In last weeks blog, we were getting ready for the Bolsover Food & Drink Festival, when we thought we would open our gates & let people have a look at what we are doing.

We were expecting a few people - but how wrong we were!! - they came in their droves, wave after wave of interested people, some from the local area & other visitors who had come for the Festival.

They wanted to know what we were doing, and some came with stories of times past & were able to add pieces to the jigsaw we are building up of the Yard. I met the son, whose father was the butcher in the shop that is now the cafe, and which was owned by the Co-operative Society. He told me about the bacon curing room that was in the cellar of the shop & where one of the workers shot himself, using the gun that was used to kill the animals!!

As an estimate, I think that we had over 100 people through the gates over the two days, so it was the right decision to 'fling wide the gates' and 'let them in!!'

We are looking forward to our next event at the Christmas Festival & Lantern Parade on December 1st, when we are hoping to be completely finished.

And just as we were recovering from the weekend, it was time to get back to the renovations, and the electricians arrived to undertake the 'first fix'. We are still awaiting the last of the doors & windows to arrive & be fitted & they are a key part of the ongoing work just at the moment.

I hope that you are enjoying the weekly updates & do keep coming back to keep up to date.

Bye for now.

What a week it has been since my last post. As we get ready for the Food & Drink Festival this weekend, lots of other things have been happening.

So let's take this slowly! On Saturday we were at the Clowne Gala & provisionally agreed with Creswell Colliery Brass Band for them to come & play on December 1st - the Bolsover Christmas Festival & Lantern Parade. I am a great lover of brass bands, and the prospect of hearing Christmas music & carols in OBY is brilliant.

Then on Sunday, we were at OBY practising putting up the marquee ready for this weekend. Some of you will have seen from the FB post that were successful. Now all we have to do, is repeat the exercise on Friday afternoon!

And so to the new week, and we were waiting on the arrival of the first doors for the units, as agreed with the builders. However, I am sorry to report that as I write this blog on Wednesday at 5.30pm, there is still no sign of the builders or the doors. But tomorrow is another day!

On Tuesday I attended a Market Town Workshop at the Bolsover Assembly Rooms run by the Marketing Peak District & Derbyshire organisation. In short, the workshop was part of a project called 'Growing & Developing the Visitor Economy in Derbyshire' - or for those who like it a bit more simple - "How do we get more people to visit Bolsover?". The project is focussing on what can be done to improve the visitor offer in Bolsover and 8 other market towns in the county. It was not that well attended, but it gave me an opportunity to meet face to face some of the people with whom I have been in contact in developing OBY. The meeting discussed a lot of ideas, and now all we have to do, is go away and make them happen.

One of the people I met was David Fish - Bolsover Town Crier, who has agreed to give us some 'Oh Yez's' at OBY over the weekend, and has also asked too have a meeting next week to discuss some ideas. So more on that when I have had that meeting.

And that brings us to today & I have spent most of the day at OBY with Damion Smith (the first of our confirmed tenants), making the place look neat & tidy for the weekend. We are hoping to be able to show people what we are 'up to' & also in the marquee there will be some craft stalls with examples of the sort of things that might eventually finish up in OBY.

And oh!! - how could I forget - Bolsover Rocks will be with us all day on Saturday, so come along & decorate a rock, then go & hide it for somebody to find, or just take it home. A great idea for the children if they are getting 'fed up' with looking at lots of food & drink stalls!

Other than that it has been fairly quiet really!! Might need a lie down in a darkened room come 5pm on Sunday or after we have taken the marquee down!!

More on what happened over the weekend in next weeks blog.

Hope you are enjoying reading the blog & catching up on what is happening.

Bye for now

Midweek again, so time to post to the blog.

Not a lot happening at the moment - just waiting on the arrival of the doors & windows.

The 'flyers' have arrived and although I say so myself, they are rather good!

But that gives us plenty of time to get the Food & Drink Festival planned. Met with Kelly from Bolsover Rocks last Friday & she & her team will be 'rocking' from 10am on the Saturday until late afternoon, so pop along and have a 'rock'. Ideal thing to do with the children when they are getting a little fractious during the day.

As well as the 'rocking' we will be  showcasing the Yard, and letting people have a look at the workshop spaces that we will have available when all the work is finished, and hearing about the other plans we have.

In addition, we will have a craft marquee, showing just some of the sort of crafts that our workshop tenants will be producing, when we finally open.

And finally, Michelle in the Beehive Cafe will be serving food & drinks all day on both days. Weather permitting there will be some outside eating space too.

The weather forecast seems to be at the margins - as in it can't say if it is going to be dry or not, but whatever, we will be there & look forward to seeing you.

In the meantime - can we at Old Bolsover Yard - say -
Приходите в Англию - вы можете это сделать!

Another 'blog' soon.

So, England have won & are in the Quarter Finals, the sun continues to beat down from the sky, and we are moving ahead with our planning for the forthcoming Bolsover Food & Drink Festival.

And the 'big news' of the week is that we will be welcoming & hosting - Bolsover Rocks UK - over the Festival weekend.

Yes! - as well as coming to see what we are up to to, and how the work is nearly finished, you can join in & decorate a rock, which you can then hide anywhere you like, and when it is found by somebody else, they will photograph it & then post it on the Bolsover Rocks Facebook page, and you can track your rock as it travels far & wide both locally & in some cases internationally!!

There will be more news on what the 'Rockers of Bolsover' have got planned, in future posts, but as you can see from the pictures below, they have already started their preparations.

In addition, we will have a craft marquee, showing just some of the sort of crafts that our workshop tenants will be producing, when we finally open.

And then you can enjoy a welcome cuppa & piece of Michelle's wonderful cake in the Beehive Cafe. If the weather continues like this, you can sit outside & eat 'al fresco'.

So make sure that you allow enough time during your visit to the Festival to pay us a visit - we look forward to meeting you all, and will be disappointed if you give us a miss!!

Keeping looking back for new updates in the Blog - and don't forget - "To not visit Old Bolsover Yard, will be one of the biggest mistakes you make all weekend"