Trips & Adventures – 11 October 2018

We took the train from Manchester Piccadilly to Buxton and then travelled by bus to Bakewell, a small market town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales.

Bakewell is known for the Bakewell pudding, a jam pastry with an egg and ground almond enriched filling. It is not to be confused with Bakewell tart, which is a completely different confection, made with shortcrust pastry, an almond topping and a sponge and jam filling; Mr Kipling also made “Cherry Bakewells”, often also known as Bakewell tarts.

The origins of the pudding are not clear; however, the generally accepted story is that it was first made by accident in 1820 when the landlady of the White Horse Inn (now called the Rutland Arms Hotel) left instructions for her cook to make a jam tart with an egg and almond paste pastry base. The cook, instead of stirring the eggs and almond paste mixture into the pastry, spread it on top of the jam. When cooked the jam rose through the paste. The result was successful enough for it to become a popular dish at the Inn, and commercial variations, usually with icing sugar on top, have spread the name. Three shops in Bakewell offer what they each claim is the original recipe.

We didn’t know the story about the Rutland Arms Hotel so dined at the Red Lion which produced some wonderful home made food. I had chicken breast stuffed with vegetables and feta cheese, a huge salad and “Red Lion” chips. Other members of the group tried hominy pie and fish, chips and mushy peas.

We had a walk round the town of Bakewell including a steep hill up to the Old House Museum and past All Saints church and visited a couple of charity shops to view the books and CDs. We stopped off in Buxton for a coffee on the way back.