The forecast for Saturday was heavy showers and the morning got off to a misty start.  Five cottages out and five back in so after saying goodbye to guests and hello to three cleaners headed off to the Farmers Market.  I didn’t think it was very busy but some of the guests who went later said it was busy.  Another Saturday with a prompt start to cleaning and with no problems this was completed by midday so my checks were finished by lunchtime.  Despite the forecast it stayed sunny and warm during the morning and early afternoon.  About three o’clock there were some rumbles and the sky had darkened over but it was going away from us.  It continued to rumble for about an hour and we saw the first rain about 5pm.   We were obviously lucky and missed the worst of the showers, during the afternoon we could see showers in the distance. Two cottages arrived between 3 and 4pm, two more arrived between 5 and 6pm with final one later in the evening. The forecast for Sunday had been for a fine day except we were the ones under a cloud in the morning with drizzle putting paid to a long walk.  After lunch it started to brighten up so we opted for the Secret Gardens of Bakewell.  This year they were in the south west sector of Bakewell.  If you are driving from Matlock along the A6 as you get into Bakewell there is a 60’s/70’s estate on the left with Burton Closes Hall on the hillside. The Hall was designed by Joseph Paxton and is now a retirement home. The former Lodge to the Burton Closes Hall estate can still be seen from the A6 and was one of the open gardens. We parked near the cemetery further up the hill and took a footpath down to Bakewell which came out right where the gardens were.  Although mainly bungalows in this area most of the gardens were on slopes and some had steep slopes at the rear which led up to a ha-ha. We were able to climb the slopes (at our risk) especially as the mornings rain had made them slippery and from one of the gardens you could see the towers of Haddon Hall but I didn’t want to climb up that slope.  As usual many of the owners were on hand to talk about their gardens and the work they had done to get them to the state they were in, some had photos too.  Nearer the hall some of the houses even had redwood trees in them just like the Chatsworth Estate.  By the time we had done all the gardens we thought we would walk into Bakewell itself just in case we could find somewhere for afternoon tea but most were closing. We walked back to the car, stopping to photo the church and  back at our peak district cottages we had time for tea on the patio before it got too cool.  The dogs had the cows and a balloon to keep them occupied.