visited. When we returned later on in the month to look at A Little More Family History, we decided to also call in at Tissington as it coincided with their well dressing festival.


Tissington is a village in the Derbyshire Dales. At the heart of the village is Tissington Hall, a Jacobean building and seat of the FitzHerberts.



It's a pretty village with a population of around 150.



There's some beautiful cottages in the village.


It was quite late when we arrived, after 5pm, but it was the best part of the day, the sun had decided to shine, and there were plenty of people about with the same idea as us, they'd come to see the well dressings.

Tissington has six wells which are decorated for a week each year with pictures formed by pressing flower petals into a clay substrate. There are different theories as to why the tradition exists, one theory is that it dates back to 1348, just after the black death when all in the village escaped, even though those from villages around them were ravaged by the disease. They put their good fortune down to the purity of the water in the wells and began to decorate them in thanksgiving.






I'm sure you'll agree that the pictures are stunning. When you consider how many individual flower petals are used to make each one, it must take a long time and a lot of effort, but definitely worth it for the end results.

There were a couple of refreshment tents on the verges but, unfortunately, they were closed. We'd had a long day and could have done with a cup of tea and a slice of cake before our drive home and there were still plenty of people milling around the village, certainly enough to make keeping the refreshments flowing worthwhile, especially when all the money raised is going towards village projects and charities.

As we walked back through the village to get back to the car we were aware of a man in front of us picking up litter. He turned into a gate which led into the Hall and as we passed a different gate there were a number of dogs, including a cute Pekingese, some Dachshunds and a Labrador, barking at Archie as we passed. The man came and ushered the dogs back inside and after watching Countryfile on catchup from the 26th of May after we'd visited Tissington, I now realise this was Sir Richard FitzHerbert, 9th Baronet. He's certainly a hands on landowner.

We really enjoyed our visit to Tissington and the area is absolutely beautiful. Another place I'm sure we'll return to in the future as we seem to have missed out on a lot of the village visiting after hours, as it were. If you can still find Countryfile on catch up from the 26th of May I'd definitely recommend it, very interesting, and if you're in the area, do visit, though you'll have to wait to see the well dressings until next year now.

34 comments:

  1. Lovely post & what a gorgeous looking village with so few residents. Isn't it grat seeing an informative documentary on somewhere you've been or someone you have met. Thanks for sharing the photos of the wells, have a good week & take care.

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    1. It's such a pretty village, somewhere I'd definitely like to visit again. I'm so pleased I managed to find Countryfile on catch up, it was so interesting, especially as we'd only just visited Tissington.

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  2. How lovely. There was a short news programme about the well dressing last year I think. Best, Jane x

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    1. I've seen other documentaries about the well dressing, it's fascinating how the pictures are created and must take a lot of hard work but the effect is stunning.

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  3. Certainly a lot of work went into decorating those wells, they all look amazing. The cottages look so lovely too, shame they didn't keep the refreshment tent open longer, they must have missed out on quite a few sales.

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    1. It was such a lovely evening, there were still lots of people about. I expect some will have come after work as it was a Friday, a nice outing to start the weekend.

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  4. I thought I recognised the name. Yes I watched Countryfile and it looks like a lovely village and a very hands on landlord by all accounts. Glad you managed to get there and enjoyed your day out.

    Mitzi

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    1. It was a lovely day out. I thought Countryfile was really interesting, I'd like to go back to Tissington now to see the bits we missed with going late in the day.

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  5. I saw the country file for this villaige, it does look a perfect place to live.

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    1. It sounds like a village which still has that community spirit, nice to see in this day and age.

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  6. Lovely post and pictures. The well dressings are certainly varied. xx

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    1. They are. I think there's a good mix, something for everyone.

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  7. Another lovely little village. I could see myself living quite happily in one of those cottages. And those wells look amazing. So much time and effort must have gone into creating them. X

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    1. Oh, me too. I often think how lovely it would be to live in a pretty cottage in a village such as this, though I think in reality it would be a little too quiet for me. The well dressings are fabulous, they look even more stunning up close.

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  8. Another lovely place to visit.

    And what a beautiful tradition... Art via flower petals....

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    1. It's fascinating to see the pictures and how intricate they are, they must take a very long time to make.

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  9. Sounds like an amazing place to live or visit. I am going to try and watch Countryfile on catchup now so that I can have a good look at it. The well dressing is a feast for the eyes, stunning.

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    1. There seems to be a lot of community spirit in the village, something that's lacking in many places today. I hope you manage to find Countryfile on catchup, it's definitely worth watching.

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  10. The wells do look lovely.
    I toonwarched the country file programme. Will you be popppnv into the old fashioned sweetie shop next visit?

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    1. I will definitely be popping into the sweet shop on our next visit. After watching Countryfile I realise that we didn't get to see a lot of the village so it's a good reason to return.

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  11. Such a lovely looking village, and those wells are fantastic.

    All the best Jan

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    1. It's amazing how the pictures are created, a feast for the eyes.

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  12. The well dressing season is upon us and even though Derbyshire is on our doorstep we've not been to any of the events yet. The rain has put us off. It looks as if you picked a good day to visit Tissington. It's a lovely village and puts on a good show for the well dressing. I like the fact that there are several flower displays and there's a nice atmosphere in this quaint village. I'm hoping that we get to at least one well dressing this season.

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    1. I think Tissington well dressing was quite early, we saw signs driving around Derbyshire advertising other villages' festivals and they were all much later. Fingers crossed that the sun puts in an appearance and that you manage to get to at least one of the events.

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  13. I've actually visited Tissington! We took a bus from Buxton and walked to the Monsail trail. It's a beautiful spot and the wells looked amazing and it was great to see your post with all the new designs.

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    1. I'm so pleased you've experienced this lovely festival too. It's a beautiful part of Derbyshire and such a pretty village, I should imagine it's a lovely place to visit even when it's not well dressing season.

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  14. When I was at school in Derby in the 1960s we used to visit Tissington Well Dressings on Ascension Day every year and then go to Dove Dale and walk (climb) up Thorpe Cloud. I always remember the beauty of the well dressings. when we live in Holyhead in the 1990s the English Presbyterian Church had some sort of festival and they did a decoration the same as the well dressings using petals, etc and it was lovely.

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    1. What lovely memories. I'm surprised to hear about the decorations in Holyhead as I'd never heard of well dressings or this type of decoration outside of Derbyshire. It's a lovely tradition which, I'm sure, many people enjoy.

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  15. Fascinating! Loved all the pictures and the story behind them, even if it's not the real reason, it seems very plausible to me. What a nice tradition. Sorry they closed up the refreshments. It does seem odd to do that when money could be made.
    Sandy's Space

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    1. I think it's a wonderful tradition, especially in this day and age when things come so easy to most people. It's nice to stop, think and give thanks for things that most of us take for granted.

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  16. It does look a very nice village, I've always liked village life wherever we've lived. I've questioned the sense of village life many a time in relation to amenities for the boys growing up but overall, it's a quieter life and people know each other. Glad you enjoyed your visit, despite the lack of refreshments, Cathy x

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    1. I love the idea of village life, it all seem so idyllic when you visit a place, but I'm not sure it would be for me in reality. I suppose it has both plus and minus points like anywhere does really.

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  17. Who'd have thought you could do all that with flower petals. Beautiful!
    xx

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    1. They're amazing. They look even better in real life too.

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