19 Hours in Derby

Written by LizzieT

We booked an overnight stay in Derby for my birthday … here are the 19 best bits from the 19 hours we spent there.

A night at the cricket (#1 – #6)

Birthday plans came together late this year… but we decided to head to Derby to watch Lancashire play in the Vitality Blast. And it didn’t rain. No wonder they call it Derbados!

  1. Fine dining – does anything beat cheesy chips topped with bacon from the burger van?
  2. Big hitting from Luke Wells and Matty Hurst – #anothersixoverlongon
  3. Ice cream from the ice cream van – with strawberry sauce and a flake obviously
  4. A perfect opportunity for watching the sunset in between innings (whilst drinking a very tasty blackcurrant cider)
  5. Chatting with the locals – not sure all the Derbyshire fans appreciated me cheering quite so loudly when Jack Blatherwick took a catch in the deep right in front of us!
  6. A Lancashire win – they’ve been few and far between this season but the team were definitely on top tonight. We hung around long enough after the end of the game to listen to the victory song ring out from the away dressing room.

The night is young (#7 – #10)

Once the cricket was finished, it was time to retrace our steps back to the Holiday Inn Express

  1. A moonlight walk – mainly because we did get a bit confused following the footpaths and cycle paths back from the cricket ground to the city centre. It was worth the diversion – but might have been more sensible and scenic in daylight
  2. Canada Geese “sleeping” across the river in front of the weir on the River Derwent
  3. Turtle spotting in the River Gardens – apparently the bronze statues have been moved a couple of times but are now back by the river
  4. Finishing the night with cocktails at Seven – an old fashioned for me, a chocolate orange espresso martini for Mr T. No photos – no phone battery left. But beautifully presented and very tasty – always good to end a night out with a cocktail!

Time for parkrun (#11 – #14)

Two cups of coffee and a quick breakfast to wake us up… then we were on our way to parkrun

  1. The lovely marshal who pointed us in the right direction to the start – we saw him as we arrived and almost followed him to the turnaround point at the furthest point of the course, instead of turning left towards the start
  2. A warm welcome from the event team at Alvaston parkrun – apparently we’d come the furthest of any visitors to the event that day. We weren’t sure we believed that, but it made for a fun announcement in the run briefing.
  3. A parkwalk and the best of parkrun conversations with two lovely people connected with the event including a new parkrun ambassador – we covered a lot of topics in those 5km and it was good for heart, body and mind!
  4. A lovely park that we would probably never have visited without parkrun. There was even a wind turbine in the distance – although I only spotted it second time past the lake and not the first.
  5. The late checkout option at the Holiday Inn Express – along with the free breakfast and handy location, it was the perfect place to stay (even if not the most glamorous).

A wander and lunch (#15 – #19)

After a quick turnaround, we checked out of the Holiday Inn and followed the riverside path back into the city centre – a lot easier to get our bearings in daylight

  1. Finding the Derby County mural – it is under one of the bridges on the riverside path – somewhere near the railway station (possibly). We’d seen it on the way back to the hotel on Friday night – always good to find street art whilst wandering
  2. A quick trip to the newly re-opened market hall (photo below from re-opening day in May when we’d popped down to Derby for an event at the Literary Festival). It was a bit warm yesterday – but it has some great options in the food court. Gourmet scotch egg anyone?
  3. An Aperol spritz with lunch at the Book Cafe – my new favourite lunch spot. I had the chicken ciabatta with mango salsa from the summer menu.
  4. And one for next time… we found an amazing look cake shop on our work back to the station – the selection at the Brownie Points Bakery looked amazing but we decided that transported them home on a very hot day was not the wisest. So we’ve got another reason to go back.

So, 19 hours after we arrived, we were back to the station and on the train home. Thanks Derby, we had fun.

This post is part of a series capturing the essence of the 27 Hours in Twizel blog – when we found ourselves in a an unlikely tourist destination for 27 hours and found 27 reasons to stay.

And it’s also part of my 52 for 52 in 2025 blogging challenge. This week I was reading Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession. It’s going to be turned into a TV series soon I think – but always good to read the book first. I loved it.

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