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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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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 […]

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Win A ProDetailer Gift Set

November 30, 2022 Alistair Plant

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Places Pevsner Forgot by Maxwell & Carole Craven

September 29, 2022 Alistair Plant

We supposed that Sir Nikolaus Pevsner missed Horsley Woodhouse because he probably travelled north along the Derby to Heanor road, and was thus able to enjoy Smalley, and on another occasion doubtless journeyed south west from Denby towards Coxbench (neither of which he missed) passing by Horsley Woodhouse at Four Lane Ends where that road […]

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Looking Around Duffield

September 29, 2022 Alistair Plant

Leafy side roads lined with pleasant houses, home for many Derby commuters, fill a sheltered hollow where the Ecclesbourne meets the River Derwent. Regular flooding by the latter meant that development was kept well above the water meadows lining both sides of the meandering river. After the Norman Conquest, the village became a kind of […]

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A quick look at … Earl Sterndale & The Upper Dove Valley – part two

September 2, 2022 Alistair Plant

Having adjourned to the Pack Horse Inn at Crowdecote, we felt duly refreshed, and continuing our journey took the turning north, back alongside the Dove, out of the hamlet heading for Earl Sterndale. The road soon leaves the river and climbs gradually, passing the diminutive settlement of Abbot’s Grove; until the 20th century Abbots Grove […]

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Exploring The Castle, Colleges & Cathedrals of Durham City

September 2, 2022 Alistair Plant

By Brian Spencer Having only seen Durham city from the train stopped at Durham Station, perched on a ledge high above the River Wear, Brian Spencer vowed that one day he would spend more time exploring the city, but it took a short break with Slack’s Coaches, basically to visit the unique museums nearby (see […]

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Earl Sterndale & The Upper Dove Valley pt.1

July 30, 2022 Alistair Plant

Nucleated settlements are fairly scarce in the White Peak and the upper Derwent Valley, partly because the relief is challenging, not to mention the constant outcropping of limestone. Partly also it is because Saxon settlement came late to this part of Derbyshire, probably not starting in earnest until after around 640, and post-Roman British settlement […]

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Great Northern Railway and The Bennerley Viaduct – by Brian Spencer

July 26, 2022 Alistair Plant

The first time I came across the Bennerley Viaduct was one foggy November day, a few years back. We were following the twists and turns of the Nottingham Canal along the Erewash Valley and decided to swap sides and cross the valley in order to reach the Erewash Canal on our way back to Ilkeston. […]

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A Voyage Around the Small Isles of Scotland

June 29, 2022 Alistair Plant

This little ditty was taught to us by our Scottish geography teacher many years ago, and because of it, I have always wanted to explore the group of tiny sea-washed islands to the south of Skye. This opportunity came about when Sheila spotted an advert by a company called The Majestic Line. Apparently they operate […]

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The World’s Greatest Accidental Explosion

June 1, 2022 Alistair Plant

Brian Spencer investigates the worst military disaster to occur on British Soil. The Ordnance Survey map for Derby and Burton on Trent shows a strange feature in the countryside near the village of Hanbury, a little to the west of Tutbury, in Staffordshire. It is oval in shape and obviously deep, but too small for […]