Derbyshire is dotted with marvellous market towns, all a stone’s throw from craggy countryside, fabulous farm shops and grand stately homes. Yet the county’s “Bath of the Midlands” stands tall: at 1,032ft above sea level, the market place in Higher Buxton is thought to be the highest in England.
The spa town sets out its redoubtable stall in elegant style: it is architecturally diverse (Roman, Georgian, Victorian, parks), self-sufficient but also well connected (about an hour’s drive from Manchester, Sheffield and Macclesfield), and a cultural powerhouse.
The Buxton International Festival offers an embarrassment of riches. This year’s event will have five operas, including a new production of the suffragette Dame Ethyl Smyth’s The Boatswain’s Mate, billed as “a humorous battle of the sexes on