The Buxton Line: Part 1, Disley and Whaley Bridge

Setting out from our Buxton base, the plan was to visit a few towns and drink a few beers in some of the stops on the railway line towards Stockport.
For part one, we made the 29-minute trip to Disley in the Goyt Valley.

At least there's no danger of going the wrong way from Buxton, where the station marks the end of the line.

One smooth but stiflingly hot journey later, we were the sole passengers to alight at Disley.  We'd crossed the county boundary and were making a rare excursion into Cheshire.

My initial impression of Disley was that the main attraction was watching a constant procession of trucks roaring down the A6.
It's not somewhere you want to be crossing from one side to the other and waiting for gaps in traffic to take pictures of pubs (yet of course I did).

Disley is a town which has grown around transport.  It began as a farming community, before growing rapidly in 1805 with the construction of the Peak Forest Canal.  The old road to Buxton was re-routed to make the journey easier, on what would be the future A6.  Then in 1857 the Stockport-Disley-Whaley Bridge railway line opened, built by LNWR to connect with the existing Cromwell and the High Peaks line.
We set off to find a midday opener for a spot of lunch.

The Dandy Cock (15 Markey Street, Disley, SK12 2AA)
This is a 19th century pub on a fork in the road with an ideal patio for lorry spotting.
Inside you'll find a relatively smart pub with hard-wearing checked carpets, framed local black & white photos of Disley, and half a dozen locals coming and going.

Another unusual feature was the display of vases for sale, the bonus over a regular homeware store being you get to stop for a pint of Robinsons 'Unicorn' while you're here.  On good form, the other option being 'Dizzy Blonde'.
The music playlist had started okay with Aretha Franklin, then slipped a bit with Sixpence None the Richer, finally turning to the horrors of Ed Sheeran and Coldplay.  And I was stuck listening to it whilst waiting for our jacket potatoes to cook (very slowly).

Fed and watered, we set about discovering if there was more of touristic interest in the town than the A6.
Two hours until the micro pub opened, so we walked towards the National Trust Lyme Park.  Our route took us past the railway station then down Red Lane, with smart pads behind the gated driveways (sample price £1,495,000), probably the homes of Salford City footballers.
At the end of the lane are pedestrian gates to the Lyme Park estate, with a grassy hill leading steadily upward to The Cage.

Perched atop a small hill, this sandstone building is an unmissable landmark, with grand views across to Manchester and beyond.  There was an older version of the Cage dating to around 1580, which was then reconstructed in 1737.  What it's for nobody quite knows.  The National Trust suggest it was probably a hunting lodge or grounds keepers lodgings, but not the lock-up that Wiki suggest, despite the name.

The gentle path down the other side of the hill took us to the spectacular house in Lyme.  There's a whole lot of history about the Legh family but all I remember is that it was used in the BBCs adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

We turned left before reaching the house itself and followed the Gritstone Trail on a pleasant loop which eventually took us back to Disley.
Perfect timing would have been knocking on the door at 14:59, but reaching the end of our walk at 15:15 wasn't too bad.

Malt Disley (22 Market St, Disley, SK12 2AA)
This is a quality modern micro in a old shop unit, as happy to serve you cocktails, craft gin, or murky keg beers as cask ale.  They've been open since June 2017 and have picked up a fair few awards since then, including being crowned the local CAMRA winter pub of the season this year.
Three of the four hand pumps were in action on our visit...

From which I picked the Nightjar 'Thatch of the Day' - the best World Cup themed beer name and pump clip I've come across (there's not much competition to be fair).
Being a micro, there are lots of high tables and stools, although a couple of booths along one side offer comfy seating for those who prefer their feet to touch the ground.  We may have been the first customers of the day, but a fair few folks followed us in.

 

Leaving the micro we strolled along the main road until we reaching the trad-looking red-brick Albert, a pub which appears in the 2026 Good Beer Guide.

The Albert (75 Buxton Road, Disley, SK12 2HA)
The building we see today was constructed in 1862 and was owned by long-gone Stockport brewery Daniel Clifton & Co.  It's gone through a bit of a sports bar phase in the not-so-distant past but looks to have been rejuvenated as a community local in the last couple of years.
I suspect it would have had three or four separate rooms at one point, before being opened up into one big L-shaped space.  There's still a small back bar and the tiled corridor leading from the front door.

  

Wainwright 'Amber' or 'Gold' were the ales to choose from, the amber pump clip having gone missing.  They've written "yum" on their makeshift replacement, which is all the convincing I needed.
Despite being a beer that sits distinctly in the boring brown bitter category, this was kept on top form and was an enjoyable pint.
We opted to take our drinks into the back yard.  Perhaps there was just a little bit too much world cup flag bunting within for comfort.

Mrs PropUptheBar must have phoned ahead to warn them I was a bit hot and sweaty after walking through Lyme Park, the Lacura Men ready for me in the gents.
Where someone has tried to remove the Stockport County sticker.

  

We headed back to the railway station and caught a late afternoon train back in the direction of Buxton as far as Whaley Bridge.

Just across the border into Derbyshire, this is a handy jumping off place for canal walks, but the main street of the town is another one scarred by a wickedly busy main road.
As with Disley, it expanded in the industrial revolution when cotton mills were built here.  It's now home to around 6,300 folks who have eight pubs and bars and a bowling club to drink in.
The one we were heading to was the Whaley Nook micro pub.
5pm opening said Google and CAMRA.
7pm said the sign on the door.  Doh!

What to do with an unexpected extra 2-hours in town?
Let's start with the Shepherd's Arms...

Shepherd's Arms (7 Old Road, Whaley Bridge, SK23 7HR)
This is a splendid two-star heritage pub - a real rural gem in the middle of a town.
To the right of the front door is a flagstone-floored tap room with two long tables, bench seating and dumpy stools.

My positivity about Wainwright beer was put to the test with exactly the same duo of Amber and Gold available here.  This time I opted for the 'Gold' which isn't going to win beer of the day but was - again - in decent condition.

Most of the customers had veered to a pleasant garden, providing us with sole use of the lounge.

Okay, stone floors and wooden benches have more character, but when I grumble about pubs having modern makeovers, the lounge bar in the picture above is what I'm thinking they should look like.  That's a proper pub carpet, if ever there was one.
What artwork would the gents WC provide?  Newspaper cuttings, mild smut, retro beer posters? 
Nope - British sheep breeds... 

Whaley Bridge's pubs were very much wet-led / shut on a Tuesday / 'kitchen closed - no food today'.  We decided to investigate the recently re-opened Bridge and Barrel with a name and setting which looked like it should be a micro, except it's not.

The Bridge and Barrel (39 Buxton Road, Whaley Bridge, SK23 7HT)
Formerly Ruby's Bar with an intriguing hint of having had a 'bad reputation' this was taken over by new owners in May of this year.  The ground floor is a dimly-lit L-shaped room with servery and a wall of fake wine barrels, whilst there is a basement bar with pool table downstairs.
Footy on a big TV which the fella on the bar stool kept on commenting to me about despite being sat straight in front of me and obscuring my view.

No cask ale, but all lager at £3.50.
A Dortmunder Pils for me, accompanying our table of tapas...

Okay, so the Bridge and Barrel will disappoint anyone looking for a rustic micro selling Derbyshire home brew and picked eggs, but it did the job for us and by the time we'd polished off all those plates the Whaley Nook would be be open (we hoped).

The front door propped ajar and punters outside with glasses in hand was a good sign.

Whaley Nook (20 Old Road, Whaley Bridge, SK23 7HR)
This micro pub was converted from an old shop, originally opening as a tap room for the Whaley Bridge brewery in 2017.  Within a year that brewery had closed leading to the micro changing hands and becoming 'The Nook'.
It's a pleasant little two-roomer with comfy seating, an impressive keg list and a friendly welcome.
Two of the four hand pumps were in action serving Little Critters 'Roar' and the house beer from Abbeydale: 'Wendy's House'.

Okay there's an overkill of decorative signage, but I was impressed by the collection of seaside postcards in the WC - the best I've seen since visiting micros on the Kent coast. 

As befits a pub called the Nook, the back room, which occasionally plays host to musicians, is named 'The Crannie'.

We only stayed for the one in the micro, keeping an eye on train times.
A fine day out, with a good walk and a variety of pubs.  And we were going to do it all over again the following day with a couple of different stops on the same railway line.