Dreaming spires...

We’re plodding up the 150 or so steps of the Church of St Mary and All Saints on the top of which sits Chesterfield’s famous twisted spire when a little voice asks if we are going to climb right to the top of the “wonky bit”. There are a few looks of disappointment when Paul Wilson, the verger, explains that we can only go as far as the top of the church’s stone tower.

But that’s enough for me, thank you, bearing in mind that the 14th century spire is not just crooked – it leans over three metres.

We go outside to stand under this curiosity which legend has it, is the work of the devil. In truth, it’s more likely the result of bad workmanship and the amount of green timber used in its construction. Back inside we look up in awe at the network of ancient oak timbers. Only the last four metres have ever been replaced and that was in the 1950s. It’s also hard to believe that, until the late 19th century when a ‘backbone’ was installed, that it was only gravity which kept the 200 tons of wood and lead attached to the stonework. No bolts or nails were ever used. Reassuringly, the local college keeps tabs on the spire’s movements.

The spiral sandstone steps are very shallow in places. Towards the top there’s no hand rail, so I admire the deftness of Paul’s size 14 feet in making it down so swiftly. I’m reassured that, just below me, half a dozen hunky firemen are on hand, albeit on one of their scheduled safety recces. It was their predecessors who, in 1961, saved the church and landmark spire when an electrical fault sparked a blaze.

The spire is, without doubt, Chesterfield’s most recognised feature, visible for miles. On our journey here along the M1, we passed those two other great landmarks of north Derbyshire, the 16th century Hardwick Hall and 17th century Bolsover Castle.

If it was a surprise to see a romantic castle in the middle of a former mining area, its deer park now crossed by one of the busiest motorways in Britain. It was even more of a surprise when we arrived at our hotel, the luxurious new £20m Casa above Chesterfield’s ring road.

It’s sandwiched between a vast Tesco Extra and the supermarket chain’s previous site, now abandoned, and surrounded by busy junctions and commercial units. Yet the hotel oozes Spanish flair and style and relaxed Mediterranean friendliness. It also offers the quietest room I’ve ever had in a British hotel – so long as I don’t open the huge windows.

That night we try delicious tapas in the hotel restaurant, Cocina, along with a delectable lemon sole and beautifully tender pork from the kitchen of Gordon Ramsay-trained Matt Rushton. The views from behind the filigree drapes may be over neon-lit units and the supermarket car park but it’s like we’re in a parallel universe. We’re cosseted in softly-lit splendour courtesy of its owner, the half-Spanish local entrepreneur and rally driver, Steve Perez, whilst the rest of the world rushes by outside. A lot of the food comes from Steve’s organic farm nearby. A definite case of Olé me duck (‘ay up, me duck’ is the East Midlands’ most familiar term of endearment).

This contrast of sophistication and utterly down-to-earth market town and mining area sets the tone for our visit. Standing on the terraces of Bolsover Castle it’s hard to imagine that the land spread before us was where the immensely wealthy Cavendish family hunted. Across the courtyard is the indoor riding school where William Cavendish watched his star performers. Yet all around us are remnants of coal mining, underpinned by the view over the “model” village of New Bolsover, built for the pit workers. This lies just below the castle’s outer layers.

Our journey to Hardwick Hall, five miles away, takes us past the former Glapwell Colliery, where model pit wheels symbolise the past. We’re on the lookout for even more eye-catching symbols; the initials ES, for Elizabeth Shrewsbury, aka Bess of Hardwick. They’re not hard to miss, decorating Hardwick’s six towers along with her coat of arms.

Bess is portrayed as a savvy businesswoman who outlived four husbands, gathering social status, land and wealth along the way. Her flamboyant monument in Derby Cathedral was designed by the architect of Bolsover Castle before her death so that she could ensure that she would be “worthily remembered”.

Her taste for intricate detail and textures has ensured a fabulous legacy with what is probably the finest collection of 16th and 17th century tapestries and needlework in the world.

We admire them close up – huge Flemish tapestries and Persian table-carpets and wall-hangings of velvet, gold cloth and figured silk. Some of the smaller embroideries are likely to be the work of Bess herself.

I wonder what the young men of the School of Airborne Forces, who trained here before the Normandy invasion, must have made of it. They, too, left a legacy. When one of Hardwick’s ponds was dredged in the 1970s, 600 bicycles were recovered, dumped after being appropriated on nights out by men who had missed their transport back to camp.

By now we’re “glegging” for a cuppa, as they say in these parts. Back in Chesterfield, we discover what can only be described as a tea and coffee Paradise. The first thing to hit us as we enter the Northern Tea Merchants’ shop and café is the gorgeous aroma – 50 types of tea alone. Customers sit at glass topped-tables under which a wheel of coffee beans and teas are displayed.

A meal at The Clowns Conservatory Restaurant at Buckingham’s Hotel is created specially for us by Nick Buckingham, the recipient of countless awards. Nick cooks what’s available that day, locally and from his allotment.

He also has the hotel and The Restaurant With One Table for larger parties, plus he makes all his own cheeses, sausages and black puddings, smokes and cures ducks, grows a lot of the food and offers cookery courses.

Before we head home we visit Barrow Hill Roundhouse Railway Centre, the last remaining railway roundhouse still in operation in the UK, if not the world. It was saved from demolition by an action group and now houses one of the largest collections of diesel, electric and steam locos in the country.

On the walls are memories of the glory days of steam from local railwaymen. One in particular stands out. Former engine driver Reg Dicker fondly reminisces about taking some bacon to work and having a fry-up on the shovel. “I never tasted ‘owt like it”, he declares.

The same could be said for us after a weekend in Chesterfield.

GETTING THERE...

* Casa Hotel, Lockoford Lane, Chesterfield, S41 7JB. 01246 245999 www.casahotels.co.uk

* The Casa Hotel has 100 luxury bedrooms, six suites with Jacuzzi baths and two suites with hot tubs on the balcony. Under 12s sharing parents’ room are free.

* Crooked spire tours operate most days, apart from Sundays, for most of the year. Call first on 01246 206506.

* www.visitchesterfield.info.