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Midlands News & Views, Calwich Rise, Ashbourne (2025)

22/09/2025

A hiker stops to admire and photograph the view of Parkhouse Hill as she ascends Chrome Hill, just after dawn on the Autumn Equinox - the first day of ‘Astronomical Autumn’ - near Longnor, Derbyshire. The ridges in the White Peak area of the Staffordshire Peak District are also known as the ‘Dragon’s Back’ and steam rises from a farmhouse chimney as mist clings to the hillside beyond near Warslow.

08/09/2025

The Horn Dance - first performed at the Barthelmy Fair in August 1226 - takes to the quaint village streets of Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire. Today the Horn Dance takes place annually on Wakes Monday.

After collecting the horns from St. Nicholas church at eight o’clock in the morning, the Horn Dancers comprising six deer-men, a fool, hobby horse, bowman and Maid Marian, perform their dance to music provided by a melodian player at locations throughout the village and its surrounding farms and pubs. A walk of about ten miles.

20/08/2025

We were delighted to be joined by Helen Edwards at yesterday's Dovedale Sheep Dog Society's annual sheep dog trials. We think her watercolour, painted on handmade paper, from the edge of the competition area, sets the scene beautifully at Blore, near Ilam, in the Derbyshire Peak District.

https://www.facebook.com/helenjse. https://www.artoxford.co.uk/helen

16/08/2025

Led by artist duo INSTAR Trish Evans and Nick Humphreys, Curbarium explores the wild nature that thrives in everyday urban spaces within the The National Forest, between pavements, along road verges, and in overlooked corners of town.

By blending creativity with ecology, the project shines a light on the often-unnoticed plant life growing in Coalville’s streets and public spaces.

At the heart of Curbarium is a community-led exhibition now open at Coalville CAN, running until 16 August. The show features striking print-based artworks made by local young people and families during a series of hands-on workshops with INSTAR.

Participants from The Castle Rock School, Clovelly House and North West Leicestershire Home Education took part in printmaking sessions, exploring the textures, forms and hidden stories of Coalville’s urban flora.

A beautifully designed limited-edition booklet of relief prints and reflections has also been produced to accompany the show - capturing the spirit of the project and its celebration of street-level biodiversity.

As part of the wider Curbarium experience, a specially commissioned billboard artwork will be unveiled at Belvoir Shopping Centre from 13 August to 10 September. Featuring large-scale paste-up prints, the display celebrates the unexpected intersections between nature and urban life.

“We draw huge inspiration from the natural world,” said Trish Evans, co-founder of INSTAR. “Curbarium has given us an incredible opportunity to creatively explore the resilience and beauty of wild plants that thrive right under our feet. It’s been brilliant to connect with so many people who share our curiosity and enthusiasm for nature on the edge.”

As part of the Curbarium project, a series of free, family-friendly events invite the local community to get involved, get creative, and see Coalville’s urban wildflowers in a whole new light.

22/07/2025

For the last three decades, Peter Wood of Greenwood Days has been quietly shaping the landscape of traditional craft in the The National Forest.

Based at his woodland workshop near Melbourne, Derbyshire, Peter has been running green woodworking courses and demonstrations since the early 1990s, starting at the same time as the National Forest itself.

A skilled craftsman and passionate teacher, Peter specialises in heritage techniques such as basket weaving, pole lathe turning and rustic bench making. Every piece is created using sustainably sourced wood from carefully managed local woodlands, ensuring that his work supports the long-term health and biodiversity of the forest.

Through Greenwood Days, Peter has introduced thousands of people to the value of working with natural materials and the importance of woodland conservation. His work is not only about making, it is about connecting people to the land, to tradition, and to a slower, more mindful way of living.

These photos capture Peter in action, shaping, weaving, carving and teaching in the dappled light of the trees, where craft and conservation go hand in hand.

18/07/2025

George’s flat-out race start is not elegant or considered. With vertiginous drops on both sides of the narrow track his blue and orange car plunges down the steep gradient impossibly fast. The car’s wheels skip down Hamilton Straight barely touching the surface. Before reaching The Corkscrew Curves - the inevitable end to his overly enthusiastic first attempt - a second car gently accelerates down the hill. Elsie has adopted a more controlled ‘slow in, fast out’ method, almost certainly guaranteeing her victory as her identical car calmly gathers pace.

The rookie racers are only eight and six-years-old. They are at the newly-opened HotWheels Riverside Raceway in Derbyshire. The outdoor track has a combined track length of almost 150ft, dropping almost 20ft from its twin start ramps down through a series of cross-overs, spirals, hairpins and a crash-inducing two-into-one sections of yellow plastic track to the finish.
This is the latest attraction at Great British Car Journeyin Ambergate, near Matlock. The course winds its way around the perimeter of the mini Land Rover course - the classic car attraction’s other activity set up just for children.

Managing director, Ian Gardecki explains: “Our raceway is built from classic orange hot wheels track and is banked for speed and designed for side-by-side gravity powered racing.

“The speed at the start is really important. If you let go of your car at the top of the ramp, it will probably be going too fast when it gets to the first corner or the cross-over so you will need to try and find the best place to let the car go on the start ramp.

“One of the delights of Hot Wheels is its totally analogue nature. Plastic track, little car and gravity as a stark contrast to all the phone and tablet games that kids play. Much like the contents of The Great British Car Journey, it harks back to low tech and when life was much less complex!”

Junior petrol-heads can buy and keep a pair of Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars and race on the course for only £10. Or it is £40 for an annual pass.

“Like a real racetrack, the track conditions change and are affected by temperature and dampness. Racing in the rain will be a real challenge and it is unlikely that cars will get to the finish. On hot days, the track will be fast and may bend and change shape adding another challenge” says Ian while squirting silicon spray onto the wheels of a car, “this helps to make them run more smoothly and faster!”

By the end of the session both George and Elsie and their friends Emily and Evie have mastered their precision starts and are competing hard to see who could win the most races.

“I want to build a track at home so I can practice and come back here and win all the races,” smiles George.

30/06/2025

A woman explores the cracked and parched shoreline of Howden Reservoir and a man explores the stone pillars which once supported a railway line used in the construction of the Derwent Dams. Low water levels have revealed sandy 'beaches' and the old structures on the banks of The Upper Derwent Dam in the Derbyshire Peak District.

27/06/2025

One of Britain’s most unusual car clubs visits a nuclear bunker for its annual get together. The IFA Club celebrates vehicles made behind the Iron Curtain.

Drivers of the first four cars two Škodas,a Trabant and a Wartburg, all built in the Eastern Bloc, took a tour of the Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker hidden deep in the Cheshire countryside near Nantwich. The bunker stayed secret for more than 50 years. The former radar station was also used as a decoy during WW2 to draw enemy bombers away from Crewe railway junction.

The IFA Club for Eastern Bloc Vehicles rarely hold their meets at beautiful stately homes and gardens. Previously they have met at the Greenham Common airfield control tower, the Joderell Bank Radio Telescope and toured the industrial areas of Stoke and Glasgow. Their road trips have often seen their old Soviet era cars - many with two stroke engines - successfully making it on pilgrimages to the site of the Berlin Wall.

Following the bunker visit, dozens more cars are expected to attend the IFA [Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau (Industrial Association for Vehicle Construction)] Eastern Bloc Staffordshire weekend event being held at Foxfield Railway near Stoke on Trent.

A sunken concrete bunker was built at Hack Green in the 1950s as part of a radar defence network. Later bunker was then rebuilt as a Regional Government Headquarters – one of a network of 17 such sites throughout the UK – designed to enable the government to continue in the aftermath of a major nuclear attack on the UK.

21/06/2025

The marina at Barton Marina is jam packed with visitors for the annual open day on the Trent & Mersey Canal near Burton upon Trent

18/06/2025

In the soft light of an early midsummer morning, bird ringing begins at a former coal mining site in the heart of the National Forest. Dr Heather Gilbert, research and evidence manager for the Forest, works quietly among wildflowers and saplings, checking fine mist nets for small songbirds. Licensed by the British Trust for Ornithology, she carefully records each bird’s weight, species and age, attaching a tiny aluminium ring to help track movements and monitor long-term trends.

Over the past 30 years, The National Forest has seen a 48% increase in bird numbers – a remarkable achievement against a national backdrop of sharp decline. Sites like Minorca near Moira, once an open-cast mine, have been transformed through the planting of over 213,000 trees and the creation of meadows, wetlands and new woodland. This regeneration is creating habitats where birds and other wildlife can thrive.

Her data will add to decades of conservation science helping to shape woodland management across the Forest. “It’s great to see bird numbers climbing,” she says. “It shows the difference we can make when we plant the right trees in the right places.”

14/06/2025

It’s been over forty years since Bruce Jamieson last clapped-eyes on a Rover P4. His boss gave one to him after a small dashboard fire.

“It was such a lovely English car - black with su***de doors. I spent weeks rewiring the whole dash - painstakingly matching each coloured wire to make a completely new wiring loom. I then put gas in it but it still wouldn’t start. I finally discovered the camshaft was broken and - because they just weren’t worth anything in the early eighties - it ended up going to a junkyard. It was such a shame”, explains the 61-year-old Californian.

“And I’ve never seen another in the States since. So when I saw there was one here, I just had to fly over and drive it,” he smiles.

Bruce is at Drive Dads Car in Ambergate, Derbyshire. The business has a fleet of over 50 classic cars that can be driven around a network of private roads. Or perhaps they should be called ‘memory lanes’?

“I got a bit carried away ticking the boxes” he chuckles as he climbs out of a bright blue Reliant Robin.

“I’ve booked to drive 16 cars. I’ve only seen most of these cars in magazines. This place is like Disneyland for old car guys.

“I’ve been into cars since I was two-years-old, or so my mum says. She was from Switzerland and my dad was English. I guess that’s why I love British and European cars so much.

“A friend of mine has been sending me back-issues of Practical Classics magazine for years. It kept my love of British cars alive.

“I’ve been thinking about finding an old P4 like this on ebay and shipping it back home”, he explains as he wrestles to get comfortable on the Rover’s unsupportive red leather driver’s seat.
“Sometimes it’s best not to meet your heroes. I really wanted to love the Rover, but out of all the cars I’ve driven here today it’s my least favourite.

“It’s so very agricultural. The steering needs lots of cranking and the suspension is soft. It’s just plain awkward to drive.

“Thankfully I’ve driven so many others. I now have a new favourite - it’s this little Scimitar SS1. It accelerates so well, is really communicative on the road and has great driving dynamics and ergonomics.

“Scimitars were never sold in the States. This is a model I may now hunt for and buy while I’m over here and ship back home,” explains Bruce.

Richard Usher, founder of Drive Dads Car , and neighbouring sister classic car collection Great British Car Journey says: “I don’t think we’ve ever had someone book in to drive so many of our cars in one go. It’s been a two-day event. I’m thrilled that Bruce has flown over just to see and drive our cars. I think this means we’ve gone global”.

Bruce’s final drive is an old black cab. He poses for photos by a red phone box before heading off to test out the London taxi’s legendary turning-circle, while muttering what sounds a bit like, “Alright guv’nor, you never guess who I had in the back last night?!” in a London accent only Dick Van D**e would be proud of.

10/06/2025

Ahead of this Sunday’s Father’s Day, head butcher, Kev Busby prepares joints of beef, pork and tomahawk steaks at Denstone Hall Farm Shop, Denstone, Staffordshire.

Father’s Day marks one of the most popular days for a Sunday Roast.

Denstone Hall Farm Shop & Café
Packington Free Range

Midlands News & Views

22/09/2025

08/09/2025

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22/07/2025

18/07/2025

30/06/2025

27/06/2025

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