The best place to start with is Melbourne, our local town, only 3 miles away.
And where better/easier to get an overview of Melbourne is by video: https://youtu.be/WTvw_S-YJXw
Melbourne today is a rare example of a small, Georgian town that has benn unspoilt by a huge supermarket sucking the life out of its town centre shops. Instead, small businesses have flourished creating a haven of superb restaurants, pubs and cafes together with a wealth of independently owned shopping opportunities including galleries, antique shops, specialist clothes stores, gift shops and local produce. The town has more than fifty restaurants and shops split between the town centre and the Courtyard at Melbourne Hall, which features, amongst many others, local crafters and craft shops, a ladies fashion outlet, a French wine merchant, a craft brewery, and something called a 'Sitooerie' - you'll have to go to find out what that is!
The Courtyard is just a couple of minutes walk from the town centre, but before you leave to explore the rest of the town, refresh yourself with a coffee and cake, a savoury snack or hearty meal in Melbourne Hall Tea Rooms – a local institution. On a Thursday there is also an outside market by Melbourne Assembly Rooms, known for its food and drink stalls.
Melbourne Hall, a destination in itself, is now hosting a variety of events through the year, including, rather improbably this year, a Johnny Vegas Glamping opportunity in some peculiar vehicles.
For more conventional attractions at the Hall, see the events schedule here.
Each September the town organises the Melbourne Festival – two weeks of arts, crafts, musical performances, recitals and exhibitions plus artisanal food and drink spread out throughout the town. The Festival’s Arts & Culture Trail leads you around the town, in and out of residents’ houses to view the work of talented artists and craft workers, hosted therein for the weekend. It is very popular and if this sort of thing appeals, which it does to alot of people, make sure you have made arrangements well in advance.
Finally for Melbourne, two more guides worth downloading:
Otherwise, here is a quick snapshot to what's on thanks to the Visit South Derbyshire website that literally lists everything going on in our immediate regional vicinity. There are so many wonderful things - yes I know there are lots of things you really aren't interested in (but you never know?!) - but there are really some cracking things to see/do if you are alittle patient and scroll through the pages.
We hope you have fun exploring all there is. The items in a light blue font font, if you haven't worked it out already, are hyperlinks, so just click on them and your computer will open up the relevant page.
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