Things I Love (and miss) about Derbyshire…

Living abroad amongst other cultures is a privilege, one I’m very grateful for. At the moment I live in New Zealand but at heart, I’ll always be a Derbyshire lass and there are many things I dearly miss. In no particular order, here are my top 10:

1) Well dressings

This quirky Derbyshire tradition involves decorating large wooden frames with clay and flower petals. Its origins are somewhat obscure but it is thought to stem from an ancient pagan tradition of offering thanks for water. 

As a child, I took part in well dressing weekend every year. Our school would always create one as would various local community organisations. I enjoyed entering the design competition, something the whole school did every year. Then we would help make the well by adding the clay and carefully pressing in flower petals, following the sketched design.

My school was in the small town of Wirksworth where we only used natural materials. I remember our teachers reminding us not to use too much blue in our designs as blue flower petals were in short supply!

2) Scarthin Books

This legendary bookstore is located in the small village of Cromford and a visit here was always a treat!

3) Belper Mill

I used to love driving to Belper as a child. The huge red, brick mill would loom up ahead and I’d know we were almost there. As an adult I was lucky enough to live in Belper and then went on to use as it as the setting of my first book.

I miss the mill building and know there is great work being done by Our Belper Mills to represent the public voice in the process of restoring this historic UNESCO world heritage site (click on the photo to learn more).

I miss old buildings in general and loved visiting the various manor houses around Derbyshire; Chatsworth, Makeney, Haddon, Calke, Hardwick. There were so many to explore.

4) The Illuminations

Another Derbyshire tradition was to head to Matlock Bath in September and watch decorated boats sail up and down the dark river. This tradition was first held to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

A bag of chips and some candy floss would make for the perfect autumn evening!

5) The High Peak Trail

The old railway line became the traffic-free High Peak Trail for walkers and cyclists in the 1970s.

My childhood home in Middleton was a couple of kms away, and we could access it easily by crossing the moors.

Flying down the incline toward Black Rocks was great fun - dragging the bikes back up again afterwards, not so much!

6) Black Rocks

Black rocks was a place to walk, scramble, picnic and freak ourselves out – who dared to stand close to the edge!?

7) Carsington Water

My father once drove me to a large, empty patch of land and told me there was going to be a reservoir built. I’d never heard the word reservoir before but sure enough the work began and Carsington Water was opened by the Queen in 1992 (I was 10).

My family spent a lot of time at Carsington, playing at the park, exploring the visitor centre, bird watching and eating ice creams.

At secondary school we also had sailing and windsurfing lessons there. Such a beautiful spot!

8) Caving

School holiday programmes always included caving in Derbyshire.

I remember my sister and I paying 50p to join the local caving trips and then spending hours scrambling through the rabbit warren of tunnels and passages left by the lead miners, something I’d never dare do today!

9) Literary connections

I loved the literary heritage I was surrounded by in Derbyshire.

D H Lawrence spent time living and writing in the same small village I grew up in (Middleton) and it’s believed that George Eliot was inspired to write Adam Bede during her time at nearby Wirksworth.

Then there are the connections with Jane Austen, the Brontes, Agatha Christie and Roald Dahl to name a few of the writers who lived, spent time or were inspired by the Derbyshire countryside. Click on the photo to read more!

10) Eyam

The village of Eyam (pronounced eem) became famous for the way the community managed the ‘Black Death’.

As children we would regularly take school trips to Eyam to learn about the way the clever locals isolated themselves, using drop off points for supplies and vinegar for disinfectant. A must see village!