Thursday 1/8 was supposed to be hot at our Bolehill Cottages near Bakewell (see here) once the cloud had dispersed. First thing down to Bakewell to get provisions for the weekend and I noticed all the parking signs were in place for the Bakewell Show . As it was our day off I thought it would be nice to go out for lunch and we needed a new hanging basket bracket so a visit to a garden centre was also required. We opted for Edensor tea rooms and by the time we got there the sun had come out and it was really warm. We had the dogs with us (they were able to sit in the shade) and another couple sat next to us who also had a collie so we got chatting. After a nice lunch we drove the short distance to the Chatsworth Garden Centre where we were able to get the bracket and some other bits. It was still very hot back home although there was a bit of a breeze and later in the afternoon the temperature peaked at 27.4 just beating the temperature of a few weeks ago and giving us the highest temperature this year. We had a lazy (!) evening and had a BBQ and sat out for as long as we could. Friday was still a warm day but not as hot. One departure and one cleaner up. The afternoon went in preparations for Saturday and checking leaflets in the leisure area. Chris also cut the grass. We had been invited to Lynne’s for a BBQ in the evening but with showers making an appearance early evening we decided to wait until they had passed. Chris went out and inspected the gutters during a particularly heavy downpour and we had to give the dogs some of their calming drops. We had an enjoyable few hours with Lynne’s family and friends including Andrew and Joanna but another storm brewed up and was passing very closely down the dale so Chris thought we had better go back and check on the dogs. Just as well as when we drove up the drive we could see the power had gone off. The dogs were not happy especially as the power came on then off again. This went on for a while and then went off completely. The beeps were freaking out the dogs, we had to extricate Blue from behind the TV, so in the end we put Blue in the downstairs toilet for a while where he seemed happier and Smudge just followed us around. We got out the lamps and candles (can’t remember the last time we did that) and went round the cottages handing them out. The power still hadn’t come back by the time we went to bed and the recorded message indicated it would be early morning before we got power back.