matlock bath

when my friend Oya came to visit in early April, we drove to our favourite places  in Derbyshire Dale, where we usually took our guests in the past. most of our friends who've lived or visited UK before had never been to these laidback town/villages and just as well,  we never got tired of these places, regardless of countless times we've been there.

our first stop was Matlock Bath, which is set in a beautiful gorge of River Derwent with attractive riverside gardens, wooded hillside and rocky limestone crags. it is a popular tourist destination since late 17th century when spa water was discovered. its heyday was in the Victorian times, known as Little Switzerland by the poet, Lord Byron. The Matlock Bath Illuminations are a popular feature from September to the end of October, when the riverside is decorated and the cliffs floodlit to create a magical scene of colour.

 the Jubilee Bridge was built in 1897