This was Cora’s birthday and Bonfire Night. This was a great day, and my favorite picture day of this trip to Derbyshire.

It’s just so freaking spectacular up there. This was a stop we made to walk around Bolehill Quarry.

Adam took this photo of Cora and me walking along a path at the quarry.

There was this graveyard of old millstones there. Ian (Adam’s stepdad) told me this long, very believable story about how these were old Roman chariot wheels that had been abandoned in this field as they wore down. He’s an engineering professor and a diabolically good liar, I have learned my lesson. The Malaysian students he brought here on a field trip might still believe the Roman chariot wheel story, though.

This is the churchyard where Little John (of Robin Hood fame) is buried. It’s in Hathersage. We also drove by a manor house rumored to be the inspiration for Thornfield from Jane Eyre, but I learned quickly that several houses in Derbyshire claim the inspiration for Rochester’s house.

After Cora’s birthday lunch at the Cavendish Hotel we paid a visit to David Mellor’s shop, also in Hathersage. He’s famous for designing British stoplights, and Cora and Ian gave us a set of his very famous knives (made of Sheffield steel) for our wedding). We picked up some more goodies from the store, including a giant knife block that I had a helluva time getting into our luggage.

Then it was time for the bonfire and fireworks! I borrowed Cora’s wellies, apparently I was ill-equipped for the classic muddy fields of Bonfire Night.

And it was my very first bonfire. But apparently they don’t have Guy Fawkes effigies anymore, it’s gone out of fashion. I quizzed Adam and his parents to see how much of the “Remember, remember the fifth of November” poem they knew. A lot of “something something”s sprinkled into it, apparently.

Such a wonderful day! And it was really great to have been able to spend Cora’s birthday with her.