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Forbes
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
How To Spend The Perfect Weekend In Bakewell
Bakewell Visit Peak District & Derbyshire N estled within Derbyshire's rolling countryside, Bakewell —synonymous with the famed English pudding—is a quintessential Peak District town that feels plucked straight from a Jane Austen chapter; famously rumoured to have inspired 'Lambton' in Pride and Prejudice . Here, narrow cobbled streets wind through a town bathed in warm, honeyed hues, where ivy spills over stone cottages and the River Wye threads through like a silver ribbon, as wild ducks drift lazily beneath mossy footbridges and locals picnic beneath the arching shade of age-old, leafy willows. At the heart of the town, glowing bakeries tempt tourists to queue for a taste of the legendary Bakewell Pudding . While nearby, buzzing market stalls brim with handmade crafts, crumbly English cheeses, and fragrant blooms. Tucked into sleepy alleyways, tiny galleries unveil the works of local Peak District artists. While All Saints Church watches over Bakewell, standing noble and proud, with ancient Saxon crosses whispering stories of long-gone times. But don't be fooled—Bakewell comes alive after dusk, as Victorian lampposts flicker and crowds gather in its classic English pubs to cheers local Peak Ales. So, whether you're tracing Jane Austen's literary footsteps at nearby Chatsworth House or rambling through sunlit meadows ablaze with buttercups, you'll discover plenty of jewels in the capital of Bakewell Pudding . The Rutland Arms Hotel at night. The Rutland Arms Hotel Towering over Rutland Square, The Rutland Arms is Bakewell's iconic Grade II-listed coaching inn, originally commissioned in 1804 by the Duke of Rutland . With its honey-hued sandstone façade, Doric-columned entrance, and hand-carved coat of arms by White Watson , this boutique bolthole radiates timeless grandeur. Step inside and you're greeted with a whimsical, almost theatrical, Alice In Wonderland-esque cavern—think medusa-like chandeliers, rich velvet banquettes, and walls adorned with grand oil portraits of Tudor royals, Georgian aristocrats, and playful countryside prints. Upstairs, check into its petite Deluxe Four Poster Suite —the hotel's crown jewel—dressed with a stately four-poster bed, a stylish lounge area (think long floral drapes, retro Roberts radios, regal armchairs, and historic prints of Haddon Hall ), and a snug ensuite with a small bath tub and a glowing vanity mirror. AA Rosette Restaurant The Rutland Arms Hotel Peckish? Downstairs, dine in its AA Rosette restaurant—where period grandeur meets modern flair—with neon coffered ceilings, suspended stagelights, ornate Georgian mirrors, and regal wingback armchairs. Sink into royal blue booths and nibble on small plates of popcorn chicken, Thai fishcakes, and salt & pepper chicken bao buns—before diving into hearty British mains—think slow-cooked Derbyshire lamb, treacle-cured pork chops, and 12oz T-Bone steak. Afternoon tea is a ritual here: expect lofty finger sandwiches, warm fluffy scones, and a selection of weighty patisserie treats with teapots of Jasmine Blossom or Darjeeling. Then, retire to the Nell Gwynn Bar next door, with its crackling log fires, velvet armchairs, and fine curated gin selection. The best bit? You're mere footsteps from Bakewell's bustling market, quaint bakeries, and meandering riverside walks—or, simply watch it all unfold from your birdseye-view suite above the square ( Deluxe Four Poster Suite from $335 per night). Best Things To Do In Bakewell Chatsworth House Chatsworth House Chatsworth House Trust Rising from the folds of the Peak District, Chatsworth House is a regal Georgian stately home owned by the wealthy Dukes of Devonshire—famously immortalised as 'Pemberley' in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice . Start in its Painted Hall , where mythological frescoes swirl above golden balustrades—then, wander the Sculpture Gallery , where Roman marble figures gaze solemnly beneath vaulted skylights and marvel at the Library , lined with thousands of leather-bound volumes. Outside, the 105-acre garden unfurls with dramatic flair: a 300-year-old tumbling waterfall and its grand Emperor Fountain shooting skyward (built to impress Tsar Nicholas I). Or, simply lose yourself in the twisting yew hedges of its Maze . Hungry? Just a 10-minute drive away, you'll find Chatsworth Kitchen —serving warm Derbyshire oat cakes, garden vegetable linguine, and the house-favorite Chatsworth Kitchen Burger ( House & Garden tickets from $45 per person). Bakewell Pudding Shop The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop in Bakewell. Visit Peak District & Derbyshire Deep in the heart of Bakewell's cobbled town square stands The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop , inside a charming 17th-century stone building, once owned by the Duke of Rutland. It was the birthplace of the legendary Bakewell Pudding —by happy accident—in the 1800s. As the story goes, a cook at the nearby White Horse Inn misinterpreted a recipe, layering an egg custard over jam instead of folding it into the pastry. The result? A silky, almond-rich custard nestled in flaky puff pastry that became a British classic. Step inside and you're greeted by the smell of warm butter and toasted almonds as you clock a counter overflowing with handmade puddings, golden tarts, and whimsical surprises like Bakewell Pudding Gin . Bonus: Use their clever 'Post a Pudding' service and you can send a Bakewell Pudding anywhere across the globe. Monsal Trail Monsal Trail Visit Peak District & Derbyshire Winding through Derbyshire's limestone dales, the Monsal Trail is an 8.5-mile ribbon cut from the old Midland Railway line. You'll meander through six tunnels—like the Headstone Tunnel , echoing with footsteps—past craggy cliffs, wild garlic-filled woods, and limestone valleys. Then, emerging into sunlight, you'll be greeted by the majestic Headstone Viaduct , towering above Monsal Dale with hawks circling overhead. In spring, bluebells carpet the banks; as you pass by two relics of the Industrial Age: Litton Mill and Cressbrook Mill , once powered by the river's rush, now silent beneath ivy. Grand finale? Make a stop at Hassop Station Café for a slice of Bakewell tart or picnic beside the lime kilns, where butterflies flit between ox-eye daisies. Best Restaurants The Woodyard Perched beside the River Wye, The Woodyard is a charming riverside restaurant—housed in a former 1810 marble works—its glass floor revealing the old millstream trickling below. Exposed stone walls, timber beams, and flickering candlelight are married with the smell of wood-fired pizzas, blue cheese mayo-topped Woodyard burgers, and crispy steak and Guinness pies with rich gravy. Sip punchy cocktails too—from 'Bakewell Sours' to spicy margaritas—in its sun-drenched beer garden; the only in Bakewell that overlooks the river. Lovage Secreted away in a former 19th-century stable block, Lovage is one of Bakewell's most refined culinary jewels—led by its Chef-owner, 'Great British Menu' finalist, Lee Smith . Candlelight flickers off wood-paneled walls and Derbyshire stone as you indulge in seven-course tasting menus: think roasted beetroot with goat's cheese and dukkah, or stone bass with foraged herbs, and dreamy raspberry soufflé. The wine flight is superb, too—featuring Loire whites and Pfalz reds. How To Get There Travelers and residents in London can hop on a 125-minute train from St Pancras International to Matlock, changing at Derby, with East Midlands Railway . From there, it's a 20-minute cab ride to Bakewell. For more information, head to
Telegraph
15-07-2025
- Telegraph
The English high street: Stamford, Lincolnshire – people like living here, so it's thriving
The nice woman with a dustpan and brush, making the blue runner down the church nave spick and span, paused and came over to talk. 'I moved to the middle of Stamford two years ago. I absolutely love it,' she said, waving the brush for emphasis. This was in the 13th-century All Saints' Church, whose spire punctuates the skyline of the compact town on its hill above the river Welland, beside which the Town Meadows are preserved for public use. I agree with Celia Fiennes, who rode all round England in the 1690s, when she said that Stamford is 'as fine a built town all of stone as may be seen'. I had visited Stamford every now and then for 30 years, but was worried whether the High Street might now have declined as in many a market town. 'There are not many empty shops in the High Street,' I was assured. All Saints' is thriving too, with 70-100 people on Sundays and completely full at Christmas or Easter. Walking out into the sunshine, I enjoyed the sight of the Georgian buildings in Red Lion Square. The walls of its buildings 100 years ago were painted with huge advertisements for Freeman, Hardy and Willis and for Currys Cycles (the forerunner of the electrical stores). Now, it has never been sprucer. As everybody knows, Stamford was used 30 years ago for the television serial Middlemarch. The local stone, from renowned quarries at nearby Ketton, Barnack and Clipsham, is a warm biscuit colour. Stamford sits at the extreme southern end of Lincolnshire, untypical of the county. Rutland, Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire jostle together here with the old territory of the Soke of Peterborough. Stamford escaped the mainline railway, which went to Peterborough instead, leaving Stamford with its Georgian and medieval buildings intact. But the A1, Great North Road, still chugged past the walls of All Saints'. It had made Stamford prosperous (and supported historical inns such as the George on the other side of the river) but a bypass in 1960 eased the noise, dirt and battering of traffic. Today's population of 20,000 is expected to reach 28,000 by 2038, with the addition of two housing estates. People here are longer-lived, less depressed and less obese than average, with fewer markers of deprivation. Since the 1970s, the High Street has been pedestrianised, but not left high and dry. Less than 400 yards long, it has about 40 old houses on each side. But it can't be taken in isolation, for long alleys lead off one side to Broad Street ('nearly perfect visually,' as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner remarked in the Lincolnshire volume of The Buildings of England). At one end of Broad Street is the 15th-century Browne's Hospital. In the middle is St Augustine's Catholic Church (1864), which Pevsner says has 'an unbelievable bell-turret, asymmetrically placed and most crudely detailed'. I rather enjoy its idiosyncrasy, and the Stamford Mercury called it the 'prettiest modern Gothic building in town'. Broad Street still holds a market every Friday, when you must not leave your car there after 4am. It being a Wednesday, I found the Lord Burghley pretty quiet, with a couple of regulars and an elderly woman with an empty wine glass. I might have gone two doors down to the Stag & Pheasant, as it was in the 19th century (the New Salutation in 1799), where the white painted façade with Watney's lettering has been scraped to reveal glorious 18th-century stonework. Even this conceals an earlier building. The place has never looked better, but it is no longer a pub. Stamford has several old churches and many old pubs, but one can never have too many. Refreshed, I launched into the High Street and was immediately cheered at No 1. It had been the HSBC, which closed in 2023, but since last year has been Gladwell & Patterson, selling pictures. Katy showed me round. Upstairs the rooms have been done out like those of a house, with a painting of the Salute in Venice over one mantelpiece. 'Gladwell's Corner,' it says over the doorway, echoing the old shop on the corner of Watling Street and Queen Victoria Street in London before Gladwell's moved to Knightsbridge. I felt that this branch in Stamford was part of the trend of urbs in rure that contributes to Stamford's current prosperity. Stamford is a few minutes by train to Peterborough and then 45 minutes to London. One of its unexpected delights is a stone Tudor station with an octagonal bell-turret, designed in 1848 by the great railway architect Sancton Wood. It used to have the perfect place to spend time before the hourly train: Robert Humm, Britain's largest railway bookshop. After 50 years, Robert and Clare Humm have retired and the station cries out for a replacement, perhaps with coffee. I had to hurry up or I'd never have got to the end of the High Street. Each building is of historical interest. The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England devoted a whole large-format book to Stamford, with hundreds of photographs and drawings of doorcases and staircases and hidden timber-framed medieval back premises. The town has 600 listed buildings of special architectural or historic interest. At 7 High Street, with two lovely 18th-century bow windows, is Brook Taverner, a clothes shop. Before that, it was Ponden Mill homeware shop, and before that, for a long time, a jeweller's. New uses for old buildings have kept the High Street a place where people want to come shopping. A strange example of Stamford houses hiding their past is 10 High Street. It is now Walkers, a newsagent on the ground floor and a bookshop upstairs. The frontage is of the most florid mock Tudor. But behind the Victorian front is a genuine medieval timber-framed building. In any case, the Stamford Mercury was delighted in 1849 by this 'fine specimen of the revived Tudor style'. Upstairs, Nicola was putting out books by local authors, such as Will Hetherington's Will's Pub Walks. Customers also take part in a monthly Poetry in the Bookshop event, listening or reading their own. Nicola has lived in Stamford for 15 years and likes it. One of the few empty shops is No 11, formerly the Halifax, still bearing a plaque celebrating its restoration in 1982. Café Black at No 21 occupies a jazzy Georgian stone building of 1732 with chunky rustication round the windows and giant fluted pilasters each side. It was owned by an upholsterer, Thomas Snow, and his wife, Elizabeth, in 1792. In the 1970s, it was Westmoreland's, selling washing machines. The public library a little farther on is a surprise. It has Tuscan columns and deep eaves to the pediment above, like Inigo Jones's St Paul's in Covent Garden. But it was designed as the entrance to the shambles (butchers' stalls). When built, in 1804, the front was open. In 1906, a wall and windows enclosed it to house the library. It is now Grade II listed, as is the telephone box beside it. I spent a happy day looking at the High Street buildings. There have been losses. The medieval house at No 47, where the celebrated Daniel Lambert died in 1809, weighing 52 stone, was demolished in 1966. Pevsner says that No 41 'faces down the High Street and is fully conscious of it', adding, 'It is mid-Georgian.' But it isn't; it's a 1909 rebuild for the Co-op, based on the stone building there before. Pevsner complained of the horrible Co-op shopfront, and today the Marks & Spencer posters of fruit and veg distract from the mellow stonework. It's the most central supermarket, with Waitrose, Lidl, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Aldi farther out. Old roofs here are of stone slates, and an early 18th-century house at No 31 shows them off well, on a steep gabled roof. The shop below is Costa Coffee. Stamford shops are not allowed to display electrically illuminated fascia boards. In 1936, the Norman castle mound was flattened for a bus station, and in 1976, the surrounding bailey was built over with a small housing development – which received an architectural award. A worse horror was turning St Michael's Church in the High Street into shops in 1982, 'an unsympathetic use and an appalling conversion,' says Pevsner on our behalf. I walked back to the station relieved that Stamford continues to thrive because people like living in its historical streets and (partly thanks to its proximity to London) have the resources to maintain them.
Yahoo
22-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
The church which was bombed for Hitler's birthday
On 19 April, 1941, South Merstham in Surrey received a very unwelcome birthday present. As German bombers returned from London having taken part in raids to mark the birthday of Adolf Hitler the following day, planes from the raid dropped a surplus parachute mine into Battlebridge Lane which created an 180 sq ft (16.7 sq m) crater and destroyed All Saints Church. The church was damaged beyond repair, but from its salvaged remains rose Canada Hall, which stands in the village to this day. Its church warden, Mary Kennedy, says she does not think people walking past recognise the significance of the new building – or its name. Speaking to Radio Surrey, she said: "The hall was built by Canadian soldiers billeted in the area. Everything in the building was built from salvaged material from the bombed church, except for some cement and paint. "Local people believed it was because of the railway. Every time the village got bombed it was shortly after a train had gone through. "I don't think people understand the history of it. They walk past it but not everyone realises why it is called that." The bomb did cause fatalities – 10 people died and the vicar of the church was severely injured. But from the ravaged church rose a new building. Initially intended as a temporary church, Canada Hall was consecrated in 1943 and dedicated in 1952. In fact, the church was one of only two in the country to be consecrated during World War Two – the other was built by Italian prisoners of war on the Isle of Orkney. Now, information panels in the church share the history of the old building and what has since replaced it. In its new form, Canada Hall now stands as a key monument to South Merstham's wartime history. Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. The 19th Century church sealed for Second Coming Inside the signal box standing the test of time All Saints Church, South Merstham
BBC News
22-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
The South Merstham church bombed for Adolf Hitler's birthday
On 19 April, 1941, South Merstham in Surrey received a very unwelcome birthday German bombers returned from London having taken part in raids to mark the birthday of Adolf Hitler the following day, planes from the raid dropped a surplus parachute mine into Battlebridge Lane which created an 180 sq ft (16.7 sq m) crater and destroyed All Saints church was damaged beyond repair, but from its salvaged remains rose Canada Hall, which stands in the village to this church warden, Mary Kennedy, says she does not think people walking past recognise the significance of the new building – or its name. Speaking to Radio Surrey, she said: "The hall was built by Canadian soldiers billeted in the area. Everything in the building was built from salvaged material from the bombed church, except for some cement and paint. "Local people believed it was because of the railway. Every time the village got bombed it was shortly after a train had gone through."I don't think people understand the history of it. They walk past it but not everyone realises why it is called that."The bomb did cause fatalities – 10 people died and the vicar of the church was severely from the ravaged church rose a new building. Initially intended as a temporary church, Canada Hall was consecrated in 1943 and dedicated in 1952. In fact, the church was one of only two in the country to be consecrated during World War Two – the other was built by Italian prisoners of war on the Isle of information panels in the church share the history of the old building and what has since replaced its new form, Canada Hall now stands as a key monument to South Merstham's wartime history.
BBC News
13-06-2025
- BBC News
Bradford PC 'doubly' claimed wedding refunds
A police officer who "doubly" claimed refunds after his wedding was cancelled in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic has been found guilty of gross Walker, who was based in Bradford before resigning from West Yorkshire Police last month, "deliberately and dishonestly" received over £5,000 from a church in Bingley, the National Trust and the wedding caterers, a panel and his wife accepted the cash despite having already received a £13,000 insurance payout covering all wedding costs, members of the hearing were who did not attend the hearing on Friday, had admitted being "naive and mistaken", but he denied "dishonestly misleading anyone", the panel heard. The hearing, which was held virtually at the force's HQ in Wakefield, was told that Walker and his wife had been due to marry at All Saints Church in Bingley in April 2020, but were forced to postpone the ceremony weeks before when Covid couple later initiated a claim with their wedding insurers, which was eventually settled for £13,088.50 in February 2021. That covered costs including their catering, the booking of the church, bell-ringers and a £500 fee they had paid to the National Trust for the wedding reception at East Riddlesden Hall, near the misconduct hearing was told that Walker then separately received and kept refunds from several organisations involved in the wedding. Presenting the case for the policing authority at the misconduct hearing, Andrew Pickin said the pair continued to pursue their catering suppliers for cash after their insurance claim was eventually received more than £3,900 from the company in insurance payout had also covered the church service, even though the wedding was rescheduled rather than cancelled Pickin said Walker had failed to disclose being double-paid to either the insurance company or several vendors involved in the wedding, conduct Mr Pickin described as "fundamentally criminal".The panel heard that West Yorkshire's policing standards department (PSD) received an anonymous tip-off through Crimestoppers in October 2023 about the situation. 'Arguing and stress' Members of the panel were told that a criminal investigation was launched, but was discontinued after the insurance company indicated the money concerned fell short of the threshold for which it would usually pursue a questioned by PSD officers, PC Walker claimed his "thinking skills had been impacted by the Covid pandemic and the stress of the wedding", the panel was said that the officer insisted he had initially believed the insurance payout was a "form of compensation" for the "arguing and stress" he and his wife had been caused through Riley, the misconduct panel chair, said the case against the former officer was found to have been added that he would have been dismissed had he still been serving in the West Yorkshire force. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
