There aren’t many places in the UK where you can experience opera inside a cave, see a hotel where Mary Queen of Scots reputedly stayed and drink the freshest mineral water available (although you might want to add an ice cube or two), yet you can do all of this in Buxton. You’d be forgiven if your mind first springs to the bottled water when you think of the town, but there’s so much more to this beautiful town on the edge of the Peak District. Next month it will welcome some of the biggest names in the worlds of Opera, music, books and jazz, along with the odd politician or two, as it hosts the Buxton International Festival from July 4 to 21. The line up includes South African Soprano Golda Schultz, who has performed at opera houses across the globe, jazz band New Orleans Social Club and classical pianist Angela Hewitt. Giving book talks are household names such as newsreader Clive Myrie, TV presenter Rob Rinder and Manchester’s own Andy Burnham, who will appear alongside Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram. Events for the festival will take place across the town, including underground – inside Poole’s Cavern. READ MORE: The charming canal-side café tucked away in leafy Greater Manchester suburb that’s doing something a bit different If you think opera isn’t for you then think again as the festival seeks to make it more accessible to audiences and includes an adapted version of La Tragedie de Carmen by Peter Brooks, based on Georges Bizet’s famous opera. Tickets are available from as low as £10 for under 35s who join the Friends of BIF Next Gen scheme, otherwise the prices range from £25-33. Ahead of the festival I explored Buxton to see what it has to offer for festival-goers and daytrippers alike. It’s only an hour’s drive from Greater Manchester and on a direct train line, so easily done in a day and back. From sampling a full English breakfast with a twist to browsing shops inside old baths, here’s what I got up to. Tuck into breakfast with an Indian twist A day out needs to start with a good breakfast, and Buxton has lots of excellent eateries to choose from. If you’re after something a bit different to your usual fry up, then The Chakra Lounge is the place to go. Located on the main high street Spring Gardens, it serves up breakfast dishes with an Indian twist, as well as lunches and light bites. I had “If Indians Did It”, which is essentially a Full English but with a difference. As well as your usual bacon, sausages, mushrooms, toast and tomatoes, it came with crispy cumin potatoes (a personal favourite), masala-spiced beans and I upgraded my fried egg to Indian Masala scrambled eggs. For an early-morning pick-me-up, wash it all down with a dirty chai latte. Delicious. Stroll through beautiful gardens One thing that struck me about Buxton during my visit was just how green it is. Around every corner you get glimpses of distant hillsides, and within the town itself there are an abundance of green spaces. The gorgeously landscaped Pavilion Gardens are a particular highlight with 23 acres to explore. There’s a boating lake, a miniature train, play areas, manicured-lawns and several bridges crossing the river – just watch out for the geese! As the name suggests the gardens overlook the Pavilion, home to several venues for the Buxton International Festival, including the magnificent Octagon. Free concerts will also be taking place in the park on selected dates, performed by members of the Festival’s Young Artists Programme. A visit to the Pavilion’s Conservatory is a must do: it’s a small yet perfectly formed greenhouse with lush palms and even a fish pond. Go to the Opera House A key feature in Buxton’s landscape, you can’t miss the Opera House. With beautiful Art Nouveau Stained glass signage, it’s a stunning building which is equally impressive on the inside; it could easily be the set for a Wes Anderson film. It first opened in 1903 and was restored to its former glory in 2001. The Opera House is one of the finest examples of Frank Matcham theatre design in the country. Naturally a venue for the festival, it hosts around 450 performances across the year including pantomime, drama and dance. You can even book onto a backstage theatre tour for a behind the scenes look at this magnificent building. Sip on bottled water – for free Of course, no trip to Buxton is complete without sampling what it’s most famous for – water. The town was named by the Romans as Aquae Arnemetiae, meaning ‘waters of the goddess of the grove’ thanks to its thermal waters. Today you can fill up your water bottle for free at the famous St Ann’s Well, which has gained such a fanbase that people will travel far and wide to fill up bottles of the stuff. It’s beside the Pump House, which sits opposite the Crescent and is home to the Buxton Visitor Centre. Here’ll you find another well and it’s where I sampled the famous drink, although you do have to pay for a glass bottle. Surprisingly, it’s rather warm – a toasty 27C in fact – so not quite the refreshing beverage you’d expect. Still, it makes you appreciate where the water comes from when you next purchase a bottle of the stuff. Admire the architecture Even just walking around it’s hard not to be impressed by Buxton’s buildings and, during my visit, I found myself constantly snapping away at any given opportunity, filling my camera roll with far too many pictures. Dominating the skyline is the Devonshire Dome, which was once the largest unsupported form in the world. The building started off life as a stable block, and then became a hospital with soldiers using the nearby ‘Slopes’ for walks as part of their rehabilitation. Today it’s part of the University of Derby. From July 20-21, the dome will host an Art and Design Fair, organised by Peak District Artisans, where you can browse stalls from ceramicists, painters, photographers and more. One of the stand-outs in the town is the Crescent, a Grade I-listed Georgian Building built by the fifth Duke of Devonshire to help establish Buxton as a fashionable spa town. Having closed in 1992 it underwent an extensive renovation project and now it’s home to the luxurious 5-star Buxton Crescent Hotel. Visitors can get a peek inside the crescent through an interactive heritage experience and on certain days can access the breath-taking Assembly Rooms. Round the corner is the Old Hall Hotel, which claims to be the oldest hotel in England. It’s said to be where Mary Queen of Scots stayed when she came to take to the waters in Buxton in the 16th century. Enter a different world inside a cave It’s not just the famous water which can be found underground at Buxton, as on the edge of the town is the magnificent Poole’s Cavern, a two-million-year-old natural limestone cave. A so-called ‘Wonder of the Peak’, this cave has drawn in hundreds of visitors over the years, and even Mary Queen of Scots was said to have paid a visit. The cave is a constant 7C all year round, so when I went it pretty much felt the same as the overcast June day outside (ok, maybe slightly cooler). Entering the cave is like stepping into a different world, with alien-like rock formations including the ‘Flitch of Bacon’ a huge stalactite whose tip is missing, reputedly broken off by explorers. Guided tours reveal the history of the cave and the many tales associated with it. A particularly highlight for me was a section lit up with UV light which effectively illuminates the stalactites and stalagmites (a helpful tip I learnt during my visit to differentiate the two is stalactites ‘hang like tights’ from the ceiling) and creates what can only be described as a nightclub chamber within the cave. It’s in this incredible setting that you can enjoy some opera during the festival, with ‘Opera in the Cavern’ taking place across several dates. Visitors can listen to renditions as they are guided through the underground passageways. Shop under one of the UK’s largest stained glass windows In the Cavendish Arcade you’ll find several independent shops, located in the town’s former Victorian thermal baths. Vastly different to your usual shopping centre, the arcade features beautiful tiles on the wall, the original a plunge pool with a chair which would lower people into the water and a breathtaking barrel vaulted stained glass ceiling designed by Brian Clarke. At the other end of town in High Buxton is Scrivener’s Books and Bookbinding, an Aladdin’s cave of second hand books spread across five floors which could easily be out of a Harry Potter film. The thought of climbing five floors of stairs after hiking up a hill to reach the shop should have filled me with dread, but I was instantly wrapped up in the magic of the shop. Among the towering shelves are cosy reading nooks, and in the basement is a small display with all manner of artefacts and antiques. I could easily have spent hours in there scouring the shelves for hidden gems and I didn’t want to leave.
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