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Taste Derbyshire – Spotted Calf Cafe

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Images of The North

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John Flamsteed England’s First Astronomer Royal

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Modern Collectibles – Gentlemen’s Stickpins

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Places of Interest on Either Side of The Lower Wye & Severn Valleys

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Repton – Capital of The Kingdom of Mercia

November 26, 2018 VickyP

The history of the North Midlands is writ large on this ancient town set high above the quiet meadows bordering the River Trent. Its history is traced from Saxon and Norman times, through Tudor to the present day. Even the Danes who came this far up the Trent in their longships, made it their winter […]

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Travelling Through History – Where Our Forebears Trod 3

November 26, 2018 VickyP

Having looked at Rykneild Street going South West, I felt it might risk any enthusiast rather hanging in the air if I did not continue the story of the same ancient road in its opposite direction. After all it was the Romans’ major SW to NE route, and it seems rather to have pivoted at […]

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Derbyshire Antiques & Collectibles – Thimble Collecting

October 25, 2018 VickyP

Thimble is a word used for a small cap to protect the finger for use when sewing, and the name derives from Old English thyma and Old Norse thumall – the same root that gives up ‘thumb’ – and more specifically thymel a fingerstall. The root word really meant ‘swelling’ and words like tumour and […]

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The Majestic Oak At A Glance

October 25, 2018 VickyP

The legendary Major Oak in Sherwood Forest is reputed to have been the haunt and hiding place of Robin and his Merry Men. The oak’s acorns have been roasted and ground to make acorn coffee and its bark has been used to make a decoction for medicinal purposes. In the New Forest, commoners have […]

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A Weekend Visit to Bergen

October 25, 2018 VickyP

With short breaks becoming popular, Brian Spencer takes a two-day trip to Bergen, Norway’s Hansiatic sea-port link with an early version of the E.U. Gateway to the Fjords of Norway’s west coast, Bergen is classed as not only a European City of Culture, but a World Heritage City and UNESCO City of Gastronomy, as well […]

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Taste Derbyshire – Rachael’s Secret Tea Room

October 25, 2018 VickyP

‘Good afternoon Ms Volley, your mission – should you choose to accept it – is to drive to a secret location in the lush Derbyshire countryside and liaise with an operative bearing an orange teapot. Should you injure yourself in a rush to get up the garden path to eat buttered scones; the organisation cannot […]

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Taste Derbyshire – Charlies Garden

September 25, 2018 VickyP

Every so often I get the urge to become a self-sufficient Earth goddess, growing gigantic marrows and making jam from fruit I have nurtured from a pip. Sadly, the only things which get to munch on my apples are worms and, once again, the rhubarb has wilted all over the path. Which is why I […]

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The Dahlias of Biddulph Grange Garden

September 25, 2018 VickyP

A little way beyond the northern limits of the Potteries, just off the Congleton road, Biddulph Grange Garden is one of those places where each season has something to offer. It is this special changing of interest and variation of plants looking their best which draws us back, time after time. This year our visit […]

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Collecting Vintage Fountain Pens

September 25, 2018 VickyP

When I was first sent to school it was de rigeur that one wrote in ink with a pen. As six and seven year olds we had cheap dip pens with a ceramic ink-well inserted into our desks, but by the time I reached prep school at ten one had to be equipped with a […]

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Kim’s Derbyshire rocked the Aussies

September 25, 2018 VickyP

ACTION was needed when Derbyshire failed to win a Championship match in 2016 so the board turned to a man who had been there and done it. During his career with the county from 1979-98 as an aggressive right-hand batsman who played in four Test matches, three of them in the heat of an Ashes […]