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COSY GARDEN ROOMS – THE BEST USES FOR A GARDEN ROOM

Ashbourne,derbyshire,uk,February,10th,2016.,Day,2,Of,Royal,Ashbourne,Shrovetide

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Ashbourne’s Take on Football – (Temporary) Anarchy In The UK

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Happy Trails – Riding the railways that turbocharged Derbyshire’s industrial revolution

April 26, 2022 Alistair Plant

Derbyshire has done more than any county in England to convert its disused railways into traffic-free greenways for cycling and walking. This route is a variation on the classic ‘trails triangle’ that combines two of the most popular Peak District cycle trails — the High Peak Trail and the Tissington Trail — with the traffic-free […]

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From Hen Racing to a Bygone Industry What do you know about Bonsall?

April 26, 2022 Alistair Plant

Bonsall is tucked away in an upland bowl, high above the Derwent Valley and seems a place where time has passed it by. Nevertheless it has been home to a proud group of villagers since long before William the Conqueror’s scribes listed it as Bonteshall in the Domesday Survey. Its early prosperity was based on […]

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History of Endurance

April 1, 2022 Alistair Plant

In late 1914 the world was threatened by war. Shackleton volunteered to cancel his plans for an expedition and placed his ship at the disposal of the UK Government. The First Sea Lord, Winston Churchill, instructed him, however, to proceed. Shackleton accordingly headed south, but chose to avoid the Falkland Islands, which he reckoned might […]

MC feb 22 pevsner HILCOTE 26 9 21 HILCOTE ARMS

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Places Pevsner Forgot – Hilcote

February 27, 2022 Alistair Plant

It seemed incredible to us that a settlement containing perhaps the finest miners’ cottages in the Midlands should have been missed by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner in his travels. Possibly, in 1953, when compiling the first edition of his guide to Derbyshire in his historic series The Buildings of England and having visited Blackwell, of which […]

MC JAN 22 MAKENEY VIEW FROM DARK LA 14 11 21

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Places Pevsner Forgot – Makeney, Derbyshire

January 25, 2022 VickyP

As we wandered round sunny Makeney, we wondered how Pevsner could ever have forgotten to include the place, for although historically a miniscule hamlet within the huge parish of Duffield, it gained in importance in the 19th century through its proximity to the various expanding Strutt family enterprises at Milford and gained two important houses […]

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Lumsdale – Matlock’s First Industrial Estate

January 25, 2022 VickyP

Hidden away in a deeply wooded ravine, Lumsdale is unknown to many who live nearby, but as Brian Spencer discovered, it is a unique link with the early days of industry in Matlock. Bentley Brook rises in the rough moorland above Cuckoostone Dale and flows gently past Matlock Golf Club, then dives beneath the A632 […]

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Glossop & Old Glossop

January 9, 2022 VickyP

Like Hope, Hathersage and Chapel-en-le-Frith, Glossop was once a vast parish of over 50,000 acres, subsequently subdivided, covering the hills of the western Dark Peak. In 1086 it was part of an even larger entity, the lordship of Longendale, held directly by the king, and it remained as such except for a brief period under […]

MC Dec 21 BRETTON 18 9 21 VIEW SE TO EYAM

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Places Pevsner Forgot III – Froggatt & Bretton

November 26, 2021 Alistair Plant

There have to be places that Sir Niklaus Pevsner omitted simply because the buildings there were not really worthy of record, but whilst one could not really say that about Froggatt, with Bretton it is different, for there are precious few buildings there in any case, but, like Aston and Thornhill, the scenery is electrifying. […]

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A Glimpse of Today’s Buxton

November 26, 2021 Alistair Plant

With the restoration of the historic Crescent fully completed and open to visitors, Buxton can once again bask in its early glory. Brian Spencer explores this, the highest market town in England. Buxton retains the best of its Victorian spa-town layout, especially around the town centre, managing to ignore the massive limestone quarries on its […]

MC NOV 21 ASTON IN PEAK 18 9 21 VIEW S 2

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Places Pevsner Forgot III – Aston & Thornhill-in-Peak

November 7, 2021 Alistair Plant

If Sir Nikolaus Pevsner had included scenery as well as buildings, the hamlets of the Hope Valley might have taken up as much room in his Buildings of England volume on Derbyshire as Chatsworth but, of course, it’s buildings that he is attempting to record and they are a little sparse in these places, but […]