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COSY GARDEN ROOMS – THE BEST USES FOR A GARDEN ROOM

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Ashbourne’s Take on Football – (Temporary) Anarchy In The UK

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Places of Interest on Either Side of The Lower Wye & Severn Valleys

January 3, 2019 VickyP

Beyond Birmingham and before reaching Bristol on the way to the south west, travellers using the M5 gateway to the sun often find themselves in one of the all too frequent bottlenecks, especially around the M5/M60 junction. If they give up and decide to call it a day around Junction 9 (Tewksbury), then the possibility […]

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Modern Collectables – Modern Glass Paperweights

January 3, 2019 VickyP

My daughter, although now 22, has gone through many enthusiasms in her short life: Barbie Dolls, Beanie Babies, My Little Pony and so on through Pokémon to soberer items. One of which was modern glass paperweights, of which we now have a considerable collection. On the whole, prices – mainly at fleamarkets and antique fairs […]

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Modern Collectibles – Teddy Bear

November 29, 2018 VickyP

Toy animals have been around since the days of Ancient Egypt, but bears only since the 18th century, and genuinely cuddly ones, made of plush stuffed with something that will take a squeeze, only became available as a manufactured item in the 19th century. However, the all-encompassing soubriquet’ Teddy’ owes its origins in this context […]

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Mysteries, Murder, Marple and More

November 29, 2018 VickyP

From the days of ancient Greece right up to the present day, people all over the world have been fascinated by crime stories. Authors including Sophocles, Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle are often cited as being among the finest writers of the genre – but none can match the best-selling novelist of all […]

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Taste Derbyshire – From Nut Sprinkled Discs to Chocolate Drenched Honeycombs

November 26, 2018 VickyP

Two pints of lager and a cream truffle may not be the average round for most pub-goers but The Three Horseshoes Inn at Breedon on the Hill is not your average pub. Yes, it has the roaring fire, real ales and quarry-tiled floors – but they’ve also thrown in a chocolate shop for good measure. […]

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Repton – Capital of The Kingdom of Mercia

November 26, 2018 VickyP

The history of the North Midlands is writ large on this ancient town set high above the quiet meadows bordering the River Trent. Its history is traced from Saxon and Norman times, through Tudor to the present day. Even the Danes who came this far up the Trent in their longships, made it their winter […]

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Travelling Through History – Where Our Forebears Trod 3

November 26, 2018 VickyP

Having looked at Rykneild Street going South West, I felt it might risk any enthusiast rather hanging in the air if I did not continue the story of the same ancient road in its opposite direction. After all it was the Romans’ major SW to NE route, and it seems rather to have pivoted at […]

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Derbyshire Antiques & Collectibles – Thimble Collecting

October 25, 2018 VickyP

Thimble is a word used for a small cap to protect the finger for use when sewing, and the name derives from Old English thyma and Old Norse thumall – the same root that gives up ‘thumb’ – and more specifically thymel a fingerstall. The root word really meant ‘swelling’ and words like tumour and […]

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The Majestic Oak At A Glance

October 25, 2018 VickyP

The legendary Major Oak in Sherwood Forest is reputed to have been the haunt and hiding place of Robin and his Merry Men. The oak’s acorns have been roasted and ground to make acorn coffee and its bark has been used to make a decoction for medicinal purposes. In the New Forest, commoners have […]

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A Weekend Visit to Bergen

October 25, 2018 VickyP

With short breaks becoming popular, Brian Spencer takes a two-day trip to Bergen, Norway’s Hansiatic sea-port link with an early version of the E.U. Gateway to the Fjords of Norway’s west coast, Bergen is classed as not only a European City of Culture, but a World Heritage City and UNESCO City of Gastronomy, as well […]