An idiots guide to an idiot

After a few months of turmoil and uncertainly, no thanks to my company, we have come out the other side and off on a well earned break to the Peak District staying in a village called Winster which is lovely. We're about 6 miles from Bakewell.
Speaking of which, we visited Bakewell the other day, got to say I was disappointed with it, it was just another reasonably nice country town selling crap to tourists, of which there were many, even the Bakewell Puddings were a disappointment. I found them very oily. It may be heresy to say but I think Mr Kipling does a better job with his Bakewell Tarts!

Bakewell Pudding, very oily, I prefer Mr Kipling's!

We went on a really good walk on our first full day here. Five miles from Winster over to the next village, Birchover. The weather was glorious and the walk, to start with anyway, was easily signposted. It was a nice mix of hills some open land and some forestry. Ida loved it, 5 miles vast majority of which was over fields and woodland so she could be off the lead. Eventually got to Birchover (this was no route march, just an amble really) and found The Red Lion open for parched walkers, this as most of the pubs round here are very dog friendly. Another thing that pubs in this part of the world have embraced is veggie & even vegan food so we were able to eat here with filled baguettes & chips washed down with the local ale Birchover Brewery, brewed on site. it slipped down a treat I can tell you! Homeward from here was a little confused though Tara sorted us out and we were on the right track again.

Bolsover Castle near Chesterfield is an interesting place to visit, there some older ruinous bits that were knocked about in the English Civil War and an inner Little Castle, this was the only place dogs couldn't go so we took it in turns to look in this part.

We've eaten at both local pubs and been back to The Old Bowling Green for a quiz night for charity. It's what's called Wakes Week in the village, there's been various events going on but the quiz is the only one we've taken part in. It was all very friendly and light hearted, we finished about mid table from around 20 teams. This wasn't bad as most teams had at least four in and we were just two!
I took Ida on a nice little 3 miler from the village, quite steep up to the top of the hill from the village then we picked up part of the long distance footpath called The Limestone Way, continued on that and closed the circle by returning to the village across fields. Ida lead me straight to The Old Bowling Green for a refreshing pint of Farmers Bitter to end our walk.

Photos of our walk around Winster.

You see Tara does have a choice as well, I don't always just drag the Memsahib to all the old headbangers I like. Tara had found the Elvis Costello was doing one night at Blenheim Palace no less, in Oxfordshire. Abit pricy at £80 each though it was an xmas presie from Oliver which he kindly bought us.
Any hoo, dropped Ida with Ella & Julian for the night and set off for Woodstock mid afternoon. Got there about 4pm, you can't take in your own food & drink because the organisers would far rather rip you off with their food & drink! Just bite the bullet Mark, just bite the bullet! £11 later for a small can of craft beer & a Gin & Orange we looked for food, which wasn't over priced to be honest. Plenty to choose from including a veggie/vegan stall which was good to see though we both plumped for a paella, the Memsahib's being veggie & mine chorizo & chicken. It was very nice indeed eaten on the grass in the beautiful landscaped grandeur of Blenheim Palace, birth place of Winston Churchill & ancestral home to the Dukes of Marlborough all of whom have helped write Britain's history.
Replete, we wandered around some more and eventually joined the throngs to our seats. The stage was set in the courtyard of the palace with seating all on one level.
I was particularly looking forward to seeing the first support act, Nick Lowe. I remembered him of old & also recalled he was stablemates with the legendary guitarist Dave Edmunds with the band Rockpile, so I was disappointed when this old bloke with an acoustic guitar wandered out onto the middle of the stage! Of course I'd over egged it. The programme clearly stated Nick Lowe, nothing about Rockpile.....bugger!
After about his third song, all of which had been about heartbreak, death, getting old & taxes (I think!) Tara turned to me & said 'Thank god I haven't got anything sharp on me!' However he did get better. He played his one hit, 'Cruel to be kind' which is a great song and a Dave Edmunds penned track 'I knew the bride when she used to rock n roll.' He seemed like a jolly likeable fellow & his easy banter with us mugs was nice. He is a great guitarist in his own right ( I thought he only played bass!) and his diction in his songs was very clear. He described himself as the 'Hors d'oeuvre' before the main meal, the 'small bowl of peanuts before the luxury meals' before he started laughing. A good bloke I think. I always thought he looked like my old mate Pete Tomsett, much to his disgust! (Pete's that is!).
After an interlude the second support hit the stage who were The Waterboys, having already seen them at the Cropredy festival a couple of years ago we knew they were very good & they did not disappoint. They describe themselves as a rock band which they certainly are, but the added fiddle player on some tracks leans them alittle towards the folk genre. Mike Scott the singer, lead guitar and mouthpiece of the band looks to us like the love child of Mick Jagger & Janet Street-Porter, a stranger mix I defy you to find. They played a great set with a few singalong numbers as well, great stuff!
Well it is only mid June so you can't really expect any hot summer weather, he says with all the sarcasm he could muster. Once the sun went so the temperature plummeted so our sole goal during this interval was to find a hot drink as we were now huddled up in our winter coats. I thought, as I was wearing shorts that my short fat hairy legs would keep me warm. They didn't. Back to our seats & we were ready for the main event!
Rather strange when Elvis hit the stage as the crowd seemed to have thinned out abit, bearing in mind this was a numbered seat gig, surely there wasn't more people interested in seeing The Waterboys rather then Elvis Costello!?
There was something horribly wrong with the sound for the first couple of tracks, it just seemed out of sync. Faces pulled by Elvis & also his bass player, Elvis then changed guitar and we were off again. It seemed Ok after that.
What can I say about Elvis Costello? His banter with the audience was great, the songs? I think the Memsahib hit the nail on the head with the comment that he appeared to be playing the songs for himself rather than us. Old barnstormers that you knew & hoped he'd play were on the set list but most changed slightly, indeed the setlist on 'setlist.com' quoted here has the word 'cover' after alot of the tracks. My greatest disappointment was the song 'Olivers Army.' A great track I was looking forward to as it has particular resonance with Number Three Son, Oliver,but Elvis! You buggered this song up completely by slowing it down & giving it an almost reggae vibe! No Costello, no! If I want reggae I'll go and see a reggae band, not an old punk like you! Just where was that old punk? Long gone I fear.
Got to then end and Elvis had indeed left the building, rather quickly as it happens as there was no encore. Cue boos from the crowd. Not unjustified I feel.
I'm making it sound like I didn't enjoy it which would be wrong as I did. It was a great day and we'd listened to some great music but Elvis let the side down abit I think. I'd certainly go and see a band at Blenheim Palace again, it's a terrific setting but I wouldn't go and see Elvis again.
Getting around 7000 people out of an estate that was made for horse and carriage rather than car was never going to be easy so we got back to our car and had a few nibbles I'd taken and took our time. Eventually got away and home about 1.30am. It had been a great day.