A look at Derbyshire’s Melbourne
by Brian Spencer Sited comfortably above Trent Valley’s flood plain, and away from busy through roads, Melbourne has grown from the original settlement around the ancient market cross. Georgian town houses and small independent shops and cosy pubs, together with an attractive manor house record the oldest part of Melbourne, allowing modern development to fill […]
Celebrity Interview – John Thomson
He’s known for playing one of the main characters in the ITV comedy drama Cold Feet and for being the voice of the Channel 5 show Bargain Loving Brits Under The Sun. Now John Thomson is perfecting his Derby accent to play Abanazar in Aladdin at Derby Arena. The jovial actor, comedian and narrator is […]
Walk Derbyshire – Following the Magpie Sough
By Rambler ‘Sough’ is the lead miner’s term for the method of draining water from a mine. One of the most attractive roads through the Peak District, the one between Bakewell and the A515 Buxton/Ashbourne road takes some beating. Around a mile beyond the cut-off for Monyash, to the right two small chimneys indicate the […]
Lost Houses of Derbyshire – Eaton Dovedale Hall
by Maxwell Craven Neither Eaton Dovedale, which sits adjacent to Sedsall, are exactly well known locales, even to keen followers of local history and topography, but they lie just north of the much better known village of Doveridge, in which parish they lie. About thirty years ago I visited to attend a clay shooting tournament, […]
Exploring Kent
by Brian Spencer The only time I have previously travelled through Kent was on my way to Dover for the crossing to France. Even from the motorway it looked an attractive place, well earning its title as the Garden of England. Both Sheila and I had decided that if the opportunity ever arose, then we […]
Dining In Derbyshire – The Bear Inn, Alderwasley
When you plan to visit a country inn the imagination can run wild. What’s its history? Is it still original or has it been spoilt by modernisation? Having visited the Bear many times during the years before lock down and way before that, my memory was of log fires, oak beams, stone walls and a […]
Walk Derbyshire – Toad’s Mouth, Carl Wark & The Upper Reach of Burbage Brook
There are many enigmatic remains throughout the Peak District; stone circles, cairns and burial mounds were left by people who did not tell us who they were. Carl Wark the focal point of this walk is one such relic, but we have no way of telling if it was Iron Age or post-Roman, but it […]