ALTERNATIVE DERBYSHIRE

Fine architecture, spectacular scenery, and some iconic industrial history

There’s more to Derbyshire than just the tourist hotspots. Its north-eastern corner is one such area, and much of it lies within a handful of miles of the M1.

Although the Caravan and Motorhome Club’s Poolsbrook Country Park site is less than half an hour from our home, and easily accessed from Junction 29a of the M1, Kay and I spent a few days there recently, with the intention of visiting several places that we normally drive past and rather take for granted.

Our first trip out from the site took us to the recently reopened Barrow Hill Roundhouse Railway Centre (www.barrowhill.org).

This is an engine shed based around a central turntable, where locomotives enter via a single door to be positioned on one of a number of tracks off the turntable, the idea being to save space and make all of the locomotives easily accessible for service. Unfortunately, I can remember Barrow Hill being fully operational under British Rail!

The Roundhouse was built in 1870, saved by a group of volunteers when British Rail threatened demolition in 1991, and first opened to the public in 1998. It has now reopened again, after