Shadowing Practice: Real British English Conversations in a Small Town (with Subtitles) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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1
Hello everyone.
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Today we're going on a trip and I'm going to take you to a very special place in Derbyshire.
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It's a place I used to go to a lot as a child.
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By the way, don't worry, I'm not driving.
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My wife's driving.
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Do you want to say hi, Jean?
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Do you want to do a little wave?
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That's Jean driving, carefully.
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Anyway, yeah, we're going to take you to Bakewell which is a historic market town, very close to my house,
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about 20-30 minutes by car.
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And we're going to go into some shops, hopefully speak to some people, maybe do some street interviews.
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So, you know, when we talk about learning English, we do talk about getting out of your comfort zone.
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And that may mean talking to native speakers, joining a language exchange, getting a teacher,
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joining a book club, like these kind of things.
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So I thought it would be interesting for you to see me get out of my comfort zone
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because I'm quite a shy person.
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I would consider myself a bit of an introvert.
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And then now we're going out, I'm going to be filming in public.
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That's a little bit nerve-wracking for me, actually.
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And hopefully doing some interviews.
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I hope we meet only kind people, but that isn't always the case, is it?
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So I think we're going to take you to a sweet
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shop I used to go to as a child as a
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child maybe a second-hand bookshop um i'll show you the birthplace of the famous
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bakewell pudding um it's going to be a real adventure
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and you're going to discover this small town with me
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and i can't wait i hope you are you are as
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excited as i am all right see you soon all All right, so what brings you to Bakewell today?
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So I've been to Bakewell before, last year.
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I just fell in love with the place and then visiting again to there.
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Okay, great.
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So you come here quite often then?
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This is the first time in 12 months.
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In 12 months.
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You sound like you're around Birmingham.
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Am I right?
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Yeah, Birmingham, where?
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My dad's from Birmingham, that's why.
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Oh, okay.
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All right, so you've come all the way from Birmingham today?
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Yeah, took just over two hours.
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Oh, right.
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Yeah.
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And what do you like about Bakewell?
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I just love that it's like an old town.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, just love it.
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Just got a nice feeling about it.
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Yeah.
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Have you tried the Bakewell?
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Do you like the Bakewell pudding?
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Have you had that yet?
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Yeah, we've just had one.
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I'm going to buy some more to take home.
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Yeah, that's what we've done, actually.
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Yeah, can't wait.
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Oh, great.
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And a pasty.
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OK, so do you visit these kind of small towns and villages quite often?
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Not as often as I'd like to, but, yeah, plan to retire here one day.
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Oh, right.
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In Bakewell or Divershift?
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I'd love to.
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Bakewell, yeah.
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Oh, that's really interesting.
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Yeah, I'd love to.
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So what makes Bakewell in particular special?
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I don't even know.
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It's just whenever I come here, it just feels like, it just feels nice, it just feels homely.
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Oh, that's really interesting.
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Yeah, yeah.
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So unfortunately, guys, not many people have accepted to be interviewed today, but I'll keep going.
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Walk with me.
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I just want to see what's down here, really.
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It's supposedly a secret garden.
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and there are these little shops.
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It's a really nice place to sit down here when it's a bit warmer, so you can have a drink.
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Wow, look at these shops.
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Wow, look at that tree, guys.
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Isn't that really interesting?
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Get a close-up on that.
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Amazing.
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So, what brought you to Bakewell today?
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Why, yeah?
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Came to get a passport photograph.
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Oh, nice.
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Yes, we live about 10 miles away.
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OK.
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And we've come to get a passport photograph.
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So you're relatively local then, would you say?
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Yes.
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Yeah, OK.
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And what do you...
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I mean, do you like Bakewell?
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What do you like about Bakewell, if so?
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It's a shopping centre.
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It's very touristy, so we...
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Because we live locally, we probably don't come in a high season.
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Right um but it's um it's a lovely town to visit
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and i've been coming since i was a child
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and used to feed the ducks on the river um
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and it's also a market town right very important
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and it has a good farmers market on saturdays once a month yeah yeah
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so we come to that occasionally
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because there are good cheeses locally produced we do like to
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support local producers both of us have farming in the family
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although we do we didn't work in farming ourselves okay interesting yeah
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and um would i mean i ask people would you say bakewell's your favorite place in derbyshire
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but do you have a favorite place in derbyshire haversidge where
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we live oh you live in haversidge yes okay cold this one out with an outdoor swimming pool absolutely yes
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but it is well heated it is well Well he did.
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Well he did, but it's very popular.
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No, I used to go there as a young boy and stay at the youth hostel.
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Oh right, okay.
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Yeah, but oh that's great.
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Okay.
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So would you recommend others to visit Hathersage?
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Oh well.
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Visit Hathersage.
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And the many other lovely villages and towns in the Peak District.
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Places in the Peak District.
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Yeah.
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And Bakewell is a lovely place to come to.
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So when you come to Bakewell,
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one of the first places I recommend you go is the Georgian house sweet shop just after the bridge,
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and you can try traditional sweets.
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OK?
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All right, are we ready?
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I'm going to turn this over down this way.
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All right, guys, let's go in.
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OK.
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Okay, so here are some traditional sweets.
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Where I'm from, they used to call it spice.
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You would say a bag of spice, but this is probably a few hundred years ago, I'm not sure.
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So if we have a look around, I don't know why I'm speaking in such a quiet voice.
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Now I'm going to look for my favourite, which is Cherry Lips.
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The way you buy these is you choose what you want and you lift it up.
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You take it to the counter and you'll maybe ask for 100 grams, something like this.
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So let's have a look around.
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um
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so gene has chosen the dark chocolate coated almonds um i
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think oh i'm not sure what i'm gonna have to be
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honest with you um i tend to like these sweets these are generally called
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if you look over here these are soft like marshmallows and
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if you go over here these are hard-boiled sweets
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and traditionally they would have quite strong spices in them like aniseed cinnamon
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and they were kind of useful like medicine in a way like we do today
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if you have a cough or a sore throat right I think even have cough drops
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or something right cinnamon balls um i'm just looking for my favorites like
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yeah we're looking for um cherry lips if you have them
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okay thank you anything else no that's very good are you all right yeah yeah yeah So as you can see everyone,
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you choose what you want to have and then you have to carry it too.
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Yeah, I feel like I want something else though, like a little bit, um, something like milk bottles.
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We're a milk bottle.
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There you go, look, dusted milk bottles.
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Perfect.
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You look a bit greedy.
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Do I look a bit greedy?
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Well these, um, It's a real blast from the past coming here.
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Although, yeah, I grew up where you would get like a bag of sweets for 20p or something.
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But anyway, okay.
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Make sure you just film me.
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Okay, hiya.
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100 grams at the each?
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Yes, please, yeah.
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Any mixing or all separate?
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All separate, please, yeah.
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It's a bit of childhood nostalgia for you.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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These kind of old traditional sweet shops don't exist.
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So many have closed.
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A couple who are in this one, they had one in Castleton that's just about half an hour away.
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And they had to close it after Covid because it just killed the business and all over the world.
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So that's just one example that I know of personally.
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Oh, that's sad.
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I didn't know that.
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But so many sweet shops we've got and it's so a shame.
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Because it's such an integral part of our culture.
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I think so too, yeah.
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I really think so.
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Yeah, because growing up, you'd do a little bit of a pick and mix.
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Like a 20p mix or something.
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Yeah, they'd go down to a sweet shop on a Sunday, 20p or 50p, and they'd get a mix.
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And they used to get a lot of their money.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Yeah, and like, I would hate for my favourite sweets, Cherry Lips, which some people say they taste like soap, but I must like the taste of soap, everyone.
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I think they're a bit Marmite.
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I love them and we hate them, but they do sell well. Do they?
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People still ask them, yeah.
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It's that taste of nostalgia, isn't it?
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To be fair, yeah.
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Anything else?
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Nope, that's it, thank you.
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$8.99, thank you.
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So have you always been cash only?
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Yes.
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As far as I'm aware, yeah.
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All right.
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Good job I've got cash then.
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This is Christmas money.
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Thank you very much.
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Thanks, Nana.
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Yeah, it is.
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It's a very childlike way of spending your Christmas money.
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It is a bit of childlike ways.
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You're not the first person to say that to use this Christmas.
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I don't know.
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You're a leprosymane.
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Thank you.
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Okay, now we're going to take you to the birthplace of the famous Bakewell pudding.
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I hope you can hear us all right, because it is quite loud on the main road here.
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It's also quite busy down there.
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So, Gina, are you excited?
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I'm very excited.
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What are you excited about?
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About the pudding.
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Shall we have a look at the house prices while we're here?
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So the average house in Bakewell...
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Oh, that's the one that drove past.
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Oh, that's £550,000.
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Half a million.
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Half a million pounds here.
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Hmm, compared to the last time I came here, there are some empty shops, guys, which is quite sad to see.
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These guys also seem to be closed, don't they?
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But this place looks like it's new.
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Oh, wow.
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Maybe we can even go there and have some food and a drink later.
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Right, now we're going to go inside Bloomer's, which is, in my opinion, the best place to buy a real Bakewell pudding.
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As we go in, I'll probably have to ask if it's OK to film.
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Hopefully they say yes, and hopefully they agree to being interviewed. So wish me luck.
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I'm privileged to be here, guys, with the owners of Bloomers.
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Yes, yes.
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Amazing.
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So how long has this been open?
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1800s.
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That's when Bloomers first came around.
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18-something.
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1889. So did bloomers claim the throne of creating the Bakewell pudding?
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What's the history of the Bakewell pudding?
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Well, I think that basically the pudding came around from a mistake back in the early 1800s.
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And it's hard to find the first recipe or the original recipe.
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But our recipe is a documented recipe.
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We have the piece of paper from 1889.
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So how close is the very first mistake, mistaken sort of Bakewell pudding, we don't know, but it's as old as they come, you know, 1889 recipe.
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And then, yeah, so from then onwards, sort of bloomers popped up in Bakewell.
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Was the mistake with the Bakewell tart, like they'd spread the jam or something and they didn't mix it or something like that?
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Was that the mistake?
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What I understand with these for the pudding is the chef was asked to make a dessert
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and instead of putting ground almonds she put in no instead of putting plain flour she put in ground almonds
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and made the pudding but everybody really liked it so that's how it was born
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and then about a hundred years later i think the bakewell tart came
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so that's short crust pastry jam and an almond sponge
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and then the tart with the with the cherry on top is very much a mr kipling
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influenced so nothing to do with bakewell
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and the puddings um puff pastry jam set almond custard
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so we educate the people of bakewell and the visitors
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that the puddings they're authentic
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and do you have a favorite um can i say i've
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never tried a pudding in my life am i allowed to say
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that we're leaving we're leaving that would be my that would be my favorites.
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I find the ice is probably sweet enough.
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I mean, I'll eat it, but I need to try putting it.
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But these we always say these are nice and warm.
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Yeah, yeah.
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With a bit of custard.
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Yeah, yeah.
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So are you from Bakewell?
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Or where were you guys from?
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Yeah, both of us from Bakewell.
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Oh, fantastic.
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Are you also from Bakewell?
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I live about six miles away, but I'm a Midlands girl.
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So I moved here 30 odd years ago.
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No, because I just wanted to ask how Bakewell has changed, basically, in the past maybe 10, 20 years.
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The cattle market used to be on the main guard bar.
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Right.
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That's the main one.
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It's changed and it's moved over to the agricultural centre.
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Right.
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That's probably the big one for Bakewell.
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It's moved.
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Yeah.
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I feel like the biggest change has been in the shop ownerships.
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I remember when we were growing up, we would, for example, see the Bloomer's van coming down past the school you know the infant school uh
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and it was always like everybody kind of knew everybody
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so you'd know that you know my parents would know who owned bloomers
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and and they'd know who owned the shop down there whereas it doesn't necessarily feel
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so much that way anymore
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so i think it's not that's one of the nice things about us taking over bloomers is we're from bakewell
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and keeping it going absolutely
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but you know like a lot of these shops are not necessarily owned
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and ran by people from bake
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but we just we just that's a big change cornish bakery
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and there's like a new cafe and it and it said Cornish Bakery, like you said.
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Yeah.
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So you don't know those owners?
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Well, they're a chain, you see. Are they?
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Yeah.
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They have a lot of owners.
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Same with the pubs.
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Pubs as well?
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Yeah, I think you used to...
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When we were 18, you'd know the landlord and landlady.
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Right.
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I don't think you'd do that now.
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There's only really the queens that I could tell you their full names.
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Do you think Bakewell's become more touristy over the years, or has it always been a tourist...?
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Yeah, I think it always has been.
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We do have our regulars, and they come when it's not the weekend, when it's not the holidays.
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We know some of our customers by their Christian names.
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We do have some very loyal people to Bloomers who also remind us of the story of Bloomers.
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I remember when we used to get a warm pork pie from Nelson.
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So it's lovely that it's still here.
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And you said you were originally from the Midlands.
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What brought you to Bakewell? husband okay it wasn't the baker
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we were waiting we were waiting for you to say the bakewell pudding no work of job
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but i consider derbyshire my home now yeah even though i'm
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still loose in the midlands i love dogs um would you
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say bakewell is the best place in derbyshire it is your opinion we're obviously biased
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but yeah yeah yeah obviously i live here
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so i still live here i bought in vehicle
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so yeah absolutely fair enough yeah i think i think it's
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like it's the heart of derbyshire isn't it you know yeah
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i think it's what where you think of as the as the main town i would think
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and by the thousands of people who visit here weekends bank holiday mondays you cannot park
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everybody thinks the same and it's only little
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but it's picturesque great shops yeah okay
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so i'm I'm here with what are your names sorry I'm Mo Mo
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and Mel and Mel kind of goes quite well together yeah it'll challenge in pronouncing it yeah
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and yeah we're just we're standing outside of bloomers
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and what have you bought um on the recommendation of several people we have a bakewell pudding
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and it ended up being buy one get one free
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so big day yeah I have to take this call I'm so sorry That's okay.
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Yeah.
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And then also we bought a triacletart.
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And the reason why is because as an American person like reading British books growing up, they always talked about a tree of cult art, but I have no idea what it is.
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And I'd like to try it.
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So I knew this was famous.
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And this is something I've just read about.
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Okay, that's great.
341
And what brought you to Bakewell, basically?
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I'm visiting my friend and he lives in Macclesfield.
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And we were looking for a nice day to like go for a walk and things.
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And I had been on a work call actually in America and someone who's British is like, oh, if you're going to that area, Bakewell puddings are famous.
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You could probably make that like part of your day.
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And I asked him and he's like, yeah, let's go on a hike and then we'll eat some food.
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And so here we are.
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Oh, great.
349
And what was your first impression of the town, this market town of Bakewell?
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I think it's very cute.
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I think all of the stone buildings just feel so quintessentially British in a nice way.
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Everyone was lovely and nice.
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We had lunch up at Chakra Cafe and that was very good.
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And I'm very charmed.
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Have you been to any other villages in the area that charmed you?
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This is, my flight got in Monday.
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So this is one of my first stops.
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So remains to be seen, but honestly, this is a delight and I'm happy we made it.
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Is it your first time here?
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Not in the UK, but first time in Bigwell.
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Oh, okay.
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And how long are you here for?
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I'm here for until next Tuesday, so a week.
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Okay, well, I really hope you enjoy your stay.
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Yeah, thank you so much.
366
Thank you for being on the channel, being interviewed.
367
Yeah, no problem.
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Okay, great.
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All right.
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Well, thank you for doing this interview.
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Firstly, what brought you to Bakewell, then?
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Why did you choose Bakewell?
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Well, it's a beautiful town.
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It's a beautiful town.
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There's lots of really good walks around, and we have dogs that we like to take out in the countryside.
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and it's lots of lovely pubs and places to eat.
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Yeah, far for us.
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And where are you originally from then?
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Where have you come from?
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So we come from East Yorkshire, so out towards Hull.
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OK.
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So it's not too far away.
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It's only about an hour and a half drive.
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So it's relatively convenient as well in terms of travelling with dogs.
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We've got some big dogs in the back of our car.
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What kind of dogs do you have, if you don't mind me asking?
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Well, we have a German Shepherd dog
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and the other one is a German Shepherd crossed with a golden retriever
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so they're quite big and they they're quite lively yeah sounds it
390
and what made you choose Bakewell in particular I think we
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I think we're gonna be run over we were here in October I said we've come back because we
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It's the first time we've been back for quite a lot of years.
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And we've forgotten how nice it was around here
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and how convenient it is in terms of going for walks and bits to pieces.
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And it was such good weather in January, so it's not going to be anywhere nice, it's nice weather.
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But it's relatively convenient, it's a nice place, lots to do and lots of good walks.
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And I think we'd forgotten that when we came back in October, so we'd come back again a few months later.
398
Right, right
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so you're both keen walkers then would you say yes i mean what kind of walks have you done
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so far around here any specific areas
401
that you would recommend people who visit here to the famous
402
one we've done part of it this morning was the once hill trail yeah yeah
403
so so so we did that and then quite a few other ones are just
404
up and around around with just perhaps bits of the once
405
or traveling coming back off again and back into bank one
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and around so tends to be circular so we could leave the car at home I just walk round with the dogs, so we touch a mountain around that way.
407
Have you been to the Pack Horse Inn in Monsal, by any chance?
408
Really fantastic pub if you go there again.
409
Is that the one at the top of Monsal Head?
410
Monsal Head at the top, yeah, very small.
411
Is that the Stables bar?
412
Is that a different one?
413
Er, there's two, isn't there?
414
Yeah, the Stables is the one we went to last year.
415
Oh, OK.
416
Oh, that's good.
417
We were going to go there tomorrow, weren't we, actually?
418
It's funny you said that, yeah.
419
OK, so you're here for the week, you said?
420
Yes.
421
OK, wow, great.
422
And do you visit a lot of places in the Peak District?
423
Is it your favourite place, would you say?
424
Sort of pick a favourite.
425
The North York Moors are pretty good.
426
And the Yorkshire Dales are pretty good.
427
Yorkshire Dales, yeah.
428
You can't beat the Yorkshire Dales.
429
But, yeah, different places.
430
Get a chain.
431
Well, guys, that is the end of the video.
432
It was a really interesting day out for me, mainly because it's new, you know?
433
getting the camera out and asking people to be interviewed,
434
most people rejecting us and saying no. But I hope you enjoyed it,
435
and I hope that you got to see a glimpse of British culture and what these small villages,
436
or Bakewell being a market town, what they're like.
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Yeah, and if you would like to see any more videos where we visit other villages,
438
let me know in the comments by saying more villages.
439
That would probably be enough.
440
Yeah, more villages.
441
And I'll know to make some more.
442
But yeah, it's been a really interesting day and I feel like I definitely stepped out of my comfort zone.
443
And I hope it also inspired you to step out of your comfort zone.
444
So now I challenge you to try to speak to a native speaker,
445
find a language partner, join a book club or a language exchange.
446
try to do something that makes you feel a little bit uncomfortable.
447
Okay, that's it from me.
448
I'm going to eat all my sweets now.
449
And I'll see you in the next video.
450
Okay, bye for now, guys.
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British AccentTravel EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
Real-Life English in a Small Town: A Natural Speaking Scenario
The video captures a genuine British English conversation in Bakewell, a historic market town in Derbyshire. It shows how people interact casually—asking about travel, sharing impressions of a place, and connecting over regional ties. This is the kind of english speaking practice that mirrors real life: unscripted, full of colloquialisms, and rooted in everyday situations. Whether you’re planning to visit a UK town or just want to sound more natural, this dialogue teaches you how to navigate friendly chats with native speakers.
Useful Chunks & Collocations to Memorize
- "fell in love with the place": Expresses strong affection for a location (e.g., "I fell in love with the café downtown").
- "got a nice feeling about it": Describes a positive vibe (e.g., "The neighborhood has a nice feeling about it").
- "took just over two hours": Talks about travel time (e.g., "The train ride took just over an hour").
- "get out of your comfort zone": Encourages trying new things (key for learn english with videos and real interactions).
- "used to go to a lot as a child": Shares past habits (e.g., "I used to visit my grandma every weekend").
Your Shadowing Challenge: Speak Like a Local
The shadowing technique (or shadow speak) is a proven way to improve pronunciation and fluency. Here’s your task: Watch the video segment where the speaker interviews the visitor from Birmingham. Pause after each short line, then repeat it immediately, mimicking the tone, speed, and stress. Focus on phrases like "I just fell in love with the place"—notice how "fell in love" is spoken quickly, almost as one word. Do this 3-5 times, then try speaking along with the video without pausing. This shadowspeaks practice will help you sound more natural and confident in real conversations. Ready to start? Press play and let the dialogue guide you!
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to go · used to feed · used to call |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've been · you've come · Have you tried |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be interviewed · be closed · being interviewed |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | Bakewell which is · favourite, which is · guys, which is |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.