My wife
and I travelled down to Derby on the train on a busy Saturday, and upon arrival
we made our way to the Cathedral Quarter hotel, a fine designer boutique hotel
set in the old police station. The hotel, as its name implies, is in the shadow
of Derby’s fabulously impressive Cathedral, and a mere stone’s throw from the
city centre.
Katy had
spotted an outdoor market on our way to the hotel, so we headed there first.
Within minutes we had bought Christmas gifts galore, and had to go to Bennett’s
department store for a sit down and a spot of afternoon tea. Bennetts is an
amazing place, rather like The Paradise transported to the 21st
century. The tea rooms were truly sumptuous, rather like stepping into a rococo
painting, and are highly recommended, should you ever find yourself in Derby.
Refreshed,
we made our way to the museum and art gallery. This building looks somewhat
unprepossessing from the outside, but contains far more treasures than you
might imagine. For a start, they have the world’s largest collection of Joseph
Wright paintings, which are a treat to behold, and then they have the most
incredible museum of artefacts, which could easily keep anyone enthralled for
days. I was particularly impressed with the natural history displays.
So far, so
good, you might say, but what about the ghost festival?
Well, this
was scheduled for the evening in the market place, an outdoor event. As it was
an incredibly cold night, we left it till the last minute before taking our
seats. Wrapped up in our winter coats, complete with woolly hat, scarf, and
gloves we sat back waiting to be entertained.
The event
was billed as a night like no other, with readings from Derek Acorah, theories
from Richard Felix, séances, table tipping, glass divination, a lone vigil, and
a human pendulum. I was expecting something along the lines of the circus of
horrors, but it was nothing like that at all.
The night began
with Derek Acorah wandering around the audience, picking out some poor soul,
and telling them that he had a message from the other side! Now, maybe I’m just
cynical, but I could not believe any of this stuff, and after half a dozen of
these readings, I was starting to get rather fidgety. Next came the glass
divination, where volunteers were plucked from the shivering audience, to stand
around a table on the makeshift stage, with one finger on an upturned glass.
Suddenly the glass moved towards some helpless individual, which Derek Acorah
insisted was yet another message from someone recently passed over. I don’t
think I have ever been more bored at any stage show in my life, but then, I am
really more of an Oklahoma man, if truth be told!
The
readings from Richard Felix would have sent me to sleep had I been in a warm
theatre, but as the temperature continued to plummet, I just sat there
shivering. Shivering with the cold weather I hasten to add, and not with
fright! Needless to say, we did a runner at the interval. I was hoping for a
quiet drink back at the hotel, but as another guest so aptly wrote on Trip
Advisor “Saturday night was party
night.... I know this because I was made startlingly aware of the music as I
turned into the hotel road by the cathedral, about 100m away”.
The tiny
resident’s bar was packed, as was the cocktail lounge, and partygoers spilled
out into the foyer area. Our trendy boutique hotel turned out to be as busy and
noisy as any Bigg Market pub in Newcastle’s city centre, on a typical Saturday
night out. Not only that, but when I finally got to the bar, I discovered that
they didn’t sell blended whisky, so my hopes of a warming whisky mac were
quickly dashed!
The
following morning had us very confused as the clocks had gone back, and we
couldn’t for the life of us figure out what time it was. Nevertheless, we made
it down to the restaurant in time for breakfast, and had time to look round
Derby one last time, before our train was due.
