Ashbourne - comments

If you have any questions or just want to send me your comments either about Ashbourne or this web site, I would be pleased to receive them.

I'm afraid that I can not provide any brochures or printed information on Ashbourne other then what you can print from the site. For that you would need to contact the Ashbourne Tourist Information Office on 01335-343666.

I try to answer all email (unless its insulting, stupid or impolite! - so if you do not get an answer it probably means that it fell into one of these groups - hey, I'm only human!).

Here are some of the email I have received recently , I'll add more as I receive them :-

I just recently found this web site and find it very interesting. My Dad and Uncle, Harold and Dick Griffiths, left Ashbourne almost 83 years ago to come to Canada. Dad, who will be 100 in May, is still able to come up with names of people and places from when he lived in England. I have printed off some of the pictures of Ashbourne to show him.
Thank you for setting up this site

Gosh - this site brought back so many memories!! I boarded at QEGS along with my brothers from 1974 and had an amazing time in Ashbourne. Simon (Stumpy) ran a commando group as we had always done in Zambia and he reluctantly let Stephanie Hoskins and I join. We used to go to the pill boxes at Mayfield and cross the river - it is a wonder none of us drowned! Not to mention missions along the Tissington Trail on Sundays, swimming in Bentley Brook and braving the bull up North Lees. (probably a cow!)

When we left Zambia in '76 my family moved to the Lichfield area for the four years it took us to realise we would be happier back in Africa where the sun shone and you didn't have to wear shoes all the time! Back I went to QEGS along with my brother Matthew when Dad got a teaching job in Botswana. ( I live there still with a husband and four daughters.)

Once there I lost no time persuading Uncle Ken (Capt. Kendal) to start a girl's cadet group and Louisa Shingler and I did a crash course in officer training. I well remember a trip to Snowdonia in sleety October where Louisa, Rachel and I were in charge of a houseful of boys each and nearly got blown off the mountain! Happy memories!

I wonder if anyone remembers me - I used to wear a pink hat!

Ashbourne is a very special town - I will go to the website often for a dose of nostalgia and sentiment.

Thanks for the memories,

(nee Bullock)

Hello, This is Graham Pyatt emailing you from New Zealand.I've just come off the net having gone through the Ashbourne website in great detail---congratulations you have done a tremendous job---it brought many memories especially when I browsed through the Mayfield pages where I was born and went to school before going to Ashbourne Grammar.My sister Mrs.Vera Fearn lives at 83 Park Avenue and we converse regularly by phone but boy was she surprised when I told her that I had been looking at home on the internet.(there's even a pic of the house in which I was born at Mayfield). I have been in N.Z.for 28 years where I am a professional fishing guide and so the pics of the Dove were of particular interest as for a while I worked for Sir Ian Walker-Okeover on both the Osmaston and Okeover estates in the good old days. You may well be someone I know or at least related to someone I know in any event my very best wishes to you and to my friends and acquaintances in Ashbourne and Mayfield----if you have the time maybe you make contact.

Thanks for the history. It fleshes out the lives of my ancestors that once were in Ashbourne. Many, many thanks

Hi, I do a little charity web design work myself so know a little about design. I found your site whilst searching for Crich and Milldale and found it so easy to navigate and was really impressed by the layout. I think it's great and useful.

Great site, fond memories of Ashbourne when staying at toc H camp in the fifties, revisited in 1997 still as beautiful, the gateway to Dovedale. - Best Wishes. Dave Allen

Thankyou for THE Ashbourne web page I live in Hull now but I did live in Ashbourne on Lodge Avenue in the 1960s when I worked for Nestles.
Thanks again I enjoyed browsing

Hi I would just like to tell you about my times as a child living in Ashbourne. Myself and two sisters came to live at St Monicas in Windmill Lane in the late fifties to the early sixties.

At first it was quite a shock as we came from the inner city, and had not much experience of the country side,but I fell in love with the place and still do so much my husband and I have always holidayed in the area for many years at first the people at St Monicas were not very nice,then along came Uncle Ron and Aunty Marg Dyson and life got better.
I fondley remember the giant Easter egg that was given to the home from Woolworths and was rationed out to us children, we also were able to enter the cinema free on a Saturday.

The people of Ashbourne really took to us children and made us so welcome maybe because in that home we were just children from broken homes and not hooligans . I remember going to Belvue and in my memory it seemed the whole town went to.

I could go on and on but I would like to say thank you Ashbourne for your humanity to some sad children who became happy again if you can remember my self or sisters please email me on pdrew@uk.online

Love your website. Very infomative and easy to use. Once again, a super site that Ashbourne should be proud of.

Hi! Just to say how impressed I am with your site - if every town had this sort of information on the web we would really be able to make the most of some of the lovely places there are in Britain - especially when only a short break or even a one night stopover is all that is planned....many thanks and good luck with developing the site further.

Congratulations on a very stimulating site. I felt quite proud to have been born in Ashbourne,where I attended QEGS in the 1950s (and lived at the boarding school for several years).

First I think it is the coolest thing that a little town in England is on the web...excellent.
Second. I really like the 2 day footbal match..would like to see one someday.

I am a student studying at the University of Derby and I am currently constructing an assignment on Ashbourne and I would appreciate it greatly if you could send me the following information as soon as possible.

The team at England The Country.com have found your site excellent.
Your site about Ashbourne Derbyshire is attractive, informative, welcoming, well designed and easy to navigate.
A deserving winner of the English Excellence award.

Having visited Ashbourne on several occasions, my wife and I have found it to be one of our favorite places on Earth. It is beautifully situated and maintains its historic charm. St. Oswald's Church is a jewel and a treasure. Anyone who visits there cannot leave without a profound sense of history.

Mr. George Shaw, your historian and verger at St. Oswald's is himself a treasure, and his booklets are filled with interesting and fascinating information that would be otherwise lost. Mr. Shaw and his lovely wife, Trilby, are among the friends we made on our visits. Both contribute much to the heritage of Ashbourne. A visit with them is a short course in history.

Thanks to all the people of Ashbourne for their warmth and hospitality and thanks for the new homepage where I can daily experience a touch of Ashbourne.

Well done Ashbourne the site looks wonderful it's lovely to see so many taking advantage of this brilliant town facility.

I'm at university in sunderland and i felt the urge to visit the web page of my home town, it was good to see the pictures of the town, now i'm not so home sick!

My husband and I left Ashbourne, Derbyshire 36 years ago to settle in Perth, Australia. Whilst we enjoy Australia, we do always think of home. We managed to visit two years ago for the first time since we left. We saw many changes, and caught up with lots of family and friends.

I have enjoyed looking through all your information and photos, and many bring back some very happy memories. Especially the St Oswalds School where I went, and the St Oswalds Church where I was married .

PS I'm just learning the internet at my granddaughters home, at the ripe old age of 78.

Hi! I was doing a little research on the Peak district and came upon your website. I want to take a trip to England sometime and I began looking at things on the Internet. I enjoyed looking at the pictures. I'm from New York city. Ashbourne looks very lovely and you've a right to be proud. I hope to visit someday. How about pictures at Christmas time ? Just a note of thanks.

As an Old Ashbourn-ian living in New Zealand it's good to see the town on the world-wide-web. Good work guys keep it up.

I have a farm of 1250 acres approx 3 kms from Ashbourne in South Australia. This is a small "village" approx 70 kms from Adelaide, the capital city of this State. Like you,we also have a "Greenman Inn" which was originally opened in 1866 by someone from your town. It only remained as an Inn for 2 years and was reopened 1 year ago. In fact, we have our first anniversary party tonight for the locals!

Surrounding towns are Macclesfield and Strathalbyn, which may also have been originally settled by people from your district.

I thought this may be of interest to you -pls e-mail me if you would like any further information.

This is a brilliant site. I wish more places had the same thing. I was looking for some where to go for a short break and remembered wonderful trips to Dovedale as a child. I have been able to look at all of the lovely pictures and find somewhere to stay. I hope you keep up the site.

I needed to find a store in Ashbourne. Have found what I needed to know! An excellent site! Thank you! A town plan would have been useful - have just seen this is coming soon!

This is the fist time I have visited the site and I am very impressed by what has been done here. I am was born in Ashbourne and am currently working away in Montreal,Canada but when I think of home I sometimes look for pictures on the net.

Email me!

Ashbourne Derbyshire Website- Email & Comments