by laurelsbb | May 19, 2020 | Blog, Days out
Given that absolutely nothing is happening at The Laurels, in respect of fixing things that is, and that the weather was dry and warmish, we decided to take a trip to The Roaches. This isn’t, as you may suspect, some hideous place where six-legged insects... by laurelsbb | May 18, 2020 | Blog, Days out
When I was first told about well dressing, I imagined a group of immaculately groomed lovies in suits and frocks. As it turns out, well dressing is pretty much as it sounds – dressing up wells. Just up the road from us is the picture-postcard village of... by laurelsbb | May 18, 2020 | Blog, Painting & Decorating
Those of you who’ve stayed with us already will probably have noticed the beautiful sculpture that greets you, on your way to reception. What you won’t have seen, of course, is how she’s actually made. During lockdown, thanks to COVID-19 we’ve... 
by laurelsbb | May 12, 2020 | Blog, Days out
This sounds like a bit of a QI question, but did you know Kingfisher feathers are actually brown in colour and not blue? Their vivid colour is actually iridescence, not pigment – the pigment is brown. Interference between different wavelengths of light reflected from... 
by laurelsbb | May 12, 2020 | Blog, Reviews
Dining With a Twist You may well have been unfortunate enough to see the odd (in many ways) video of people trying to eat and drink on a roller coaster, or the Big Dipper as us oldies used to call it. These things rarely, if ever ended well, usually resulting in the... 
by laurelsbb | May 11, 2020 | Blog, History
ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTEREST AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT The Churnet Valley has a long history of industrialisation and exploitation of local minerals. Local supplies of iron ore (mined from the area to the north-west of Oakamoor), charcoal (from the immediate wooded hills and...