The floral theme is strong this weekend with Saturday seeing the start of Carsington Flower Festival (see post below), of Ashford in the Water Well Dressings (continues till Sunday 25th May), and of the Bakewell Garden Festival (Saturday & Sunday).
It continues on Sunday, when Yeldersley Hall gardens are open to the public from 2pm to 5-30pm in aid of Osmaston Church and Primary School and a malaria project in the Gambia. The gardens are noted for their rhododendrons and azaleas, and for more details of the afternoon contact Joan Bailey on 01335 347012.
For the less horticulturally minded there is a historic railway walk from Rowsley Station on Saturday and an RNLI Fun Day on Sunday at Carsington Water. To find out more about these events see our EVENTS BEYOND page.
Also as Mike pointed out the Buxton Antiques Fair, which has already started, continues up to Sunday.
Don’t worry if you start feeling flower power withdrawal next week as Hognaston Flower Festival starts next Thursday, prior to the Open Gardens Season getting into full swing in June. When does anyone find time to do any gardening?
PARWICH.ORG 
We’re thinking of going to the Buxton Antiques Fair: http://www.buxtonantiquesfair.com/ – is it worth a visit?
It is a couple of years since I have been, but it’s usually well worth a visit. It takes a couple of hours to look round. It is the upper end of the market, so the furniture there makes it as good as a trip to a museum, but this also means the prices are smart shop prices (not usually the place to find bargains).
We enjoyed the Buxton Antiques Fair – although purely as spectators, as you’d be lucky to find anything under £200. Some beautiful silverware and furniture, but rather too much Victorian genre painting for our liking (a little goes a long way!). And not much evidence of anybody actually buying anything, it has to be said.
We also visted Lea Gardens, where the rhododendrons are still looking absolutely spectacular. Well worth a visit, if you can get there sooner rather than later.
Victorian paintings in the antique market are something of a mystery to me as well. There are thousands of horrendous paintings for sale at enormous prices. Why will some people pay £20,000 or more for a bad nineteenth landscape by a named artist, when they could buy most wonderful sixteenth and seventeenth century portraits by unknown artists at only £2,000 or £3,000?
Horticultural Society Members don’t forget you can use the Society’s two season tickets for Lea Gardens (phone 287 to book them).
There were also several small and very unassuming L.S. Lowry pencil sketches – little more than doodles really, and the product of what looked like no more than 5 minutes’ effort – selling for around £17,000 to £18,000 each.