Derbyshire Lovely Local Indie

20/12/2025

Breakfast at the Harley Café on the iconic Welbeck Estate 🍳☕️

Just outside Derbyshire but one of my current favourites - not least because it’s mere steps away from the Welbeck Farm Shop (all on Facebook at The Courtyard at Welbeck)

There’s also a free-to-enter art gallery and museum - all with free parking!

If you need more reasons to visit, there’s a more detailed version of why this place is so special to me over on the blog.

20/12/2025

The Harley Café on the Welbeck Estate

Just into the Nottinghamshire border, nestled in Sherwood Forest, is the iconic Welbeck Estate. Spanning 15,000 acres, seeped in history and with an impeccable reputation within the foodie community, Welbeck - and particularly the Harley Café - has become one of my favourite places to visit over the last couple of years. So far, I’ve only had breakfast at The Harley Café, but half a dozen consistently great experiences (plus some reading into the ethos alongside it being the best place to meet one of my most favourite people) means that it now holds a very special place in my heart....

Enjoy delicious, locally-sourced, artisan food and drink at Harley Café on the iconic Welbeck Estate, just steps from Farm Shop, Art Gallery

07/12/2025

This week is Grief Awareness Week, so I'm sending love and support to everyone who is grieving.

There is no or wrong way to grieve. You have to do what works for you and do it in your own time, one step at a time.

Tears, rage, feeling heartbroken numb, lost, or even moments of laughter are all part of the process and when you are struggling this is never something to be ashamed of.

Slowly, many begin to find new ways of living… reshaping routines, honouring precious memories, and discovering resilience they never knew they had.

If you are grieving, please remember you do not have to face it alone. Reach out to loved ones, your community, or professionals who can offer care and support. The Good Grief trust was started by a widow who lost her husband at a very similar time to me and she took was a member of WAY, widowed and young, which was such a lifeline to me in the early days of my grief.

The Good Grief Trust has many other suggestions of support for all types of grief and can be extremely helpful, when you just don't know where to turn

01/12/2025

NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHTS - lots of good food* with my favourite people.

Remembering what lights me up: time away, ideas, pottering.

Exciting work stuff too. I’m tentatively starting to launch my Micro Business Brunch - more info coming soon - but the plan is coffee, croissants & conversation for female founders.

Hatching plans with & for people I’ve admired for years.

= Life is good.

PS - Soufflé pancakes - I’m a sucker for trying a food trend (albeit often late to the party) & TBH I think most things are palatable with pistachio flavoured sugar and raspberries but this is NOT a recommendation of that particular place but it was over a great chat with the lovely

PPS - I’ve also tagged a gorgeous independent coffee shop in Southwell that I neglected to take a photo in but I want to remember & do thoroughly recommend.

27/11/2025

Hello! I'm Molly 👋🏻 I left a twenty year teaching career because I could sense I'd become one of the old cynics... and that's not who I wanted to be.

The realisation that I was drifting towards being the miserable, bitter one in the staffroom thankfully happened around the same time that I met the love of my life.

There's nothing like having a baby and planning your dream wedding to distract yourself from feeling frustrated at work... and for a while I thought my happiness would lie in domestic bliss and that being a part-time teacher would be more tolerable.

Then lockdown hit. Both being keyworkers and new-ish parents, our little family worked throughout. And my shiny new hobby - blogging - saved my sanity through the various lockdowns.

As the world gradually returned to normal, I realised that I wasn't happy being a part-time SAHM either.

I eventually left teaching 'to write' and to 'build up the blog' and 'help small businesses with their social media'.

Without having any concrete sense of exactly what was involved in turning my passion into a viable business model.

I had no real idea of what to charge and definitely no clear sense of what my overheads would be. Meanwhile, the cost of living rocketed up around me.

Thankfully, I've found my way back to teaching.

I've *always* loved being in the classroom with a group of people (whatever their age) who wanted to learn something I felt confident teaching.

I've always loved the planning and the preparation.

And I've always tried to meet learners exactly where they are, however 'stuck' they might feel, I hope I've always seen the potential and helped people move forward.

I'm really proud to have found some amazing corporate clients for whom I deliver training for.

But 2026 is going to be the year that I establish a regular programme of training opportunities for SME, and particularly for female founders and female service providers.

And I'm so excited about it!

➡ The first couple of workshop dates are already on my website - and there's much, much more coming.

💬 I'd LOVE to know when you started following me. Let me know in the comments?

25/11/2025

Small business owners - this one’s for you if you feel like your marketing is a mess! Maybe you’ve been relying too much on social media and feeling at the whim of confusing algorithms?

Maybe you just know your marketing could be so much better if you had time to get really strategic with the limited time and resources you have?

If you’d like some help getting clear and confident about your next steps, join me for a fun and engaging workshop where we’ll:

✨ Demystify marketing strategy

✨ Whizz through some marketing basics (my spin on “the 4Ps”)

✨ Share my insights from working with dozens and dozens of successful local brands like yours (e.g. easy ways to improve your website, how & why to start using email marketing and simple PR hacks)

✨ Give you time and space to consider the best ways forward for YOUR business

You’ll leave with lots of ideas of how to take things forward and understand how to make a useful long term plan.

Spaces are strictly limited to ensure a friendly but productive small group vibe where you’ll feel comfortable enough to ask questions and get to know your fellow attendees (think of it as a non-cringy networking event with other local female founders).

KEY DETAILS:

Marketing Strategy for Micro Businesses Workshop

Monday 12th January, 10am - 1pm

Venue - The Walled Garden Workshop at Libby’s of Chesterfield, S40 3AD

£70 per person

Includes complimentary hot drinks & a little sweet treat

➡ BOOK YOUR PLACE via the link in my bio

PS - Feel free to DM me any questions

16/11/2025

If you don’t know Stella's Kitchen Eyam get to know… I spent a fascinating morning with this local legend last year. The interview is at the end of this blog post:

https://lovelylocalindie.com/2024/03/27/derbyshires-hottest-bites-march-2024/