Seven cars assembled at a damp Carsington Water Visitor Centre outside Ashbourne in the Peak District on the morning of May 26th along with their intrepid owners for the day drive organised by Brian and Hanna Poole.  However, the weather turned out to be much kinder than forecast and most of us enjoyed top down motoring for most of the day!

Brian had planned a very scenic route meandering around the Derbyshire/Staffordshire county border and taking in several points of interest. The first brief stop was at the memorial in Bradbourne, a ‘doubly thankful’ village. This is so called because all of its sons who went off to war in WW1 came home, as did all of those who went off in WW2! Hence, the memorial has no names on it. Not something I was aware of before.

We then proceeded to Tissington House, a stately home owned by the Fitzherbert family since the days of Queen Elizabeth 1 and still lived in by the family.
The route continued over some beautiful hills and valleys scenery to the village of Hartington, an important market village since the Middle Ages

Then, we travelled onwards to Sheen, famous for its ‘Sheen Farmers’ tug of war team. Our brightly coloured cars looked good in the sunshine and lovely scenery.

We then proceeded to Longnor, another former market village, before heading south for a coffee stop at ‘The Tea Junction’ at Hulme End. This site was once home to the steam engine which pulled the train along the Leek and Manifold Light Railway. The line, which ran through the Manifold and Hamps valleys, has now been converted to a popular walking route. 

The drive continued along the picturesque Manifold Valley and on to Ilam Hall, a national trust property, before again continuing south back to Ashbourne and the ‘Stepping Stones’ pub, where refreshments awaited. A pleasant meal was enjoyed in good company before we all headed off on our separate ways

Many thanks to Brian and Hanna for organising a very enjoyable day in a lovely part of the country and for their interesting anecdotes on the local history. Also thanks to Jenny, Steve and Catherine for the photos.

Dave Skelding