Episode 8 - Derbyshire
Butcher John Mettrick is the third generation of his family to run the butchery business in Glossop. Here he talks Ade through the variety of cuts of meat you can get from one single carcass of hogget (a year old sheep).
Find out more about Mettrick's Butchers
A guide to Derbyshire...
Derbyshire may be home to three quarters of the Peak District but the countryside goes hand in hand with town and city in this county. Derby, the county’s city, is fairly new, having being awarded it’s charter in 1977. The county borders Greater Manchester to the North West, Yorkshire to the North East, Nottinghamshire to the East, Leicestershire to the South East, Staffordshire to the West and South West and also Cheshire to the West. Definitely a Midlands county then!
Food the Derbyshire way...
Ashbourne Gingerbread
This treat is said to have been brought to the town by French prisoners during the Napoleonic wars. Buxton, Ashbourne and Britannia are well-known for their mineral water taken from crystal clear springs. In the case of Buxton water, rainfall from over 5000 years ago comes up through 1500m of British bedrock. Though first discovered by the Romans, commercial bottles of water weren’t sold until the turn of the 20th century.
Sage Derby
This cheese dates back to the 17th Century in the county. It is characterised by its marbled appearance and the inclusion of sage juice. It was traditionally well known for its medicinal and digestive properties. Hartington is now a centre for cheese production in Derbyshire, the cheese factory there is said to be founded by the Duke of Devonshire in the 1870s. Dovedale Blue is one famous Derby export, a blue veined cheese milder than Stilton.
Derbyshire lobby
At the end of the programme, Ade cooked up Derbyshire lobby. A traditional ‘hotpot’ dish comprising of meat, onion and potato, Lobby became particularly popular among the poorer inhabitants of the county, who couldn’t afford the finest meats or freshest vegetables. It is thought to be called ‘lobby’ because the cook would just ‘lob’ all of their leftover vegetables into the pot. Ade used some of the lamb he’d picked up earlier in the programme.
Get Ade's recipe for Derbyshire lobby
What Ade did...
Gritstone lamb
The first stop for Ade in Derbyshire was Glossop where he got to grips with the Gritstone sheep. The Gritstone sheep originated on the hills of the Goyt Valley and date back to 1770 making them one of the oldest British Hill breeds. They were originally bred in the Peak District to survive in a harsh environment and thrive on the poor quality of grazing found on the moors. They are strong and resistant to disease and the lambs are prized as they mature quickly. Not only does a Gritstone provide good healthy meat, it is also prized for its wool. Ade met with Hope and Angus Morris, two Gritstone sheep farmers at High Nightam Farm. He then went further into Glossop to meet John Mettrick, a local butcher who offered him some of Angus and Hope’s Gritstone Hogget to try.
Find out more by calling: 01663 750318 or emailing: hope.morris1@btinternet.com
Dry Stone Walling in Birchover
The Gritstone Hills aren’t just famous for their sheep but the stone itself has been useful, having been worked into tools to grind grain. It can also be seen in the dry stone walls that stretch across Derbyshire’s countryside, some of which date back four and a half thousand years! Ade met with Drystone walling champion, Trevor Wragg who, after growing up on a farm taught himself how to maintain the dry stone walls on his father’s land. He now teaches the art of drystone walling and so was the perfect person to teach Ade how it’s done.
Bakewell puddings vs Bakewell tarts
Ade couldn’t leave Derbyshire without sampling a Bakewell tart, or is it a pudding? It’s a debate that’s been going on in the county for over 150 years. Ade visited the Original Bakewell Pudding shop and met manager, Jemma. It is said that the Bakewell Pudding came about a local inn by accident when Mrs Graves, the mistress of the Inn, asked her cook to make a strawberry tart. The cook spread the egg mixture on top of the jam instead of mixing it into the pastry – creating a new culinary sensation – the Bakewell Pudding…or Tart. Ade also visited Zoe at the Bakewell Tart shop where they claim it’s a tart and not a pudding, the difference being in the pastry which is shortcrust and not puff. And so the argument continues…
More about Bakewell puddings
More about Bakewell tarts
The Winster Morris Men
Performing at the end of the programme, the Winster Morris Dancers are specific to Derbyshire performing local dances to Derbyshire folk music. The first mention of the Morris at Winster is in 1863, though it seems to have been well established by then. In 1908, the well-known folk song and dance collector, Cecil Sharp, visited the village and noted down the five dances being performed by the dancers. The dancers are also distinguished by the characters in the dance, the King, the Queen, the Witch and the Jester.
Derbyshire facts and traditions
• Derbyshire was where Rolls Royce developed the Jet Engine in 1914 at the start of World War I.
• Barnes Wallace developed the Bouncing Bomb and it was tested at the Ladybower Reservoir in the upper Derwent Valley in 1943.
• The Arboretum in Derby was Britain's first public car-park; it was opened in 1840 at a time when industrialisation and population increased the demand for public spaces.
• Kathleen Kennedy, sister of JFK, is buried in Edensor churchyard, Derbyshire. She was married to the Duke of Devonshire's elder brother.
• Interestingly, because the Peak District contains over 50 reservoirs, several villages had to be submerged to make way for them, including Derwent and Ashopton
• From the beginning of September to the end of October every year, there are annual Matlock Bath Illuminations which have been staged since 1897. They transform the River Derwent and it’s banks and were originally held to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee.
• Derbyshire is home to a semi-precious mineral – the Blue John, it can only be found at one location in the world which is in a cavern on a hillside near Mam Tor, just outside Castleton.
