Valerie Hardy – författare

‘The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.' L. P. Hartley. (The Go Between)This is the story of ‘Jefferyland’ : the story of the Jeffery family of Derbyshire who have farmed in the Dove Valley area between Ashbourne, Derby and Uttoxeter for around 400 years. The medieval ‘lost village’ of Hungry Bentley and the Riddings Farm were home to six generations.The Jeffery story tells of a vanishing world: a story of a family through thirteen generations with its roots in the land and whose members are now spread around the globe.Through a treasure trove of family letters, diaries, memoirs and photographs from the 1800s to the present day it reveals not only who the family’s ancestors were but also glimpses of how they lived, what they wore and even what they ate.This meticulously researched family history brings to life an era of social change not only in the farming world of Derbyshire and the prairie lands of North America, but also for those Jefferys who sought their fortunes outside a life of farming.

75th Anniversary Special EditionThe largest ever explosion in Britain was colossal - and it was accidental.On 27 November 1944 almost 4 kilotons of bombs rocked the heart of England - three times greater than fell on London during the worst night of the Blitz. Although the seismic waves were felt as far away as Casablanca the catastrophe was hushed up as an official secret. Spy and sabateur stories abounded locally but elsewhere the largest crater in Europe remains unknown: a war grave like none other.Told for the first time by the people who lived through the event and its aftermath this is an important and unique chronicle of the world’s greatest accidental explosion.“There was a blinding flash and it looked like a great mountain in front of you. The stuff stood so high - pieces as big as railway engines were going up in the sky. We just stood and watched. It was unbelievable.”