This pretty oval photograph^[1] shows the strech of Lovers' Walks on the banks of the River Derwent opposite what became the Pavilion landing stage. The photographer would have been standing roughly where the new footbridge meets the riverside path. A rowing boat is moored, bottom left, and the ferry on the river just shows through the trees slightly above the boat. The building on the opposite bank is the Ferry House.

The Urban District Council had become lessees of the Lovers' Walks in 1897, when they had "just become tenantless through the death of Mrs. [Hannah] Ratcliffe, in whose family they have been for the last 90 years^[2]". The Council seized their opportunity as they wanted to do something appropriate to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. At the time of Victoria's Golden Jubilee they had erected the Jubilee Bridge and had also developed promenades on either side of the river. On this occasion they also hoped to throw a second bridge over the river^[3], but this idea wasn't to bear fruit for a further eighty years or so.

References:

^[1] A rectangular version of this picture is published in Clive Hardy's "Around Matlock", (1999) Waterton Press, Bridgend Reproductions from the Francis Frith Collections. He suggests the date of 1892 for the photograph.
^[2] "The Derby Mercury", Wednesday, December 16, 1896.
^[3] "The Derby Mercury", Wednesday, March 31, 1897.