Pikehall is a small village in the
Derbyshire Dales
Derbyshire Dales ( ) is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Derbyshire, England. The district was created in 1974 as West Derbyshire; the name was changed to Derbyshire Dales in 1987. The council is based in the town of Matl ...
consisting of a few dozen households and a handful of farms. The population of the village is included in the
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
of
Hartington Nether Quarter. The
A5012 road
The A5012 road is a main road in the south of the English county of Derbyshire.
Route
Around in length, it connects two primary north–south routes; the A6 at Cromford and the A515 between Buxton and Ashbourne. It passes through Pikehal ...
runs through the middle, dividing the village in half. The village is home to the annual
Y Not Festival.
Harness racing
Pikehall is noted for its twice yearly
harness racing
Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australia ...
, a major tourist attraction in the area. Since the first meeting in 1998 the number of spectators has increased. At the meeting on 12 June 2005 there were estimated to be around 2,000 spectators. Pikehall has been named as the British Harness Racing Clubs meeting of the Year for two years.
[ accessed 26 April 2008]
Stilton cheese production
The former Dairy Crest-owned licensed dairy that produced
Stilton cheese
Stilton is an English cheese, produced in two varieties: blue, which has ''Penicillium roqueforti'' added to generate a characteristic smell and taste, and white, which does not. Both have been granted the status of a protected designation of o ...
at
Hartington closed. The business was acquired by the Long Clawson dairy in 2008 and closed in 2009. Two former employees set up the Hartington Creamery at Pikehall to make the cheese; it was licensed in 2014. Three additional partners soon joined them. This business is the smallest of the six companies licensed to make Stilton. As of March 2021, Hartington Stilton was exporting to the US and to the EU and had just started exporting to Canada. The company director told the BBC that they had "a surge in interest and consumer sales from the US".
See also
*
Listed buildings in Hartington Nether Quarter
References
External links
Pikehall harness racing website*
Villages in Derbyshire
Towns and villages of the Peak District
Derbyshire Dales
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