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Exploring Matlock

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Matlock started off as a collection of small settlements in the Middle Ages which, thanks to the coming of the railway and a consequent astonishing boom in demand for hydropathic health treatments, quickly became subsumed into a new, rather homogenous whole. When it came to treatments, the Regency upper classes favoured Matlock Bath; the Victorian […]
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Lost Houses

The Lost Houses of Derbyshire – Cockpit Hill House, Derby

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‘On the west side of the Mill Stream is a good house, built by Mr. Beardsley – on the side of a hill on which was formerly a castle still called Castle Hill, but by others Cockpit Hill.’ Written in 1713, William Woolley, Derbyshire’s first historian, of Cockpit Hill House. This enigmatic building suffers from having […]
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Featured

In the footsteps of King Richard III

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While we know the central and western parts of the Yorkshire Dales, the eastern edges alongside the Vale of York are, to say the least, a bit hazy to us.  After doing a bit of research, we found that Richard spent his childhood and trained in knightly skills at Middleham Castle in the lower reaches […]
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Dining Out

Restaurant Review – Shapla Spice

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I’ve always thought of Ripley town centre as a comfortable place. A wide variety of shops; well connected by public transport, which runs through the centre of the town, and there’s plenty of car parking. Ripley isn’t overpowering; part of its charm is that it’s all on a human scale. That comfortable feeling doesn’t vanish […]
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Featured

Taste Derbyshire – Canine Delights

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More and more restaurants and cafés are opening their doors to canine customers and Derby even has a fancy bakery exclusively for dogs. Taste Derbyshire’s Amanda Volley went along with her naughty pup Eddie to find out what would happen if you put a Jack Russell in a bakery.  My Jack Russell, Eddie, is typical […]
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Walks

Walk Derbyshire – Walks from Stately Homes – Lyme Park

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DISTANCE: 3½ miles (5.6km) of moderate forest track, open moorland, surfaced road, waymarked field path and rough access drive.  525 foot (160m) climb. RECOMMENDED MAP: Ordnance Survey Outdoor Leisure Sheet 1, Dark Peak. 1:25,000 scale. PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Hourly TP service buses to Buxton, then bus or train to Disley where a short walk along a […]
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Celebrity Interviews

Celebrity Interview – Susan Boyle

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More than ten years on from her unforgettable rendition of I Dreamed A Dream from the musical Les Misérables, Susan is heading out on tour to do what she loves most of all: singing to an audience. When she stepped onto the Britain’s Got Talent stage, few people could have imagined the impact she would […]
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Featured

Cruising Up The Rhine

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When Brian Spencer went on a Rhine cruise, little did he realise that the high point of the trip was, for more than one reason, several thousand feet above the level of the river. A mere four hours after leaving Matlock, we emerged care of Eurostar into bright sunshine on the French side of the […]
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Featured

Allestree – From Norman Doors to Arts & Crafts

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Allestree’s ancient village – the only part of what is now a huge amorphous suburb really worth dawdling round – is remarkably compact, which makes a tour that much less complicated. It is also high enough above the city to the south, to ensure clear, breathable fresh air. Not to be sneezed at, as one […]
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Lost Houses

Lost Houses of Derbyshire – New Hall, Castleton

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When Mick Stanley and I were researching the first edition of The Derbyshire Country House around 1980 our attention was drawn by a colleague of Mick’s at the Derbyshire Museum Service (of blessed memory) to an item in a north Derbyshire auction. Provenanced from a vendor in Buxton, this was a fine oak 17th century […]
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