Bakewell, Derbyshire

Another lovely place to visit if ever you are in Derbyshire is the small market town of Bakewell. This is the Derbyshire Dales area of the Peak District National Park and is famous for three types of cakes: the Bakewell Pudding, the Bakewell Tart and the Bakewell Cake (AKA Cherry Bakewell). The tart is the most famous by name, and consists of shortcrust pastry with a layer of jam and frangipane on top, but what most people think of as Bakewell Tart is actually a Bakewell Cake, which is much the same as the tart, but with a layer of icing and a glace cherry on top. The Bakewell Pudding is supposed to be the most traditional of the three, and is certainly the ugliest. It is made of puff pastry spread with a layer of jam and then a mixture of eggs, almonds, butter and sugar. It looks like a big, blobby brown jam tart, or a very badly made pizza. Don't let the appearance put you off - it is lovely with a cup of tea.

If you walk around the town, you will see various different shops all claiming to be the originators of one or other of these types of cake.

The town itself is very pleasant to walk around, as it has many old fashioned stone houses and shops. There is also a nice walk along the river Wye, where you can feed the ducks, geese, moorhens and trout and see the five-arched 13th Century stone bridge.