Rural Voice - Bakewell & Villages Edition - August 2026
Based in Wirksworth, Goodwins are a team of kitchen, bedroom and bathroom contractors that MANAGE YOUR PROJECT FROM START TO FINISH. Get in touch today. OUR VALUES
• We take great pride in what we offer at Goodwins, as we’re able to help you customise your home exactly how you want it.
• We’ll always take the necessary time to truly understand your vision to ensure that we’re offering you exceptional service at all times.
• Using the latest 3D design software, we’re able to provide you with bespoke plans that give an accurate impression of how your room will look.
• Most importantly, we’ll also put forward multiple options and ideas to help you decide on a final look.
From the Editor
Upcoming submission deadline for advertisers & contributors: SEPT ‘26 EDITION - 10TH AUG ‘26 | OCT ‘26 EDITION - 10TH SEPT ‘26
Hello Readers,
What a Month July was!! Turns out that my Grandma was not correct and the adage of ‘bad start, bad finish’ is far more accurate!! Now, to be entirely fair, the 3rd place game against France was absolutely thrilling and was ‘final’ worthy….and the actual Final –well, despite it being quite boring, except for the unnecessary fouls and fisticuffs at the end, wasn’t that the result we all wanted! It sort of mitigated a bit of the pain we all felt earlier that week.
Mr Emily is cock-a-hoop that he won the World Cup office sweepstake! I maintain it was rigged as nearly all of my teams went out in the group stages when only a third of the teams were eliminated… also, nearly all his teams went through… hmmm, suspicious much!?!
In other news, our new PM is in situ, do us all a favour Andy and get some money flowing in the pockets of us normal folk again please! Mind you, perhaps we do have some changes afoot in our politics, what with the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire County Councils going down to just 2 unitary authorities from 2028. Only good can come from a flatter structure surely – I know that I’m not the only one who grows tired of having to memorise which department of which council to call because bins, schools, potholes….insert problem….needs reporting and after finally talking to someone, gets redirected!? Not the individual on the end of the phones problem but like I say…..flatter structures from my old business studies days were always adopted by the most efficient businesses!! Anyways, that’s enough of that.
I’ve had quite a busy July, tournaments a-plenty in netball and hockey (if I had £1 for every time I said “I’m getting too old for this”!). And heaps of social events, isn’t this what summer is for? Particularly with the yellow rays in the sky being thrown. On that note, if anyone saw me dressed as a Duck in Swanwick at my friend Lydia’s house….. it was totally a dream and I absolutely didn’t waddle down the street with Mr Emily dressed as a Rooster!!!
Enjoy your August peeps, Happy Reading, Emily x
From Plot to Picnic: Harvesting the Best of Summer
August is one of the most rewarding months in the gardening calendar. After months of sowing, watering, weeding and occasionally wondering if anything is actually growing, the plot is finally bursting with colour and flavour. Tomatoes are ripening, salad leaves are plentiful, courgettes seem to multiply overnight, and strawberries have already provided weeks of sweet rewards.
It’s also the perfect time to take your harvest beyond the kitchen and into the great outdoors. What better way to celebrate the fruits – and vegetables – of your labour than with a summer picnic featuring home-grown ingredients?
There is something deeply satisfying about preparing a meal from produce you’ve grown yourself. A simple sandwich becomes far more special when filled with freshly picked lettuce, home-grown tomatoes and herbs gathered just moments before heading out. Even the most modest harvest can elevate a picnic basket and provide a real sense of connection to the food on your plate.
Salads are perhaps the easiest way to showcase seasonal produce. Mixed leaves, radishes, spring onions and cucumbers can be combined into colourful dishes that are both refreshing and easy to transport. Fresh herbs such as parsley, chives and mint add flavour without fuss, while edible flowers can bring a touch of summer colour that is sure to attract admiration from fellow picnickers.
For those with an abundance of courgettes – and many gardeners will be nodding knowingly at this point – August offers countless opportunities to put them to good use. Courgette muffins, savoury tarts and vegetable fritters all travel well and make excellent additions to a picnic spread. It’s a far more appealing solution than quietly leaving surplus courgettes on neighbours’ doorsteps under the cover of darkness.
Soft fruits are another seasonal highlight. Strawberries, raspberries and blackberries provide the perfect picnic dessert, whether enjoyed on their own or folded into cakes, traybakes and homemade scones. A jar of home-made jam paired with fresh bread can transform even the simplest outdoor meal into something memorable.
Beyond the food itself, a plot-to-picnic approach encourages us to slow down and appreciate the journey from seed to plate. In a world where convenience often takes priority, growing our own food reminds us of the seasons, the weather and the patience required to produce something truly fresh.
Of course, not every crop will be picture-perfect. Some carrots emerge with unusual shapes, tomatoes occasionally split, and slugs inevitably enjoy a share of the harvest. Yet these small imperfections are part of the story. They are reminders that our food comes from real soil, real weather and real effort.
As summer reaches its peak, now is the ideal time to gather family and friends, pack a basket and head to a favourite green space. Whether your contribution is a handful of home-grown salad leaves or an entire feast created from allotment produce, every harvest deserves to be celebrated.
After all, few things taste better than food grown with your own hands and enjoyed beneath an August sky.
Audley St Elphin’s Park retirement village is set in 14 acres in the Derbyshire Dales. With 131 luxury properties and a restored Victorian Gothic school at its centre, the village offers a health club, library and restaurant.
All servicing is carried out to the original manufacturer’s schedules
Full Working Facilities
Modern, fully equipped 6 bay workshop employing fully skilled Land Rover trained technicians
Computer Diagnostics
Autologic Diagnostic Technology
Air Conditioning Service
Full air-con and diagnostic service
often with large savings on parts and labour prices quoted by the Main Dealer
Courtesy Cars Available
While your vehicle is with us you could take up the option of one of our courtesy cars so you will never be without transport (conditions apply)
beds@newdivanman.co.uk Find us on Facebook www.newdivanman.co.uk
Thank you for supporting a local, family run business.
THE BLACK LOCH BY PETER MAY
After the final book in Peter May’s trilogy set on the isle of Lewis was published, it looked as though his millions of readers worldwide had lost one of the most evocative thriller series of recent years.
But then he gave us another twist in the tale, returning to the Hebrides for The Black Loch. Fin McLeod, no longer a policeman, but still haunted by memories of his life on the island, is forced to come home to discover why his son is in prison accused of killing the young girl he had been having clandestine affair with.
He can certainly tell a tale can Peter May and this one draws you in strand by strand continually tying all your assumptions about whodunit into a mind-boggling tangle.
One of the real joys of Peter May’s books is the way he writes about landscape and weather and environment. You can really feel yourself batting a cloud of midges away from your face or fighting the fear of being on a small boat in the dark in a gale force driven sea. He writes about the landscape so vividly it almost becomes a character. And in this latest story the descriptions of the dark side of the salmon industry and the beaching of whales are enough to give you nightmares – all impeccably researched as always.
It’s a page turner certainly, but one with some serious thoughts threaded through it. This is a riveting summer read wherever you are - and even if you’re only able to dream about being in the Hebrides.
*Afternoon Tea bookings require 24 hours notice
Pirates &
Meet our Ice Queen, Mermaid Princess and Pirate as they lead a day of fun and interactive activities. Enjoy singalong performances, ribbon dancing, mini games, pirate and princess dance lessons, party dances and plenty of opportunities for photos and meet-and-greets with your favourite characters! PLAN YOUR VISIT TODAY! www.midlandrailway-butterley.co.uk 15-16 August 2026 th
Alongside heritage train rides, our beach and everything else the railway has to offer, it's a fantastic day out for young adventurers and royalty alike!
READY IN:
Looking for a lighter BBQ favourite? These flavour-packed pulled mushrooms deliver all the smoky summer barbecue vibes in one delicious bun.
Ingredients: 4 25 minutes 7.5 per serving SWIPS: SERVES:
1. 300g king oyster or shiitake mushrooms (or any other type that can be shredded)
2. 1 cal cooking spray
3. 1 small onion, finely chopped
4. 2 garlic cloves, crushed
5. 1 tbsp tomato purée
6. 1 tsp smoked paprika
7. 1 tsp ground cumin
8. ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
9. 4 x 65g wholemeal rolls
10. Lettuce leaves, to serve For the sauce:
11. 250g passata
12. 1 tbsp Henderson’s relish (or Worcestershire sauce if you don’t need this to be vegetarian/vegan)
13. 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
14. ½ tsp mustard powder
15. 1 level tsp sweetener
Free vegan slaw, to serve (we made ours by stirring together shredded carrot, red onion and red cabbage, chopped fresh parsley and plain unsweetened soya yogurt with added calcium)
Method:
1. Put all the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer over a medium-low heat until thickened.
2. At the same time, shred the mushrooms roughly using a fork. Spray a nonstick frying pan with 1 cal cooking spray and put it over a medium heat. Fry the onion and garlic for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the mushrooms, tomato
purée and spices, along with 3 tbsp water. Season lightly and leave to cook for 5 minutes or until the mushrooms have absorbed most of the liquid.
3. When the mushrooms are ready, stir them into the sauce to coat well. Split the rolls and fill with the lettuce, mushroom mixture and slaw. Serve any remaining slaw on the side.
D e r w e n t D e r w e n t
W i n d o w s & W i n d o w s & D o o r s D o o r s
The Old Church, 31 Not tingham Road Ripley, Derbyshire, DE5 3AS
Opening Times
Monday-Saturday 9:30- 4:30
The Old Bank, 1 Radcliffe Road West Bridgford, Not tingham, NG2 5FF
Opening Times
9:30- 4:30
Going for a Drive
When I was young, going for a “run” meant one of life’s simple pleasures: an unhurried Sunday drive along quiet B-roads, often finishing at a country pub.
Dad had been an army driver, so there was nearly always some old, battered car outside. I can still picture Mum holding the passenger door shut all the way to Skegness.
My fondest memories are of seaside trips, when we loaded the car with family and picnic food before dawn to beat the traffic. We played I Spy, stopped in lay-bys, and slid across leather bench seats before seat belts were compulsory.
Saluting AA patrolmen were a familiar sight, their motorcycles and sidecars gradually replaced by yellow vans, while sentry boxes and emergency phones still lined the roadside.
Many drivers had never taken a formal test, having learned during military service. They maintained their
own cars, used hand signals when indicators failed, and clipped parking lights to the driver’s window at night.
Names like Hillman Imp, Riley, Ford Cortina and Morris Minor still recall a time when driving was enjoyable, parking was easy, and petrol was cheap.
Motoring changed when motorways arrived in 1969, and driving slowly became more stressful. Words such as “leisurely” and “pleasurable” seem far less suited to driving today.
Janet and Paul Barrass are All Around the Shire. Find us on or email: oldfield512@btinternet.com for more information. Janet
RAC Box
1960’s driving
National Recognition Built on Generations of Trust
When a local business receives national recognition, it’s something worth celebrating - especially when that business has been serving customers for more than 150 years.
This month, Clay Cross based T. Nutt & Sons has been named Which? Trusted Trader of the Month for July 2026, a remarkable achievement made even more impressive because the award is judged across every Which? Trusted Trader in the UK, regardless of trade or profession.
For David Nutt, the recognition is about far more than an award. It’s the latest chapter in a family story that began back in 1869.
“T. Nutt & Sons has been part of my family’s life since 1869, so in many ways I grew up with the business,” David explains. “My father, Tom Nutt, and my uncle, Bob Nutt ran the company. It was always a family business.
That strong foundation has helped build one of the region’s most respected flooring businesses. Becoming a Which? Trusted Trader is no small feat, with every business independently assessed before joining the scheme and continually monitored to ensure those standards never slip. To then be chosen
as Trader of the Month from businesses across the country is a wonderful endorsement of everything the company stands for.
Those values haven’t changed over the generations. “The business has always been built on much more than selling carpets and flooring,” says David. “It’s about looking after people properly, giving honest advice, treating customers with respect and making sure every installation is completed to the highest possible standard.”
It’s a philosophy that customers clearly appreciate. The company enjoys hundreds of glowing reviews, with many families returning time and again or recommending T. Nutt & Sons to friends and relatives. In an age when trust can be hard to earn, that kind of loyalty speaks volumes.
David is also quick to point out that the award belongs to everyone involved, especially manager Andrew Gregory, the fitters and other staff.
“This recognition belongs to every member of our team. Everyone works incredibly hard every day to maintain the standards our customers expect, and I’m immensely proud of what they’ve achieved. I’d also like to thank our customers for their loyalty, their recommendations, and the wonderful reviews they’ve left over the years. Without their support, this award simply wouldn’t have come about.”
At Voice Magazine, we’ve had the pleasure of working with T. Nutt & Sons for many years, so we’re especially delighted to see the business receive this well-deserved national recognition. Congratulations to David, Keven, manager Andrew and the whole team on an achievement that reflects generations of hard work, family values and an unwavering commitment to looking after their customers.
JULY 2026
MD David Nutt & Director Keven Nutt
CUSTOMERS’ OWN CAR PARK OR RING FOR FREE HOME SELECTION SERVICE
WE SPECIALISE IN
Supply & Install of Real Wood & Laminate Flooring s
Supply & Install of Karndean Flooring s
Supply & Install of Sisal & Natural Flooring s
Supply & Install Coretec and Quick-Step Flooring
WE OFFER
• Guaranteed Workmanship
• All Installations Are Carried Out By Our Own Employed Fitters
• • Disposal of Old Carpet & Floorings, if required
• Moving & Replacement of Furniture
• Trimming of Doors
• Insurance Work Undertaken & Insurance Quotes
Fill in all the numbers!
This is a sudoku
1 square grid
81 cells
9 3x3 blocks
1 simple rule: Use all the numbers 1-9, with no duplicates allowed, in any row, column, or block.
These puzzles are devised by the brilliant Professor Rebus. For more of his puzzles visit www.pitcherwits.co.uk
Bakewell Old House Museum
CHEERS, ALE OR IS IT BEER?
No one can give a precise date when ale was actually first brewed, although it is believed that it was made as far back as prehistoric times. Grain and water mixed and fermented became popular, even before people learned to make bread.
Clay tablets dating from 4000 BC were found in Mesopotamia giving a recipe for a grain-based beer, highly valued, it was often used to pay workers as part of their wages. There was even a goddess, a mistress of the beer, Ninkasi. Roman legions came to Northern Europe in 55BC bringing recipes which they used to make beer for their troops.
It was centuries before hops began to be used to make ale, but by then drinking beer had become firmly established in Britain. Bearing in mind that water would not have been as it is today, its possible beer was deemed a healthier option.
Beer was brewed in many households, some even offered room for folk to meet and drink. The nobility generally had their own brew house, to provide their supply, as did monasteries and hostelries offering beds to travellers.
Over the years alehouses began to spring up in towns and villages throughout the country, Derbyshire included. Derbyshire, in an effort to control behaviour and limit the growth of such places, demanded a yearly
license must be authorised and granted. By 1577 Bakewell had 10 official alehouses.
To be awarded a license many conditions had to be accepted. Restrictions such as; ’They should not permit, or suffer or have any playing of dice, card tables, quoits, loggets, (throwing pieces of wood at a stake) bowls, or any other unlawful games in the House, Yard, Garden or Backside.’ On it goes in great detail, “no person shall be allowed to remain on a Sabbath day or holy day.”
These numerous rules don’t seem to have deterred people from applying. By 1765 Bakewell had at least twelve authorised licensed Innkeepers paying £10 per year for the privilege. Some are names of alehouses we still recognise today, the Castle, the Wheatsheaf and Red Lion, others are long gone, the Kings Arms and the Royal Oak.
During the eighteenth century, the White Horse (now the Rutland), the Royal Oak and the Red Lion became involved in the coaching and carrier services that visited town. Coaching was a lucrative business. It was also an exacting one with fines
imposed if business was not conducted properly. Innkeepers had to be ready with fresh horses the minute coaches arrived. Time was money and delays meant fines for Landlords.
Community life thrived in Bakewell with alehouses becoming important meeting places. Clubs and friendly societies were formed, and meetings were held in the various inns. The ‘Oddfellows,’ the ‘Masons’ and a ‘Women’s Conversational Club’ all became part of life in the town.
The days are long gone when ale was home brewed, a time when ale was an everyday drink to quench thirst after a hard day’s work. It’s easy to forget how things used to be as the Bakewell of today offers such a variety of cafes and restaurants. But the pubs still survive, all still sell beer but, as tastes have changed, you are as likely to see a range of specialist gins alongside the good old ales.
We don’t serve ale (or gin for that matter) at our Bakewell Old House Museum but do have lots of interesting local stories and exhibits with something to interest everyone.
Joyce Janes on behalf of Bakewell Old House Museum
DURING 2026 THE MUSEUM IS OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK, 11AM TO 4PM
Castle Inn in Bakewell
Bakewell in bloom
The Red Lion Pub in Bakewell
Across
1 Specially made limos not stretched, but cut out (6,5)
5 Spoils the aim as it rips apart (7)
14 Can go to an odd shape (7)
16 Prosperous to clamber over on foot? (11)
Pitcherwits® are crossword puzzles where some of the clues are in pictures.
Sound easy? It’s not called “Pit-your-wits” for nothing! The mixture of cryptic and picture clues, combined with Professor Rebus’ unique sense of humour, will keep you entertained for hours.
Across
9 Scratched out from sleek editions (4)
10 Just sounds like food! (4)
11 Blind padre is in difficulties (5)
12 Sounds like a savage place to shop! (4)
13 High collar of dog talk? (4)
Down
2 Jump that’s a bit riskily taken! (3)
3 Thing’s found in gritstone (3)
7 Pan used to live here in central Peloponnese (7)
14 Pharaoh Moses got some resistance from (3)
15 Snubbed a bit in the centre (3)
Down
Melody that’s well preserved? (6,5)
House has a compromised member with a rift (6,5)
Base note, rather than bass note (6,1)
Direct to free stuff? Rot! (5,2)
Matilda,
Sea,
Strongarm,
Couplet, 13 Ear, 16 Ova, 17 Who.
All types of new and reclaimed paving available; Yorkstone, Sandstone, Indian sandstone, Porcelain.
We also stock; Building Stone, Walling Stone, Setts, Coping, Bricks, Sealers, Jointing, Heads & Cills, Kerbs, Reclaimed Sleepers and much more…
Your partner for sustainable wastewater solutions
WASTEWATER TREATMENT YOU CAN TRUST
Replacing an ageing septic tank?
Navigating strict planning or environmental consents?
Concerned about nutrient neutrality rules?
Haigh Environmental is your trusted partner for off-mains wastewater treatment solutions.
From design to installation, our package treatment plants help you:
Stay compliant with planning and environmental regulations
Protect the environment
Secure planning approval with confidence
KS Timber
UNBANDED
SCAFFOLD BOARDS
NEW 3.9 METRES 3.9m x 225mm x 38mm
Ideal for various projects including:
Decking
Shelves
Man cave
Planters
Tables
Fencing
Raised beds
Rustic furniture
Great time for taking cuttings to give you new plants for next year.
The likes of rosemary and sage in the herb garden respond well to this – as do favourites such as lavender and penstemon. Choose non-flowering stems and take four to six inches from the top – or four or five leaf joints if it’s easier to judge. Pinch out the growing tip. Cut below a leaf joint and gently pull all the lower leaves from the base of the cutting, leaving a couple of leaves at the top. You can use rooting hormone – from garden centres – and plant into free draining gritty compost or just try putting them into a jar of water, ( but don’t submerge the leaves) and then you have the pleasure of watching the roots grow. Once the roots are looking strong, plant as above.
If your strawberry plants have developed runners, you can plant them out to produce extra crop next year. If they’re still attached to the mother plant pin them down alongside into a small pot of compost with a bit of wire and roots will develop - at which point you can sever them from the mother plant and either plant out or leave in the pot and overwinter in the greenhouse.
Cut summer fruiting raspberries back once you’ve finished enjoying the produce, but leave lower green growth for next year. If you’re lucky enough to have a glut just lay them out flat on a tray and freeze for three hours then bag up and you’ve got the taste of summer in the middle of winter.
Camellias are a beautiful welcome to early summer, but it’s important to keep watering them after the flowers have finished as this is the time when the buds are developing for next year. You can prune them back first so long as the buds have not started to grow. If they have started to bud you’ll have to put in support next year to stop them flopping.
SUMMER TOADS ON THE MOVE
The poor old toad has received a bad press in much of our culture from the pompous and incompetent ‘Toad of Toad Hall’ in ‘The Wind in the Willows’ to being used as an insult by Shakespeare, as in Richard III, where the king is described as a “poisonous bunch-backed toad”. They were taken as symbols of poison, ugliness, and witchcraft, and feature in, for example, Macbeth, where the witches’ brew involves, “In the poisoned entrails throw, toad, that under cold stone, days and nights has thirtyone, Sweltered venom sleeping got, Boil thou first i’ th’ charmèd pot.” Even the eighteenth-century naturalist and writer, Thomas Pennant despised them, as “…the most deformed and hideous of all animals – objects of detestation.” Such opinions ran deep in traditional country lore with people believing that toads were indeed poisonous, but also that they carried in their head a magic stone or ‘crapaudina’ that could cure all manner of stings, poisonous bites, or, for example, toothache. In the days of quack medicine, such ‘toadstones’ were much in demand and often were fraudulently manufactured from a Derbyshire volcanic rock of that name! However, remarkably, toads are indeed poisonous if disturbed and can excrete a toxin called a ‘cardiac glycoside’ from the glands around the neck. This can be quite nasty if you were daft enough to ingest it, and has some impact on predators because it is foul-tasting. It also causes salivary glands to hyperactivate.
Despite all the foregoing, I do like toads, and it was a pleasant and welcome surprise to have one appear in the garden and then, a couple of days later, a second. The first was a quite small male, and the second a good-sized female. (females are generally larger). In times past there used to be a mass migration by frogs and by toads over the lane from nearby parkland with large ponds. But not anymore, and now the numbers have declined dramatically to just a few frogs and the occasional toad. In periods of hot, dry summer weather the damp-skinned frogs must head back to ponds and other wet areas, whereas toads with their dry, warty skins are able to range far and wide in pursuit of insects and other prey. These toads were both heading into damp undergrowth and groups of ornamental potted plants, and though the midday heat had passed, it was still hot. I gently picked them up to move them on which triggered their defensive reaction of inflating the body to appear bigger, urinating, and releasing noxious fluids from those glands around the neck. This generally achieves the desired effect, which is to be released and go on their way!
Toads can live up to twenty years or so, and gardeners used to keep them in greenhouses to help control insect pests. My great uncle in Morecambe had a pet toad called Ephraim and I recall he lived a long and well-fed life.
Professor Ian D. Rotherham, researcher, writer, broadcaster on wildlife and environmental issues is contactable on ianonthewildside@ukeconet.org. Follow his website www.ukeconet.org, blog www.ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com/ & Twitter @IanThewildside Bluesky @ianthewildside.bsky.social
FEMALE TOAD
FEMALE TOAD
We work in Ashford in the Water, Bakewell, Baslow, Chelmorton, Cressbrook, Flagg, Great Longstone, Little Longstone, Litton, Monyash over Haddon and all surrounding areas.
