Shipley - A Rainy Day On Hassock Lane
w/e 14 August 2005
All this week's pictures were taken
with a Kodak DX6490
N.B. Since preparing
this page, the American Adventure Theme Park has gone out of business.
Midway between Ilkeston and Heanor on the A6007 the Ordnance
Survey map shows the word "Shipley". The Parish of
Shipley extends much further than this but all these images were
captured within a few hundred yards of each other near to the
Garden Centre (above) and the entrance on the opposite side of
the road to the American Adventure Theme Park. The colourful
borders did their best to brighten up a dark, damp and dismal
day and if you're wondering what the object on the footpath is,
let's just say a horse had passed this way.
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There were plenty of BOGOF offers (buy one, get one free) in
the Garden Centre of pots and plants and even pot plants, but
most of the customers were content to do their shopping and browsing
within the confines of the buildings due to the steady drizzle
outside.
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Hoping for an improvement in the weather I ventured onto Hassock
Lane. Somewhere near this Lodge, built in 1860, at the corner
of The Field, the road name changes from Hassock Lane North to
Hassock Lane South.
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Back on the other side of the road and a little nearer to Ilkeston,
these cottages are not quite as old being built in 1898. I took
this photo from the protection of a bus shelter as the rain continued
to fall.
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Sheltering under a tree I looked across the road at a public
footpath I had hoped to walk down by the side of Bentley's Plantation
- the trees on the right. First I went a little further along
Hassock Lane beyond the entrance to the theme park. The steady
drizzle continued but full of optimism I was still hoping for
an improvement.
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This view should be familiar to visitors to the American Adventure
but people who know the area well may remember the omnibus garage
occupied the corner where the large sign now stands. At this
point my optimism took a huge blow as the weather took a definite
turn for the worse. With the rain now coming down in the proverbial
"stair rods" I abandoned all thoughts of public footpaths
and Bentley's Plantation, resolved to be a fine weather photographer
and headed for some more shelter.
Drenched I made my way back to the car with one last look along
Hassock Lane South. Some brave soul driving the car in the centre
of the picture was turning right towards the theme park but I
can't believe there were many visitors on a day like this - not
unless they were as daft as me that is and didn't care about
getting wet. But then this is England in August and it's what
we've come to expect in summer. Mind you we shouldn't complain.
The weather has been good this year and with talk of hose pipe
bans in the south of the country, I'm sure the rain will be welcomed
by the water companies - just a shame that it had to come at
the weekend.
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