A short 4 mile (6.4km) easy walk along clear paths and a quiet upland road.  One steady climb of 220ft (67m). Muddy sections near both farms and woodland passed along the way. Recommended Map:  Outdoor Leisure Map Sheet 24 The Peak District – White Peak Area. Transport: The X17 Chesterfield service leaves Matlock bus station […]

5 miles (8km): easy riverside walking along two attractive dales, linked by an interesting village street. RECOMMENDED MAP: Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 scale Outdoor Leisure Series; Sheet 24, The Peak District, White Peak Area. PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Hulley’s 171 hourly service from Bakewell (no Sunday service). CAR PARKING: laybys at roadside beyond River Lathkill bridge outside Alport. […]

3miles (4,8km): easy/moderate walking. Two short climbs on easy gradients RECOMMENDED MAP: Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 scale, Outdoor Leisure map Sheet 2, The White Peak. BUS SERVICES: Hulleys’ 172 runs at 38 minutes past the hour from Matlock, Monday to Saturday. CAR PARKING: on the village main street – please make sure you do not interfere […]

When Country Images magazine was first launched in 1994 we were pleased to be able to include walks from ‘not so’ Old Perce. Over the following months he traversed the Amber valley and provided delightful walks that, as all walks should, start and finish at the local pub. With many village pubs closing that has […]

The car park at the Cromford end of its namesake canal is a popular starting point for at least five walks to my reckoning. Most weekends and days in between, well-clad walkers will be congregating, busily pulling on their boots and at the same time, chatting to their friends. This walk starts, like all the […]

Dining at The White Horse, Woolley Moor The White Horse conjures up the happiest of memories for us as it was here that we spent many sunny evenings with our children and friends enjoying the spectacular, beautiful Derbyshire countryside and a quiet drink. However, that was many years ago and happily, like our family, it has developed […]

We’ve dined on some memorable trains; breakfast on the Lake Shore Limited as it skirted the edge of Lake Erie on its route from New York to Chicago. Lunch at 190 miles per hour on one of the Frecciarossa trains between Naples and Florence and dinner on board the California Zepher as it made its […]

A Fusion of Flavours I’m not ashamed to say ‘I love Derbyshire’; every bit of it. From the Dark Peak of the moorland above Glossop to the ambling course of the River Trent as it twists and turns through the floodplain at the southern tip of the county. I also love its diverse industrial history. […]

The first thing that strikes you about the Marquis of Ormonde on Codnor Denby Lane, apart from the smart décor of the exterior, is the sleek steel and glass surround to the front terrace. This south facing alfresco seating area is decked out with matching solid wooden tables and benches making it an ideal spot […]

To spend 2 or 3 hours in one restaurant it has to be good. To spend the entire Friday evening at M.A.D.E.@No.18 it has to be exceptional and something different. It was early on a Friday evening that our taxi delivered us to M.A.D.E. @ No 18; a café-bistro at the top of the old […]

The pine worktops may give off the clean scent of zesty lemon but the kitchen of Taste Derbyshire’s Amanda Volley contains a dirty little secret. Each week she is putting three bags of non-recyclable packaging into her wheelie bin. Desperate to clean-up her act, she reached out to Sue MacFarlane who runs a low impact […]

There was a time when it was unnecessary to give a dessert menu to Gavin Murray; it didn’t matter what form or flavour – hard or soft, exotic or everyday – to know Gavin was to know he had a thing for ice cream. “I’ve always loved ice cream, but then who doesn’t?” says Gavin […]

Captured over a 3 year period, this study by Steve Gresty considers how limestone quarrying – a process which seeks to meet our unrelenting desire for the comforts and conveniences of consumer items – is concealed both from public view and under the veil of the dust it creates. Carboniferous limestone contributes to the natural […]

Coal smoke spiralling its lazy way above the shining inverted keel of Glasgow’s Science Museum guided us to the puffer VIC32, our home for a week’s cruise around the Firth of Clyde. Puffers were once the lifeline for communities throughout Scotland’s west coast, and beyond, carrying everything from coal to livestock.  Their curious design was […]

In the early 1980s, when just appointed Keeper of Antiquities at Derby Museum, one of my duties was to scan the more prestigious auction catalogues. The reason was because I had determined to increase our collections relating to the then total unsung Derby clockmaker and Enlightenment scientific pioneer John Whitehurst FSA. Yet by the middle […]

The Soap Co. is an ethical luxury brand that creates sophisticated cruetly-free body care products to nuture and care for your skin. Wild Nettle & Sage Hand Lotion 300ml £18 13 natural oils including healing sage, uplifting rosemary and stress relieving thyme provide the delicate herbal notes for our Wild Nettle & Sage hand lotion. […]

Replenish with Weleda Sea Buckthorn Replenishing Body Lotion 200ml £18.95 Intensive body care for dry skin. Fresh, fruity fragrant and replenishing body lotion to help your skin back to its natural beauty balance.  Sun-ripened riches in a bottle – organic sea buckthorn fruits and seeds yield the oil which makes this lotion rich and replenishing. […]

Restore & Renew Your Hair with Monat Hero Ingredients across the Monat Hydrating Collection Are: REJUVENIQE® A blend of 13+ Natural Plant and Essential Oils rich in omega fatty acids, antioxidants and nutrients highly compatible with skin and hair.  CAPIXYL™ Effective emollient blend helps safeguard the scalp, strengthen hair and support natural growth for improved thickness […]

New 4 Colour Pen  £28 Fun, practical and innovative, Clarins multi-use make-up pen, loved by women the world over, is back! New shades, new packaging and all the magic of an all-in-one, these easy to apply automatic pens feature 3 eye liners and 1 lip liner using a retractable function meaning you can wave goodbye […]

Be Beautiful with Benefit Hello Flawless £29 WHY WE LOVE IT Say “hello” to flawless! This famous powder cover-up glides on naturally sheer and layers beautifully for customized coverage. The silky formula comes with a newly designed brush AND a sponge for any degree of coverage you desire. HOW TO APPLY Cheers to a charming […]

About seven years ago I found myself sat next to Sir Nicholas Soames at lunch, which put me on my conversational mettle. What does one say to a grandson of Sir Winston Churchill and the son of a Tory Grandee (the last governor of Southern Rhodesia inter alia) and a man who himself is a […]

One often comes across houses – not always ancient ones – which have names carrying the suffix ‘Priory’ or similar. Very often, such houses were built on former monastic land or even adapted from monastic buildings, although it has to be admitted that sometimes the connection is spurious and the nomenclature arrived at quite vicariously. […]

The Chesshyre family has been amongst the elite tradesmen of Derby since the beginning of the seventeenth century, when brothers Robert and John Cheshire, sons of a Breadsall farmer, set up in business in the town. John (1613-1689) was Mayor in 1680 and left descendants in the town, as did Robert (1602-1673) who was a […]

The story of the Strutt family and that of modern Belper, which they more or less created, are intertwined. They built the mills and the workers’ housing (to a very high standard for the period) and over several generations endowed the town with numerous benisons, leaving the built environment the better for it; today it […]

The manorial history of Brailsford is a long and distinguished one going back to the period of the Norman conquest. Then the manorial estate was held by one Elfin (as Domesday Book renders his name) or Aelfwine, clearly a man of Saxon descent. In 1086 he held not only Brailsford but also Thurvaston, Osmaston-by-Ashbourne, Culland […]

I wouldn’t say that the Winter has been particularly bad, looking back on my gardening diary we had 7ft snow drifts in 2014 in South Derbyshire but I do think it has been a long one. For the first time in 20 years we had snow early in December so after stop – start with […]

Over the past month the colours in the trees have really started to change, have you got space in your garden for a small growing tree? There are plenty of different varieties that are suitable for a modern small garden – they create a focal point that is evident all year especially if you choose […]

Wow October already!  It truly has been one of the best years for growing.  With last month’s ‘Indian’ summer along with the warm start to the autumn season this continues to be a kind year to gardeners and more importantly those of us able to be outside enjoying the garden. With the fantastic sunny weather […]

Last month I was asked to judge Ticknall Flower and Produce show for the third time. The standard was very high again and extremely difficult to judge. I was pleased to see a great effort from the children’s category and an interesting section “Gardening Disasters” which strangely enough made me smile than cry. I said […]

Its always interesting looking back on my diary and what I wrote this time last year in Country Images Magazine. I wrote about how the rain just kept coming and it rotted the Rose blooms on the plants – it just shows that 2 years are never the same and you have to adjust your […]

Take two of the world’s greatest classical voices, get them to sing a selection of their favourite hymns, arias and popular songs, and what do you have? One of the fastest-selling albums nowadays of any genre. Aled Jones and Russell Watson are continuing their partnership with their first tour together, stopping off in Nottingham where […]

Oozing confidence, charm and charisma, Julia Watson saunters around a church she’s known for many years, entertaining a rapt crowd with tales of her career and reciting some of literature’s greatest lines. It’s obvious that she was cut out to be on stage and it’s no surprise later when she tells me “I love acting”. […]

“There’s nothing better than walking into a mucky stable or a mucky barn with a pitchfork and a wheelbarrow and cleaning it out”  The feeling of writer and TV presenter Kate Humble who’s known mainly for specialising in wildlife and science programmes for the BBC. She’s also appearing in theatres around the country and will […]

What makes comedy funny? That’s not a question that’s part of a normal everyday conversation. But while speaking to comedian, musician and actor Bill Bailey, the man described as “the brainiest comic of his generation” almost unconsciously analyses how his act has changed to keep in step with comedic trends. His current show Larks In […]

A strand of his wispy hair falls over bushy eyebrows as Sergei Podobedov, dressed in a dark T-shirt and casual trousers, makes coffee. There’s nothing unusual about his demeanour as he goes about everyday tasks without taking undue care of his hands. But this isn’t a manual labourer or someone who’s been thrust into the […]