Cricket in your campervan: A vanlife tour of four fantastic Derbyshire cricket grounds

Theming your campervan tours is a great way to make adventures that little bit more adventurous. You’ll see new places and you’ll discover new things by heading to locations that are perhaps a little bit ‘off the beaten track’. Not that they’re out in the wilds and have never been gazed upon by human eyes, more that they’re a little bit unusual or unexpected. In this edition of our blog we’re theming a campervan tour in the counties around Don Amott, and focusing on four (see what we did there?) of the most handsome cricket grounds you can visit.

1. Buxton

Founded in 1853, Buxton Cricket Club plays at The Park. There are four adult teams in the Derbyshire County League, two adult hard ball ladies’ teams, two soft ball ladies’ teams and a thriving Juniors section. The club also runs All Stars courses.

The club’s picturesque ground was once the highest first-class ground in the country at §just over 1,000 feet above sea level! It has been used by Derbyshire for 44 county championship matches and 10 limited overs games. In 1923 the ground hosted its first ever first class match, with the county team pitted against a touring West Indies side.

Famously, snow stopped play during a Derbyshire county championship game against Lancashire in 1975, with legendary West Indies captain Clive Lloyd scoring 167 not out on the first day before snow stopped play! That is still the best ever batting performance at The Park. The last county game played at The Park was in 1986.

Parking is at something of a premium around the cricket ground, though there are 200 spaces available at the Pavilion Gardens car park (SK17 9AR), which is a five minute walk away and offers a pleasant stroll to The Park for campervanners. The Park itself is a really beautiful spot to watch a knock, surrounded by tall trees and with a pleasant pavilion (which dates back to 1970 when, on its opening day, a record 8,000 spectators packed the ground for a crucial Sunday league game).

If you’re tying in your visit to the cricket to a visit to Buxton itself, there are plenty of other things in this lovely town to keep you entertained. Poole’s Cavern is the most spectacular natural cavern in the Peak District, Solomon’s Temple is a Grade II listed 20ft-high Victorian folly built in 1896 to replace the ruins of a previous tower, and Pavilion Gardens offers 23-acres of Heritage Green Flag award-winning landscaped gardens. There are also plenty of places to get a drink and a bite to eat.

• Cricket ground: SK17 6SN

2. Glossop

Glossop Cricket Club moved to its current home at the North Road Ground in the 1880s, after around 50 years playing in various locations around the town. In 1874, the famous cricketer Dr W G Grace, brought a team to play in Glossop (at their previous ground) and it’s said that over 5,000 spectators turned up to watch. Glossop is also site of some real trailblazing in cricket, and a blue heritage plaque at the North Road ground attests to this fact. Between 1900 and 1903 Charles Augustus Ollivierre played cricket for Glossop. He went on to play for Derbyshire at county level and in doing so became the first black West Indian to play County Cricket in England, as such helping to break down the major barriers of racial prejudice in his lifetime.

There is some parking available at the ground though not much and, as ever, it’s good form to presume this is for players, officials, members and elderly supporters. There are 24 spaces available at Glossop Station, a couple of minutes’ walk away, and a further 61 at the Municipal Buildings. The LIDL and B&M shops are five minutes away and have more parking available.

There are other things to occupy some of your time in Glossop – including an infamous wreck site. The aircraft Over-Exposed crashed at Higher Shelf Stones on a plateau near Glossop in November 1948. All 13 crew were killed instantly. The wreck site remains as a poignant tribute to them, though it must be said that it’s a difficult walk to reach it so be prepared. It’s quite something to stand amidst these shattered and tattered pieces of aircraft. Interestingly, the plane gained its name due to being used as photography vessel during nuclear bomb testing at Bikini Atoll in 1946.

• Cricket ground: SK13 7AS

3. Wirksworth & Middleton

Wirksworth & Middleton Cricket Club is a friendly, sociable and inclusive club which has played out of the picturesque Recreation Ground on Derby Road in Wirksworth, just south of Matlock, since 1849 – though there was a team in existence almost 100 years prior to that! The Recreation Ground has hosted a match against an All-England Eleven in 1866, in front of over 3,000 spectators, and was also used for a couple of first-class county matches by Derbyshire in the 1870s.

Though it’s modest, Wirksworth & Middleton is a real community hub, with events running throughout the year at its charming pavilion. The club fields three teams in the Derbyshire County Cricket League, a Sunday side in the Mansfield Sunday League, youth teams for girls and boys of all ages from up to under-19s, plus All Stars for 5-8 year-olds and Dynamos for 8-11 year-olds. There are also all-girl sides in Lady Taverners competitions and women’s softball cricket.

Parking is at a premium, though there are also spaces available in the Market Place (a couple of minutes away) and the Barmote Croft and Canterbury Road car parks.

Other things to do in Wirksworth include the Star Disc, an illuminated stone circle with a span of 40 feet, with a star chart that mirrors the northern hemisphere’s night sky carved into black granite. The National Stone Centre is a really interesting museum, industrial heritage discovery centre and Site of Special Scientific Interest which contains six disused stone quarries, over 102 old lead mineshafts and four lime kilns.

• Cricket ground: DE4 4AS

4. Bakewell

Bakewell Cricket Club formed in 1861 and plays in exceptionally picturesque surroundings at the Rutland Recreation Ground on Haddon Road, right next to the River Wye in the market town of Bakewell. The club is modest in size and currently only runs a first XI, which plays in division two of the Yorkshire and Derbyshire Cricket League plus Sunday friendlies throughout the cricket season. Off the field the club has excellent facilities including a comfortable pavilion, plus a social atmosphere where visitors can enjoy the camaraderie of fellow cricketers. Bakewell Cricket Club is a real hub of friendship and camaraderie – and the beautiful location really helps too!

Parking is relatively limited right at the ground – but very close by is Smith’s Island, a large and easily accessible car park.

There are plenty of other things to do in Bakewell, but top of the list is to enjoy some Bakewell Pudding, which is what put the market town on the map. Forget the Bakewells you’ve had from your supermarket – they’re just ‘not right’. There are just a handful of bakeries, including The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop, which sell the famous pudding baked to the correct original recipe.

• Cricket ground: DE45 1AH

Image Credit: Shawn – stock.adobe.com

There are, of course, many other cricket grounds in Derbyshire and further afield which are well worthy of a visit. From the humblest village club to the big hitters in the county leagues, our region is a real hotbed of talented wicket-takers and six-hitters. Theming your campervan trip around a visit to some of these lovely locations is a really fun way to give your time on the road some purpose. Choose your new or used campervan from Don Amott and get cricketing!