Featured

COSY GARDEN ROOMS – THE BEST USES FOR A GARDEN ROOM

Ashbourne,derbyshire,uk,February,10th,2016.,Day,2,Of,Royal,Ashbourne,Shrovetide

Featured

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

Featured

Featured

Derbyshire Antiques & Collectibles – Royal Mint Collectors’ Coins

July 24, 2018 VickyP

One of the tasks I seem to spend vast quantities of time on when I am working at Bamfords is cataloguing collections of coins. Much of what comes in is base metal and well used, and has little value; some is in various purities of silver and needs sorting. If circulated, everything not a rarity is estimated at […]

Featured

The Andulucia Touch

July 24, 2018 VickyP

Winding our way up the hills into the Andulucia area of Spain from Malaga airport afforded the opportunity to travel at the same level as the buzzards, not quite so spectacular were the moans of “I feel sick” from the back of the Mercedes Vito. We didn’t stop, as we knew it would soon pass! […]

Featured

Taste Derbyshire – The Spice Sisters

June 27, 2018 VickyP

When it comes to curry, I adopt a relaxed ‘Jamie Oliver’ approach and simply chop, chuck, dice and drizzle the contents of my entire store cupboard into a pot until I have something runny enough to stick on some rice. I draw the line at using the nine-year-old tin of fruit cocktail. I stopped putting […]

Featured

Yorkshire’s Dangerous Coast

June 27, 2018 VickyP

Most of the visitors who flock to Yorkshire’s coast every summer, do so without realising that it has a history of marine tragedy reaching back over the centuries and it is hard to realise that an average of two shipwrecks a week have taken place along the North East coast since records began in the […]

Featured

Derbyshire Antiques & Collectibles – Beswick Pottery Figures

June 27, 2018 VickyP

John Beswick Ltd, formerly J. W. Beswick, was a pottery manufacturer, founded in 1892 by James Wright Beswick and his sons John and Gilbert, in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent. The firm survived until in 1969 when it was sold to Doulton & Co. Ltd. They closed the factory in 2002 and the brand name John Beswick was sold on in 2004 […]

Featured

Queen’s Park faithful took stylist Tom to their Hearts

June 27, 2018 VickyP

TOM GRAVENEY gave a wry chuckle at the suggestion that our interview should concern, in the main, his matches against Derbyshire. “Ah, Derbyshire,” he said. “Well, I’ve got plenty of good memories, certainly from when I played at Queen’s Park. But it was never easy when I batted against their bowlers.” So let’s set the […]

Featured

Derbyshire Antiques & Collectibles – Vintage Telephones

June 5, 2018 VickyP

Those of us over a certain age will know that, until 1984, when the GPO (Post office telephones) monopoly was broken up, one did not actually own one’s telephone, but rented it from the GPO along with associated installations. Thus there was very little choice over the type of telephone one could have. Collecting these […]

Featured

Lea Rhododendron Gardens

June 5, 2018 VickyP

For a few short glorious weeks in early summer, the wooded hillside above the Derwent Valley at Lea is a blaze of colour. This is when Lea Rhododendron Gardens come into their own every year. Brian Spencer tells the story of one man’s vision that has been backed up by three generations of a devoted […]

Featured

Reflections on Pollyanna Pickering

June 5, 2018 VickyP

-1

Pollyanna Pickering was a warm, caring, highly talented yet unassuming lady who reached the pinnacle of her career as a wildlife artist while achieving international respect for her passionate commitment to conservation. Pollyanna, who passed away recently following a short illness, was born in Leeds in 1942. From her earliest childhood, Pollyanna had paint, pencils […]

Featured

It’s Not Just Any Old Hooch

June 5, 2018 VickyP

Ten years ago, you would expect to find one or two brands of gin on offer at the golf club and, if you were lucky, a slice of lemon from a jar. Only a teetotal hermit could fail to notice gin is everywhere. There are gin parties, ginemas (gin and a film night), ginvent calendars […]