Featured
Tutbury Castle
Tutbury Castle has stood guard over the Trent Valley for centuries, especially during the time of unsettled political rivalry that seemed common place until the late seventeenth century. The only way for anyone attempting to attack the fortress had to be along a steep narrow gully rising from the town. To do this was potentially […]
Three Cotswolds Gardens & A Country Park
By Brian Spencer Travelling south on a Slack’s Travel coach, we made a stop for our driver’s statutory break at the Georgian spa town of Royal Leamington Spa. Wide streets lined by pure white elegant Cotswolds stone terraces built in the Regency stile, made a perfect introduction to the countryside of our destination. We were […]
The Jurassic Coast from the Sea
by Steve Belasco Former newspaper photographer and Derby resident Steve Belasco resettled to the beautiful county of Dorset many years ago. Still involved in the media business, he now splits his time between magazine production work and his career as an award-winning marine photographer, afloat on the waters off the Jurassic Coast and has recently […]
Abandoned Villages
by Brian Spencer A quick look at the Ordnance Survey 1:25000 scale map of the White Peak shows that the region has a history going back thousands of years. Gothic lettered map symbols indicating tumuli, stone circles, field systems or cairns tell us that our forefathers lived and farmed on what are now the high […]
Places Pevsner Forgot – Hardstoft & Astwith
Hardstoft and Astwith lie atop a pair of west-east ridges, with the Dawley stream rising in between and running down to the Doe Lea, above which towers Hardwick old and new halls, which visually dominate both hamlets from the east. We first made the acquaintance of Hardstoft around 1980, when, with my colleague Mick Stanley […]
Haddon Hall – A Sleeping Tudor Beauty
by Brian Spencer “What we see today is basically the unaltered fortified manor house developed between the late 12th century, and 1620 when the last and minor ‘improvements’ were made” One autumn evening a few decades ago, driving home along the A6, just short of the entrance to Haddon Hall I was stopped by a […]
Derbyshire’s National Heritage Corridor
by Brian Spencer It is wrong to suggest that the Industrial Revolution began in and around the Derwent Valley, but even so the new order was given a massive push forward by the innovations of two mill owners, Richard Arkwright and Jedediah Strutt. They were, as the saying goes, ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’. […]
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 […]