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The above photo shows David Wickett, the owner of Kelham Island Brewery (www.kelhambrewery.co.uk), in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, with White Beer Travels' John White, outside the 1999 brewery. It was taken, in February, 2005, by Tim Hampson, author of Room at the Inn (CAMRA Books, 2003, ISBN 1852491841), and a contributor to numerous publications, including CAMRA's What's Brewing, The Guardian, The Independent and American Brewer.	In the above photo, John White is standing in front of the hot liquor tank in the thornbridge BREWERY (Thornbridge Hall Country House Brewery) (www.thornbridgebrewery.co.uk), which is within the grounds of Thornbridge Hall, in Ashford in the Water, in Derbyshire. David Wickett, of Kelham Island, was responsible for setting up this brewery, which commenced operation, in October, 2004. With John, is Stefano Cossi, from Italy, see below, who had been at the brewery a matter of days when the photo was taken, in February, 2005, by Chris Marchbanks (brewing and beer technologist and author of numerous technical articles on brewing).

Visits to Two Excellent English Breweries: Kelham Island, and thornbridge

Introduction

These visits by the British Guild of Beer Writers, www.beerwriters.co.uk, took place in February, 2005. The photo to the left, of the Guild members on the visits, with Kelham Island's David Wickett, was taken by Guild member, Chris Marchbanks. In it, from left to right, are: Tim Hampson; John White; Andrew Pring, Chairman of the Guild and Editor of The Morning Advertiser (www.morningadvertiser.co.uk); Adrian Tierney-Jones (www.beeralewhatever.com), Freelance Journalist and Beer Writer, and the organiser of the trip (his books includeThe Big Book of Beer (2005, CAMRA Books, ISBN 1-85249-212-0)); Dave Wickett; Iain Loe, CAMRA's Research Officer, see below; Nicholas Redman, Whitbread Archivist from 1985 to 2002 and author of a number of books, most recently Whales' Bones of the British Isles (Redman Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-9545800-0-1); and Steve Hobman, of Rhino Public Relations (www.rhinopr.co.uk), who do the PR for the renowned Moorhouse's Brewery, in Burnley, in Lancashire (www.moorhouses.co.uk).

Unless stated otherwise, all prices quoted are from February, 2005, and draught beer prices are for a pint and bottled beer prices are for 33cl ones. Unless indicated differently, all photos were taken in February, 2005. Those not attributed to anyone were taken by John White.

I denote whether any pubs mentioned appear in a guide produced by the UK's premier beer consumer's organisation, CAMRA, the CAMpaign for Real Ale (www.camra.org.uk), i.e. CAMRA's Good Beer Guide (GBG), e.g. GBG 2007 means that the place in question appears in the 2007 edition (published in September, 2006). Note that, should a place not appear in the GBG, it could, but does not necessarily mean that it does not serve Real Ale, or that there are problems with its Real Ale; the choice of pubs competing for entry is so great that a number of places serving Real Ale in tip-top condition have to be excluded for space reasons. Also, if, for example, a pub is in the 2006 guide, but not the 2007 one, it can by no means be assumed that its beer quality has deteriorated.

Kelham Island Brewery, and its Tap,
The Fat Cat, Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Before one can talk about the Kelham Island Brewery (www.kelhambrewery.co.uk), with "What came first, the Chicken or the Egg?" in mind, one needs to first mention its tap, The Fat Cat (www.thefatcat.co.uk), which is next door to it. The "ferociously independent" Fat Cat is about a half an hour's walk from Sheffield railway station, at 23 Alma Street, S3 8SA (tel 0114 249 4801, GPS: 53.388552^o N, 1.471815^o W, GBG 2006, GBG 2007 page 548). If you do not want to walk, one of Sheffield's trams will drop you off close by, the stop being called Shalesmoor. From here there are brown signs to Kelham Island, these actually directing one to a museum, see below, but the brewery is en route.

The Fat Cat has particularly good and amazing value food, which include a number of vegetarian options. To guide people who have problems with, say Gluten, there are appropriate notifications on the blackboard on which the food is presented. Example dishes include: Steak Pie with Peas, Potatoes and Gravy, and a very similar-looking vegetarian version of it, Nutty Parsnip Pie, both at £3.50; Spanish Chicken with Rice (Gluten Free), at £3.50; Spicy Red Bean & Mushrooms with Rice (Gluten Free and Vegan), and Cheddar & Broccoli Pasta, with Salad, Coleslaw & Bread, both at £3; Ploughman's Lunch and Cheese & Pickle Pie with Salad, Coleslaw & Bread, both at £3.50; Lentil Soup with Granary Bread at £2; and Jam Roly Poly, Spotted Dick or Chocolate Pear Sponge, all at £1.50, with Cream, Custard or Ice Cream. Both the main rooms are real gems, with coal fires.

The Fat Cat is open on Monday to Thursday and on Sunday from Noon until 3pm, and from 5.30pm until 11pm (7-10pm on Sunday). On Friday and Saturday, it does not shut in the afternoon.

In 1990, David commissioned a brewery alongside The Fat Cat, the Kelham Island Brewery. Of course, soon its products were on sale in The Fat Cat. Thankfully, this was not the death knell for beers such as Landlord; these sit happily alongside David's own beers. The Kelham Island beers were soon available in the free trade, and to meet increased demand, in 1999, a new brewery, with five times the capacity of the original one, was commissioned, close by the first one. In the photo to the left, David Wickett is standing alongside some stretched stainless steel vessels that are used to mature beers following the fermentation stage of the brewing process, prior to them being put into cask. Typically, this maturation takes about a week, but there have been experiments with durations of around a year, the brews then being made available in The Fat Cat. Reports suggest that these brews are very special indeed.

As a consequence of Pale Rider being voted Champion Beer of Britain, in 2004, demand really rocketed and, even with the increased capacity, provided by the 1999 brewery, places to brew beers to Kelham Island recipes had to be found. For example, until it closed down in Autumn, 2005, after being taken over by Greene King, Ridleys, in Chelmsford, in Essex produced a beer to the same specification as Pale Rider. However, David Wickett felt that it should not be passed off as Pale Rider, so it was called Pale Island. It has a similar pump clip to Pale Rider, see above, but it clearly states that it is not brewed at The Fat Cat, see the reproduction in an excellent article by Roger Protz (1939-) on the arrangement, by clicking here.

Dave Wickett was initially involved in the brewing at Kelham Island, but for some years now, there has been someone else in charge of day-to-day brewing, the latest one, in fact being recruited in February, 2005: Simon Loseby, who comes from Scottish Courage, in Reading, Berkshire, which he joined in 1986, eventually becoming Head Brewer there. Kelham Island's Brewing Manager is Lauren Rowley.

In The Fat Cat's beer garden, there is a nice collection of Sheffield-related breweriana, such as the Gilmour's plaque, which can be seen in the photo, above left. There is also Sheffield breweriana in the brewery's visitor centre, which is housed in the building where the original 1990 brewery was installed. For example, in the photo, above right, can be seen a drawing of Whitmarsh's South Street Brewery and posters for other lost Sheffield breweries: Duncan Gilmour's Lady's Bridge Brewery, in Bridge Street, which produced Windsor Ales and Stouts; Thos. Berry's Moorhead Brewery; and the Tennant Brothers Brewery, in Bridge Street, which became a Whitbread Brewery. In 1990, when David opened his Kelham Island Brewery, the Whitbread Brewery was still in operation, as was Bass' Hope & Anchor Brewery and Bass' Stones, and Ward's Breweries. However, by 1999, they had all gone, making the relatively small Kelham Island Brewery the biggest in Sheffield! Note that one can still get Ward's Best Bitter, in Sheffield and elsewhere, but it is brewed by Jennings, in Cockermouth, in Cumbria (www.jenningsbrewery.co.uk), although, from its pump clip one could be forgiven for believing that it was still brewed in Sheffield. This is in contrast to the laudable approach that Kelham Island has to the contract brewing of its Kelham Island Pale Rider, see above.

David Wickett is a vegetarian, which is reflected in The Fat Cat's food, see above, but also in his beers, i.e. he does not use Isinglass to fine his beers, these including CAMRA's 2004 Champion Beer of Britain, Pale Rider. In The Fat Cat, there is also a good selection of beers available in bottle, with Belgium well represented.

On the February, 2005 visit, the following Kelham Island beers were available in The Fat Cat: Best Bitter (3.8%) and Kelham Gold (3.8%), both at £1.59; Pale Rider (5.2%) at £1.99; and Grande Pale (6.6%) at £2.19. Draught guest Real Ales available were: Cains IPA (3.5%) at £1.59; Hart's Cartford Gold (4.3%) at £1.85; Rudgate Who's Round? (3.8%) at £1.65; Broadstone Black Abbot (5%) at £1.99; and Ossett Santiam (4.3%) at £1.85. Other draught beers included: Gordon Xmas Ale (8.8%), which is brewed for the Belgian market, at £2.25 (half pint); and Gouveneur (6.5%), at £1.65 (half pint), which is brewed by Lindenboom, in The Netherlands. Bottled beers included (May, 2006 prices) : Schneider Weisse (5.4%) at £2.95 (50cl); Duvel (8.5%) at £2.69; Barbãr Winter Bok (8%) at £2.99; Anchor Special Ale 2004 (5.5%) at £2.89; Gouden Carolus Tripel (9%) at £2.99; Tripel Karmeliet (8%) at £2.69; Paulaner Oktoberfest (6%) at £2.25; and, from Sweden, Nynäshamns Bedarö Bitter (4.4 to 4.6%) (www.nynashamns-angbryggeri.se) at £2.25. As you can see, the fan of Speciality/Specialty/Craft Beer will find something of interest in The Fat Cat.

All the beers are listed on blackboards which give alcohol content and price for each beer. Note that Kelham Island cask beers are featured from time to time in the Brew Pub that supplies the Swedish Beer to The Fat Cat, Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri, in Nynäshamn, which is sixty kilometres (forty miles) South of Stockholm. The scan of its label to the left was kindly provided by White Beer Travels Beer Hunt regular Jez Blake, of Highwood Brewery (www.tom-wood.com), in Lincolnshire, England. Jez, as rauchbier (Smoke Beer), is a major contributor to the famous ratebeer website www.ratebeer.com.

The Fat Cat is not that far to walk from Sheffield's Railway station, but one can use a Tram - in fact, a Supertram (www.supertram.com), to get you a good part of the way. From the station get a blue line tram in the direction of Malin Bridge, getting off at the stop called Shalesmoor. If you look out to the right hand side of the tram as you are approaching Shalesmoor, you will see the splendid façade of The Ship (312 Shalesmoor, S3 8UL (GBG 2005, GBG 2006 page 548)), a marvellous Hardys & Hansons outlet. Get yourself to The Ship and go down the street called Dun Fields, on its right hand side. At the Tee with Green Lane, turn right and you will soon see the Kelham Island Tavern (www.kelhamislandtavern.co.uk) (Sheffield & District Pub of the Year in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and Yorkshire Regional Pub of the Year in 2004), at 67 Russell Street, S3 8RW (GPS: 53.388152^o N, 1.472320^o W), off to the right, the road then bending to the left, with a name change to the required Alma Street, revealing The Fat Cat on the left.

Close to Kelham Island Brewery and The Fat Cat is the excellent Kelham Island Museum (www.simt.co.uk, 53.389292 N, 1.472357 W), which covers Sheffield's famed steel industry. Kelham Island is an "Island" in the River Don. It was formed when Sheffield needed a water-powered mill to grind corn. A water channel, known as a Goit, was created for this, which was fed with water from the River Don. The construction of the Goit created an island, which by the 19th Century had become known as Kelham Island, named after Kelham Homer, an armourer, who, in 1637, built a workshop, which was known as Kelham Wheel, as the workshop was powered by a water wheel in the Goit. The Goit is directly behind The Fat Cat and the brewery. Beyond the Goit are some closed-down factories that are to be replaced by luxury housing. It is also planned to have a new water wheel in the Goit, which will be used to power the brewery! There will also be a reduced-scale replica of the Brooklyn Bridge, in New York City, built near the brewery; steel produced near the Kelham Island Brewery was used in the construction of the real bridge. To celebrate this, renowned beer writer, Garrett Oliver (www.garrettoliver.com), the brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery (www.brooklynbrewery.com), in New York City, was a January, 2006 visitor to the Kelham Island Brewery and The Fat Cat, the visit spawning a Smoke Beer, which is available in draught and in bottle, Kelham Island Brooklyn Smoked Porter (6.8%).

Another interesting and excellent way to sample Kelham Island Beers is when they are paired, on special evenings, with top-quality food at the Rafters Restaurant, in Nether Green, Sheffield (220 Oakbrook Road (cornerHangingwater Road), S11 7ED, tel 0114 230 4819 (ring after 4pm), www.raftersrestaurant.co.uk).

In addition to The Fat Cat, David Wickett has two further pubs: Champs, a Sports Bar, in the centre of Sheffield, at 315-319 Ecclesall Road, which he owns in partnership with former Sheffield Wednesday footballer, David Ford; and a pub in Rochester, New York State (NY), USA, modelled on The Fat Cat, The Old Toad, www.theoldtoad.com. This has UK-style Real Ales, brewed in the USA. It is planned that one of them will be brewed to the same recipe as Pale Rider, which is hopped with Willamette hops from the Willamette Valley, in Oregon, in the USA. The chosen brewery is the Southern Tier Brewing Company, in Lakewood, NY (www.southerntierbrewing.com). As well as for the reason given above, but also to avoid any legal battles with Clint Eastwood, this beer will be called Pale Island.

It is worth noting that there are other pubs called The Fat Cat, one of them, also being a classic, i.e. The Fat Cat in Norwich, in Norfolk (49 West End Street (off Dereham Road), NR2 4NA, www.fatcatpub.co.uk, GBG 2006, GBG 2007 page 358). This was CAMRA's National Pub of the Year, in 1998, and again, for an unprecedented second time, in 2005. In 2005, it acquired a sister pub, The Cidershed (The Shed), 98-100 Lawson Road, NR3 4LF, www.cidershed.co.uk (GBG 2007 page 358), which has its own brewery on the premises. It produces House Beers for The Fat Cat: Fat Cat Golden Ale (3.8%), Fat Cat Top Cat (5%) and Mad Cat. The Fat Cat, in Norwich, was set up by in 1991 by Colin Keatley, who asked the Sheffield Fat Cat's David Wickett if he could give it such a name, in homage to the Sheffield establishment. This was agreed, and David and Colin remain great friends to this day; the Norwich Fat Cat has beers from David's Sheffield brewery on handpump, amongst a very big selection of Real Ales; there are also foreign beers on draught and in bottle, with Belgium well represented; the Norwich establishment truly is worthy of The Fat Cat name.

thornbridge BREWERY,
Ashford in the Water, Derbyshire

The above photo of Jim Harrison, of Thornbridge Hall, was taken by John White, during a conducted tour of this most impressive of places, in February, 2005.	The above photo of Emma Harrison, of Thornbridge Hall, and John White, was taken by Iain Loe, in February, 2005, during a meal at the Monsal Head Hotel, see below. In one hand, I have a pint of thornbridge Craven Silk.

Thornbridge Hall is the home of Jim and Emma Harrison. It is twelve miles SW of Sheffield, in Ashford in the Water, near Great Longstone, in Derbyshire (DE45 1NZ, tel 01629 640 617, www.thornbridgehall.co.uk); it is South of Great Longstone, off a minor road that is off the B6465. Since purchasing the place, in 2002, Jim and Emma have done an amazing amount of work transforming it into something truly impressive, whilst retaining the best of its original features. There is a superb music room, which has large mirrors and large windows on two walls; it is a very light room, that is modelled on the Hall of Mirrors in the Château de Versailles, in France (www.chateauversailles.fr). Jim and Emma have turned the Hall into a venue that can be hired for private functions, such as reunion dinners, conferences, etc. There are also charity events, when the Hall and its Grounds are open to the general public. Celebrity Chef, Brian Turner (www.brianturneronline.co.uk) makes appearances at events involving catering, these and other big functions typically taking place in the wonderfully restored Carriage House, which is superbly lit, and has a modern feel to it, with much use of glass. In this area, there is a marvellous, modern board room for Jim and Emma's businesses, and below it, a former air raid shelter has been converted into an exceptionally appointed bar that Jim is the landlord of, with the certificates to prove it.

Another noteworthy feature is a clock that is very accurate, despite its age, which synchronises all the other clocks in the place, but the most famous item in Thornbridge Hall is the Edward Burne-Jones Window in the Great Hall, which features Angels designed by the famous Craftsman and Poet, William Morris (1834-96) (www.morrissociety.org). This window can be seen in the photo to the left, which was taken by John White, in February, 2005. The window was commissioned by Frederick Craven, who was in the Silk and Cotton business, hence the brewery's Craven Silk beer. William Morris based the window on four women, who are covered shortly, who, with other women, appear in The Legend of Good Women, by Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1345-1400), of The Canterbury Tales fame. The Legend of Good Women can be read in its entirety in a superb resource, the University of California, in Berkeley's Online Medieval and Classical Library, omacl.org; click here to get to the pages in question. I am labouring this, but, as you will soon see, there is a beer connection, honest!

In October, 2004, a brewery, was opened in Thornbridge Hall's grounds (GPS: 53.236093^o N, 1.704192^o W); in the early stages, they just called it the Baby Brewery, but its title is now "Thornbridge Country House Brewing Company" (www.thornbridgebrewery.co.uk), but it appears on pump clips, see above, as "thornbridge BREWERY" (i.e. the lower and upper case is as per the lettering on the pump clip, thornbridge being the brand name for products/services of Thornbridge Hall); beers include First Brew (3.8%) and Craven Silk (4%). Kelham Island's David Wickett is involved in the brewery. It produces cask beers for David's Kelham Island, plus cask beers of its own. Its first beer, First Brew, is also available in bottle in Thornbridge Hall's bar; bottling is carried out by Hambleton, in Holme-on-Swale, Thirsk, North Yorkshire (www.hambletonales.co.uk). The bulk of thornbridge's brew plant came from the Malton Brewery, in North Yorkshire, whose beers are now brewed by Hambleton, following the ending of brewing, by Malton, in 2004.

There are future plans to produce further bottled beers, some of which have local plants, fruits and herbs in their recipes, such as elderflower, dandelion and nettles. They will have special bottles, as per those above, the "William Morris" range, on the left, and the "Legend of Good Women" range, on the right, the ones in the woman-shaped bottles; see above, for the reasoning behind the names of these two ranges of beer. The labels and overall presentation has been designed by dkpm (www.dkpm.co.uk). As can be seen, especially if one clicks on the photo on the left, for a larger, higher resolution version of the photo, the William Morris Beers are: Evenlode, described on the label as a Strong Ale; Snakes Head, a Spiced Ale; Strawberry Thief, a Fruit Ale; and Brother Rabbit, a Pale Ale, the latter, in fact being available in draught in thornbridge outlets a couple of days after our visit. They are named after William Morris fabric designs, which can be seen by clicking on their just-quoted names, these designs, of course, appearing on the labels. The "Legend of Good Women" range can be seen to be: Hypsipyle, a Herb Ale; Lucretia, a Dandelion Ale; Philomela, a Strawberry Ale; and Ariadne, a Pale Ale. If you go to the on-line version of Chaucer's The Legend of Good Women, quoted above, you will find that different sections of it are entitled: The Legend of Hypsipyle and Medea; The Legend of Lucretia; The Legend of Philomela; and The Legend of Ariadne. In fact, Chaucer has more good women than the ones chosen by thornbridge, i.e. there are also Cleopatra, Thisbe, Dido and Hypermnestra. At one stage, it was mooted that there might be seven beers in the series, with an accompanying slogan "Have a different woman [beer] every night of the week", but this idea was dropped. It was Jim Harrison who matched the beer names to the good women in the window.

There are food items for sale, within Thornbridge Hall and elsewhere, with the thornbridge brand name, from Jim's company Novantia (www.novantia.co.uk), such as Pickles, Mustard, Tea and Coffee (including one advertised as being world's most expensive, a single estate one: Hawaiian Kona). Some of the proceeds from the sale of these go to the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, www.nspcc.org.uk), in which Emma Harrison has a very senior position. She is also Chairman of the 1,500 employee A4e (Action For Employment) (www.a4e.co.uk), which, amongst other things, helps the long-term unemployed to equip themselves for work.

Day to day involvement in brewing at thornbridge, is carried out by Dave Corbey, Martin Dickie and Stefano Cossi. Dave has a lot of experience in the brewing industry, including a good deal of time spent in one of Sheffield's lost breweries, Ward's. This is Martin's first job after graduating from the famous "International Centre for Brewing and Distilling", at Heriot-Watt University, in Edinburgh, Scotland (www.bio.hw.ac.uk/icbd/icbd.htm). This is also Stefano's first job since graduating in Food Science from the Università di Udine (www.uniud.it). Whilst at the University, in Udine, as well as gaining experience in the University's brewery, he had spells working at the now closed St. Johannes Bräu, in S. Giovanni di Casarsa, and BEF & D, in Fiumicello, all these places being in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region of Italy.

On the February, 2005 visit, Emma Harrison pointed out that some come to Thornbridge Hall for its special events and parties, and others because of its encouragement of entrepreneurial activities, of which Emma and Jim clearly excel in. From November, 2005, Emma is to be featured in the UK Channel 4's TV programme, called Make Me A Million (www.channel4.com). She will also be on the second series of the BBC's Dragons' Den TV programme (www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden), in which she will be one of the Dragons that people setting out in business have to convince that it will be worthwhile in investing the Dragons' own, real money in. And some people, come primarily to visit the brewery; members of Sheffield CAMRA (www.sheffieldcamra.co.uk) and Chesterfield CAMRA (www.chesterfieldcamra.org.uk) were visitors to the brewery and the Hall's bar, early into its life.

With the involvement of Kelham Island's David Wickett and the backing of Emma and Jim Harrison, it is no surprise that from day one, the thornbridge beers have proved to be top-class; I was very impressed by the draught Craven Silk that we sampled on the trip, in the Monsal Head Hotel, which is covered shortly. Their beers will increasingly be seen in the same outlets as Kelham Island beers. Do yourself a real favour and seek them out. At the 2005 Beer festival run by the Sheffield branch of CAMRA, Sheffield's Steel City Beer Festival (typically on for three days from the last Thursday in September), thornbridge Jaipur (5.9%) was judged the beer of the festival, so the brewery is clearly on the right track.

Miscellaneous Information

Overnight accommodation on the visit was split between the superbly situated Cliffe House Hotel, in Monsal Head, near Bakewell, in the Peak District, in Derbyshire, which is on the B6465 between Ashford in the Water and Wardlow (DE45 1NL, www.cliffehousehotel.co.uk, GPS: 53.241770o N, 1.724270o W) and the very close by Monsal Head Hotel (www.monsalhead.com, GPS: 53.240728o N, 1.724350o W, GBG 2006, GBG 2007 page 108), which is also on the B6465, at its junction with a road to Upperdale and Cressbrook. The Cliffe House Hotel is very nicely appointed, as is its Holiday Cottage behind it, which has two double bedrooms and a twin bedroom. Monsal Head is close to Thornbridge Hall (2.5 kilometres, 1.5 miles by road ), see below.

Beers sampled in the Monsal Head's bar, on the February, 2005 visit, were in tip-top condition. The Monsal Head's bar has eight Real Ales in all, including, on the night of our visit, Kelham Island Pale Rider; Thornbridge Craven Silk; and Monsal Bitter (4.2%), the latter being brewed by Lloyds. I did not get the chance to try the Whim Hartington Bitter (4%), which Nick Wheat, of Chesterfield CAMRA tells me is "Pure Nectar"; this is at least one excuse for a revisit! Hartington, near Buxton, is not far from Monsal Head. There is a selection of bottled beers from Germany, listed on the blackboard under two headings, "Pils Lager" and "Wheat Beer". These are all £2.70 for 50cl bottles. The Pils available were: Augustiner Edelstoff; Jever; Brinkhoff's; Krombacher; and König. The Wheat Beers were: Maisel Weisse; Erdinger; Paulaner; Schneider; and Augustiner Weisse.

The Guild had a meal in the Monsal Head's restaurant, with Dave Wickett and Jim and Emma Harrison. The food proved to be very good. Example dishes include: Soup of the Day at £3.50; Boneless Quail, a starter at £6.50; Roasted Scallops with Tomato & Chili Jam, Crême Fraiche and Rocket at £6.50 (as a starter), or at £12.50, as a main course, with Vegetables or Salad, and Potatoes; Whole Grilled Sea Bass at £11.80; Seared Medallions of Venison at £12.20; Wild Mushroom Rice Cake at £7.90; Braised Lamb Shank at £11.20; and a selection of Desserts, including Brulée of the Day at £3.90.

The Monsal Head Hotel's car park is quite large, it being a very popular starting point for walks and cycle rides. Because of the area's popularity with walkers, there is a charge to use the car park at certain times; one also has to pay to use the one in front, but one can only park for up to an hour.

In the Monsal Head's bar one can purchase a leaflet called Walks About Monsal Trail (GRATE Little GUIDES, ISBN 1 899576 65 7, £1.95), which details a number of excellent walks in the area, some of which incorporate parts of the Monsal Trail, which has been formed from the old Midland Railway line; the spectacular Monsal Head Viaduct, over the River Wye, can be seen from the car park in front of the Monsal Head Hotel; in the car park, there are signs to the path leading down to the viaduct. The viaduct is best seen from nerby the Cliffe House Hotel, from where the photo to the left was taken, by John White, in November, 2005.

The Monsal Trail, which is managed by the Peak District National Park Authority, goes right past Thornbridge Hall. Much of Derbyshire's Peak District is difficult cycling country, but this lovely trail is very easy to cycle, as it follows an old railway track. The Trail provides an essentially, "as the crow flies" walk from Monsal Head to Thornbridge Hall of around a kilometre (0.6 miles).

Less than five miles (eight kilometres) from Monsal Head, very close to where its road, the B6465, Tees with the A623, there is an outstanding pub, the Three Stags' Heads, in the hamlet of Wardlow Mires, SK17 8RW, (GBG 2006 page 113), which is featured in a White Beer Travels Web page, that can be reached by clicking here.

John White (1945-), , February, 2005, updated in June, 2007.

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