We spend a couple of days in Matlock Bath back in 2019, and took in peripheral bits of neighbouring Matlock on the way round a lovely circular route. But we never really got to grips with Matlock per se. This year, billeted in Winster, we've been in and out numerous times. It's the county town of Derbyshire; it's the headquarters of Derbyshire County Council; and it's our nearest Big Place.

When Mary Shelley's Dr Frankenstein visits "Matlock", it's actually Matlock Bath that is being referred to. The strange doctor, on his way to Scotland, observes that the neighbouring countryside resembles the scenery of Switzerland, "but every thing is on a lower scale, and the green hills want the crown of distant white Alps, which always attends on the piny mountains of my native country". I'm not sure about the Switzerland comparison, but the countryside around Matlock is certainly very beautiful, with tumbly green hills and deep valleys.

Jane Austen refers to Matlock a couple of times in Pride and Prejudice. It forms part of the itinerary Elizabeth and the Gardiners follow, and offers our heroine a topic of conversation during a tricky moment with Darcy: "He then asked her to walk into the house -- but she declared herself not tired, and they stood together on the lawn. At such a time, much might have been said, and silence was very awkward. She wanted to talk, but there seemed an embargo on every subject. At last she recollected that she had been travelling, and they talked of Matlock and Dove Dale with great perseverance."

LOADS of people have written poems about Matlock and Matlock Bath, and there's a great collection -- of good verse and not so good verse -- here. Included are some lines by Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802), whom we first came across in Lichfield.

Literature aside, it's a lovely place to explore. We did a couple of nice little circuits adapted from this route, and found no shortage of picturesque corners:
























So, three cheers for Matlock. A very pleasant big neighbour.