by Brian Spencer The only time I have previously travelled through Kent was on my way to Dover for the crossing to France. Even from the motorway it looked an attractive place, well earning its title as the Garden of England. Both Sheila and I had decided that if the opportunity ever arose, then we […]
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Dining In Derbyshire – The Bear Inn, Alderwasley
When you plan to visit a country inn the imagination can run wild. What’s its history? Is it still original or has it been spoilt by modernisation? Having visited the Bear many times during the years before lock down and way before that, my memory was of log fires, oak beams, stone walls and a […]
Walk Derbyshire – Toad’s Mouth, Carl Wark & The Upper Reach of Burbage Brook
There are many enigmatic remains throughout the Peak District; stone circles, cairns and burial mounds were left by people who did not tell us who they were. Carl Wark the focal point of this walk is one such relic, but we have no way of telling if it was Iron Age or post-Roman, but it […]
Celebrity Interview – Gareth Malone
He’s encouraged schoolchildren, the partners of military personnel and young offenders to sing. Now Gareth Malone, “the nation’s most loved choirmaster”, wants to get everyone exercising their vocal chords as he tours theatres with his new show Sing-Along-A-Gareth. It’s an idea that grew out of lockdown when Gareth was concerned that people weren’t allowed to […]
Lost Houses of Derbyshire – The New Inn Derby
by Maxwell Craven I decided to take a break from country houses this month and mention a licensed house – not that I have run out of the former, but I felt a building as substantial as this merited inclusion, especially as it had a notable place in the history of local coaching and for […]
Walk Derbyshire – Around Kedleston, Woods & Parkland
Opening my latest copy of WALK DERBYSHIRE the seventh no less, I realised that the first walk in the guide took in much of Kedleston’s parkland, but less than half of its beautiful woods and plantations. As enjoyable as the walk maybe, it would be a great pity to exclude the extensive woodlands covering North […]
Celebrity Interview – Oddsocks
“Many people who struggled with Shakespeare at school must laugh when they see Oddsocks’ website. And that’s exactly what the Derbyshire theatre company wants its audiences to do.” A quote from a four-star review sits on the front page of the Oddsocks website proclaiming that it makes Shakespeare “such enormous fun”. There’s also the declaration […]
Places Pevsner Forgot by Maxwell & Carole Craven
We supposed that Sir Nikolaus Pevsner missed Horsley Woodhouse because he probably travelled north along the Derby to Heanor road, and was thus able to enjoy Smalley, and on another occasion doubtless journeyed south west from Denby towards Coxbench (neither of which he missed) passing by Horsley Woodhouse at Four Lane Ends where that road […]
The Lost Houses of Derbyshire – Old Kedleston Hall by Maxwell Craven
No-one knows what the ancient hall at Kedleston looked like, except that it was built before 1198 by one the earlier Curzons, which family had inherited the estate by 1100 probably through marriage from the Domesday Book holder, Wulfbert, who held it from Henry de Ferrers. We do know, however, that a new house had […]