I’m sat working in the garden today, the weather is far too nice to be stuck indoors.  I received some great feedback on the last ‘Something for the weekend’, so I thought I would do another!

I really love this time of year in Derbyshire….there’s always something to do, whether it’s a fair, carnival or traditional event the county offers something for everyone and with the weather being so very kind to us, there’s no better reason to head out for the day.

If you haven’t planned your weekend yet, maybe this post will help you decide…..

Chatsworth Estate
Saturday 30^th & Sunday 31^st May
Chatsworth are holding their first ever food and drinks fair this weekend, which I think I’ll head over to.  The fair is located on the hill leading up towards the stables.  There will be food and drinks producers from all over the Midlands, from Sheep dip malt whisky, cider perry fruit wine, handmade farmhouse cheeses and freshly made organic pancakes will be among the delicious goods on offer.  

Other ‘fabulous places‘ within the Chatsworth Estate are the Farm Shop Restaurant, Farm Shop, Interiors Shop & Carriage House Restaurant.  

 
Bakewell Farmers Market
Agricultural Business Centre Bakewell
Saturday 30^th May
I love a good farmers market and Bakewell’s is pretty fantastic for great produce.  The market offers a wide variety of locally produced foods for sale under cover at the Agricultural Business Centre, which is easily signposted as your approach the town.   The market runs from 9am – 2pm.

‘Fabulous places’ to visit while you’re in Bakewell are Chalet Home, Treeline Gallery, The Style House and Ag Gallery.

Chesterfield Farmers Market
Sunday 31^st May
Situated in the centre of town, the market runs from 10am – 2pm.

While you’re in Chesterfield some great ‘fabulous places’ to visit are Koo coffee Shop & Koo Deli, Libby’s and Created Gallery.

Other great ideas while the weather is so good are: 

Ice cream from Bluebells 

Lunch ourside at the Bottlekiln – there’s something quite wonderful about catching up with friends over lunch in the garden.  Quiche and salad washed down with sparkling Belvoir Elderflower, yum!  The Bottlekiln are also running a promotion where there is 25% off all their British handmade art pieces and jewellery.  I highly recommend a browse….I picked up a gorgeous necklace today.

Right, must go and prepare for this evening’s BBQ!  Have a fabulously British weekend!

I’m off to see the lovely people at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust today.  They contacted me recently as they would like to collaborate with the FP site…I think it’s a great idea and can’t wait to get the walks on the site so you guys can go and enjoy them.  The idea is that the site will show you some great walks near some of the fabulous places featured on the website.  

Join the fabulousplaces.co.uk Club and I’ll keep you up to date with developments.

I was so surprised to find out the fabulousplaces.co.uk blog had been nominated for the Dorset Cereals little blog competition!  I’d like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who have taken the time to vote for me over the past few weeks!  )

THE COMPETITION IS NOT OVER JUST YET….the winner is the blog with the most votes at the end of May, so there’s plenty of time to scoop that fabulous first place position.  Please take a moment to click here and place your vote…I will be eternally grateful!  

Debs

I’m feeling green this week, so thought I would share some of my favourite simple tips with you:

Super easy start…use reusable bags.  There are so many gorgeous eco bags out there to choose from and a good way to ensure you always have one to hand is to keep one in the car and your bag for all those unplanned trips to the shop.

Make the most of natural light and avoid turning on lights if you don’t need to and also turn off lights in rooms you’re not using at the time.  A great little gadget for this time of year is a solar jar – it has a little solar panel which charges up through the day and then gives a great light during the evening.  Nigel’s Eco Store is a great place for products just like this.

We have an amazing little gadget at home, which has been a real eye opener on how much electric appliances actually use and how much it costs.  Nigel’s Eco Store stock all sorts of gadgets like this, here’s the one we have.

Make do & mend…do you really need to buy new or can you be creative and recycle what you already have?  A great book is the Thrift Book by India Knight…you can buy it at Amazon for a great price at the moment, inc free delivery.

Yippee, it’s the beginning of the British strawberry season!  Try to buy fruit and veg produced in the UK….say no to air freighted products.  Strawberry picking at Scaddows here I come!

I have certain magazines I buy every month and after finding out that a friend buys the same ones, we’ve decided we’ll save some money and buy different magazines and swap them after we’ve read them.

Support your local economy & try to buy as much of your shopping list from your local independent shops and farmers markets.  I’ve just put a fab new local producer for the FP website, offering a great alternative to buying meat from the supermarket:  Crow Wood Farm in Spondon.

Do as much as you can online.  Online banking is a great way to eliminate paper statements.  

Recycle….as much as you can!  )

Grow your own…whether it’s a veggie plot, pot of strawberries or a kitchen herb pot.  They all make a difference and it’s great to cook using your own veggies and herbs.  If you’re not in a position to grow your own, try buying your fruit and veg locally from a market or greengrocer or order your them from a company like Abel & Cole.

Do you have any great tips you would like to share?  Please post them below )

In May each year Derbyshire holds two great events:

Derbyshire Food & Drink Fair – taking place on the grounds of the wonderful Bolsover Castle on Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th May.  With over 100 stalls showcasing the very best in local food, drink, arts & crafts; products range from meats, pickles, wines, cakes, chocolates, organic produce, cookery ware and much more.  The event also offers entertainment making it a great day out for all the family.  Entry is £2.50 for adults and free for under 16s. Click here to go the official website.

Derbyshire Open Arts - A visual arts and crafts event across the county. This free event invites you to visit artists and craftspeople in their showspaces and workplaces over Spring Bank holiday weekend. The next event will take place on Spring Bank holiday weekend from 23rd to 25th May 2009.  From the fabulousplaces.co.uk website there are the following places and producers participating:

Clare Gage, Created Gallery, Chesterfield
Deirdre Gage, Created Gallery, Chesterfield
Studio 61 Gallery Boutique, Lea 

 Click here to go to the official Derbyshire Open Arts website.

Claire Sutton, a user of fabulousplaces.co.uk, sent me this great recipe along with a fab picture of her Derbyshire Marmalade Tea Loaf.  The photo sold it for me!

I thought I would share the recipe with you all:

This is an easy recipe, based on a ‘Derbyshire Tea Loaf’, which will impress any guest you invite round for a cuppa and gossip.

Here goes….

Make a pot of tea for you and your cake. 
Enjoy a cup yourself and pour another cup of hot black tea over:



6oz sultanas (I don’t like candied peel or raisins but use mixed dried fruit if you prefer)

1/2 oz glace ginger

3oz of golden caster sugar


Mix together then leave to soak overnight.  Next day, in a separate bowl, mix:


8oz Self Raising Flour

2 tablespoons of marmalade 

1 large beaten egg 

A good pinch of cinnamon


Then add the tea/fruit/sugar mixture and stir in a leisurely manner.  Pour into a lined 2lb loaf tin.  Add 3oz of cherries at this stage so you can space them out around the mixture.  Plop them onto the cake (around 12 or more so that everyone gets a bite of the cherry!) and squidge them down into the mixture.  Sprinkle brown sugar and a grating of nutmeg on the top.


Bake for 50-60 minutes at around 175-180c until a skewer comes out clean.  Leave in the tin for 5 minutes before taking out.  You now have the difficult decision of whether to be good and eat it as is or spread with butter.  Pop the kettle on and enjoy!

If you have a go at baking this Derbyshire Marmalade Tea loaf do let me know how it goes!  Also, if you have your own recipe you would like to share, please contact Deb.

Looking for something to do this weekend?  Why not get out and about and visit some fabulous places in Derbyshire?  fabulousplaces.co.uk is the perfect ‘where to go’ resource if you’re looking for an extra special visit into Derbyshire.  This blog post is looking at the A6 journey into Derbyshire, starting from Duffield and ending at Avant Garde in Baslow.

Gifted is a lovely gift boutique on the main road in Duffield.  From jewellery to bags and homwares to childrens traditional toys.  Gifted is open 7 days a week.

Next on the A6 is Belper which has lots of fabulous places:


I Should Cocoa – a must see for all chocolate lovers.  This is artisan chocolate at its best and the selection is to die for…there are even a few surprising chocolates for the adventurous chocolate fan.  I Should Cocoa also have a lunch menu which is perfect for a light bite at a great price.  I Should Cocoa is open Monday to Saturday.

Fresh Basil – a fab deli eatery offering a great range of carefully selected local and continental deli produce, homemade cakes, bread, meats, eggs and lots of other tempting fresh goodies.  They also have a great menu, which I’m working my way through…delicious!  Fresh Basil is open Monday to Saturday.

Definitely worth a visit is Sweetings Interiors.  On several floors, this interiors shop is a wonderful place to lose an hour wondering round getting  lots of inspiration. Sweetings is open 7 days a week.

The next must see is Lavender grey.  This little shop is fabulous, each time I visit I know there will be something to tempt me.  Run by Lucy, an interior designer, who is always happy to help you find exactly what you’re looking for.  Lavender grey is open Tuesday to Saturday. 

Next would have to be Bow at the Printworks in Cromford.  I wonderful little shop full of accessories for the home, jewellery and cards.  What I love about Bow is that each item is carefully selected by the owner, Susanna, and the prices are very reasonable.  Susanna also sources locally and stocks lots of products made from all over Derbyshire.



Heading a little further towards Bakewell, I always stop off at Caudwells Mill.  The Mill has such a lovely atmosphere on a sunny day and the eatery is great….the hommity pie is delicious and the cakes always look and taste fab.

 After Caudwells Mill I would go for a wonder around the Chatsworth Estate.  A mid afternoon walk around Chatsworth is a treat.  The best walk, in my opinion, and it’s totally free, is to head up through the car park and follow the track past the farm yard and round to the right.  This takes you up to the back of the house, a great view and there are also magical-looking lakes, waterfalls and woodland – the perfect place to head with doggies and it’s normally very quiet.

Our Chatsworth ritual is to finish off in the farm shop to get sausages and other goodies to cook for tea when we get home…or in the case of the caramel slices, to eat in the car on the way home!

I’m not sure how much time you’ll have left, but Avant Garde in Baslow is one of my favourites.

This is a pretty full on day and it can be done with children and/or doggies…especially if you’re lucky like I am and have a partner who’s happy to wonder around with the dogs while I nip into browse round a shop!  ) 

Have fun!

I’ll be honest, before I launched fabulousplaces.co.uk in July 2008, I wasn’t the most environmentally conscious person, I bought free range eggs and recycled when I remembered to….shamefully, that was about it!  Well, over the past year I’ve discovered a whole new passion for making small positive changes to my lifestyle.  I’ve met some great people through the website who have shown me how easy it is and after a little effort on my part, I can honestly say I’m feeling pretty good about what I’ve done.

Here are some of the things I’ve been upto:

Electric cost gadget – my partner, David, won an online competition and we’re now the owners of a gadget that tells you how much you’re spending at any time.  This has been quite an education!  Little did I know how much it costs to boil the kettle and hoover the living room…it’s a gift and a curse, but life changing!  lol 

Bee boxes  & bee friendly plant seeds- I’ve put two bee boxes in the garden and also planted some bee friendly seeds (see photo above). 


Vegetables – I’m now the proud owner of a veggie patch (photo above).  It was super easy to set up….apart from the two occasions when I found my dog, Toby, having a great time digging in it!  I found some great eco chic gardening accessories at the bottlekiln and the alphabet gift shop.


Buying local – I love to visit farmers markets, they’re great for meats, cakes, bread and veggies.  Also, you’ll find other local producers like chocolate, crafts and art.  Click here for a list of Derbyshire’s farmers markets.
  Also, I now check what I buy in the supermarket and buy items produced in the UK wherever possible.

Recycling – this is a no brainer…all councils provide recycling bins now, so we recycle everything we possibly can.

Bags – I have so many eco shopper bags and never use supermarket’s plastic till bags.  I’m really pleased to see places like M&S charging for them…now if that’s not an incentive to take your own bag I don’t know what is!

I’ve made all sorts of other changes, but I thought I would share these with you as they were easy peasy changes and if you’re looking to make some…here are some to give you a good kick start!  If you have any good tips, do leave them below!  )

Each month I select one of the featured places or producers from the website and award them ‘Place of the Month’.  For May, I have chosen Eco Eco home in Hope.

Eco Eco home is a wonderful shop offering beautiful ranges of gifts and accessories for the home and garden, along with luxury bodycare made with high quality organic and fair trade ingredients.  If you’re looking for somewhere to inspire you to make a positive change, then eco eco in Hope is the place to go.  While you’re there you can also have a browse around Alison’s second shop, which is devoted to ethical clothing and jewellery for all the family.

The main reason I have chosen eco eco home for place of the month is simply because it’s so important for us to look at the way our lifestyle impacts the environment we live in and make positive changes.  eco eco is the perfect place to visit to browse a wide selection of desirable products from eco bags and stationery to paint and home textiles.  For me, Alison offers everything you need to easily become eco chic and fabulous! 

I’m delighted to announce that eco eco will be attending the fabulousplaces.co.uk Summer Fete at Blackbrook House on the 26th July, so if you can’t make the journey to Hope, you can visit their stand at the Fete.

If you’re planning a trip to eco eco why not take a look at what’s fabulous and just down the road in Hathersage: Riverside Herb Centre, The Walnut Club and Colemans Deli.

On Wednesday I went to Blackbrook House in Belper to start planning the website’s Summer Fete on the 26th July.  On my way back I decided to stop off in Belper and nip to Fresh Basil to say ‘hi’ and also to get some inspiration for my evening meal. As soon as you walk into Fresh Basil the wonderful array of smells hits you, from bread and homemade cakes to cheeses and olives, this is always followed by a warm welcome.  As always, I went straight to the free range eggs (my favourite), then a piece of coffee cake and I then noticed some brie on the counter top.  I have to say, that brie was the most delicious brie I have ever tasted!  Grilled, it was perfect sat on top of mushroom, chilli and tomato pasta, yum!  If Sam from Fresh Basil is reading this…please can you let me know what it was called?  I’ll definitely be back for some more!

I then called in to see Sid at I Should Cocoa across the road.  I Should Cocoa is one of my favourite places – I love chocolate and coffee, so this place is pretty much heaven in my book!!  I bought a piece of rocky road, a chocolate brownie and a coffee to go…the rocky road is naughty, but far too good to be missed!

Above are images of the brie from Fresh Basil and the rocky road and brownie from I Should Cocoa….I’m afraid I didn’t have chance to take a photo of the coffee cake as my partner, David, immediately took it from me as I entered the house and that was the last I saw of it!!

So, if you’re looking for somewhere to go this weekend…I recommend a stop off in Belper for some food shopping.  While you’re there you can also call into The Little Gallery, Clare’s Beautiful Beads, Lavender grey, Fresh Ground and Sweetings!