Ashbourne for example has around 10 antique shops and galleries including Poole & Sons Art & Antiques with the largest stock of antique pictures in the Midlands, the Ashbourne Antiques Centre and Spurrier-Smith Antiques.
In the 18th and 19th centuries the town was once a centre for clockmaking and William Haycock, a clockmaker established in 1826, is still in business in the town.
The Grade I-Listed Cromford Mill at Matlock, the first successful water-powered cotton spinning mill developed by Richard Arkwright in 1771, is on the industrial heritage tourist trail. There are two antique centres here: Cromford Mill Antique Centre and Heritage Antiques.
At nearby Belper in the Derwentside Shopping Mill, John Larkin runs an antiques and decorative interiors business – Larkin’s Antiques – in the characterful surroundings of this former Victorian corn mill. Here he sells antiques including plenty of furniture (pictured), classic furnishings and period design pieces. Business is good, said Larkin, and he is preparing to open new showroom space in the town.
The photogenic town of Bakewell, home to the famed Bakewell Pudding, runs along long broad meadows by the River Wye. The Lead Tin Yellow Antiques Centre with a copious stock is a large centre in a listed stable block at the Rutland Arms Hotel.
Instagram: @antiquesinbakewell
Call Ashbourne Antiques Centre on 01335 300820.
