When the civil engineer William Jessop and his associate Benjamin Outram finished building the Cromford Canal. While they were linking the expanding industries of the Derwent Valley to the Midlands, it was soon realised that if the canal was continued in a northerly direction, it would open the burgeoning new cotton industry to markets around […]
Celebrity Interview – Peter Andre
![Peter[1] July 23](https://country.euromediaal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Peter1-July-23-1-390x260.jpg)
The Darley Park Weekender, “a highlight of the Derby events calendar”, is to return this summer – and there’s sure to be a bout of insania when Peter Andre takes to the stage. This won’t just be the Peter Andre who became the sixth highest-selling artist in the UK in the 1990s. This will also […]
Dining Out – The Cobbled Street Cafe, Belper
One of my lasting childhood memories is of me and my mum, meeting my grandmother every Saturday morning in an upstairs cafe in Chesterfield. We would happily queue on the stairs until a table became available and order our milky coffee and delicious toasted teacake. Time has moved on and the smell of freshly roasted […]
Dining Out – Bang In Belper
I used to have a ‘local’. Somewhere I could walk to for a pint with our dachshund, Rupert. When I walked through the door I’d be greeted with a one word question: ‘Usual?’ And the dog would be allowed to sit on my knee at the bar. He’d size-up everyone who walked in from the […]
Walk Derbyshire – Riber Via the Front Door
Standing at 850 feet above sea level on an isolated hilltop, Riber Castle, to give it its acknowledged title, has dominated Matlock’s eastern skyline ever since John Smedley built it in 1862. His idea was to make it the de-lux version of the spa hotels springing up around the town, venues of places offering accommodation […]
Celebrity Interview – Chris Hadfield
On Earth And Space – Chris Hadfield’s Guide To The Cosmos will feature the Canadian astronaut and former commander of the International Space Station sharing his thoughts on the new age of space travel and what it will mean for life on earth. Moustachioed Chris was the first Canadian to walk in space. Not only […]
Dining in Derbyshire – The Curry Lounge, Somercotes
It was early on a Wednesday evening when we parked on the Market Place in Somercotes adjacent to the familiar restaurant entrance. The welcoming, contemporary designed foyer hadn’t changed but for one addition; in pride-of place, the wall facing the door was adorned with a large ceramic plaque. On it, in bold type, it reads […]
Lost Houses of Derbyshire – Brizlincote Old Hall
The present hall at Brizlincote is visible for miles around, set on its dominant hill and looking for all the world like an inverted helmet-type coal-scuttle with its legs in the air, represented, of course, by the chimneys and the giant segmental pediments which ensign the facades on all four sides. I have argued in […]
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 […]
Dining In Derbyshire – The Bulls Head, Holymoorside
On first glance, The Bulls Head appears your typical, traditional pub; four square it hunkers down comfortably in the centre of Holymoorside, a delightful village on the moor-side of Chesterfield. Just a scenic 20 minutes or so away from the Amber Valley, it’s an area I’m well acquainted with from my childhood and easily accessible. Through […]