One Valley Festival sees a number of different pubs, a club and a brewery tap all host events on the same day so you can explore Dronfield town and surrounding countryside experiencing a variety of beer, music and food. The town centre venues are all walkable from Dronfield railway station whilst all venues are on a bus route (one of 15, 16, 43 or 44). The date this year is Saturday 7 June.
The rural pub that takes part is the Miners Arms in Hundall. This sees a stage appear in the beer garden with live music through the afternoon and the outside bar open with an extended range of ales and cider plus a burger stall. Hundall is a hillside location with the pub offering a view over the valley as well as the neighbouring cricket pitch! Bus 15 (Dronfield-Chesterfield) stops outside the pub until about 6pm.
Down in the valley at Unstone is Drone Valley Brewery who have a tap staffed by volunteers (most of the profits go to local good causes) and they rather push the boat out for One Valley day. Various tents appear in the yard to supplement the bar in the brewery with seating areas, music stage, cocktail bar and food vendor (Gow’s Kitchen). Buses 43 and 44 (Sheffield-Chesterfield) stop on the main road at the end of their drive.
In the suburb of Dronfield Woodhouse are two pubs, the Jolly Farmer (on bus route 43) and Miners Arms (on bus route 16). At the Jolly Farmer festivities take place around the outdoor drinking area with outside bar, BBQ and live entertainment. They also serve breakfasts in the morning (booking recommended) Meanwhile up the road at the Miners live entertainment is planned in the evening with an acoustic set by Ethan Massingham. During the afternoon you can chill out with a beer in their garden and maybe grab a bite to eat!
Dronfield town centre is split into two areas – The High Street and Dronny Bottom and each have a cluster of venues. The Civic Centre is the bus terminus for rural bus routes 15 and 16 whilst bus 43 stops outside Sainsburys, these are all close to the High Street. Meanwhile Dronny Bottom is where the railway station is, with bus routes 15 and 44 passing through too.
There are Three venues along High Street and Church Street – Blue Stoops, Manor House Hotel and Green Dragon whilst at Dronny Bottom you will find the Beer Stop, Dronfield Arms, Underdog bar and White Swan. Also not far from the High Street, across the road from Sainburys, is the Victoria.
The Victoria is a typical street corner boozer with dart board, pool table and football on the telly. For festival day they will have a DJ on playing tunes from 3pm until about 10pm.
At the Manor House, their cafe bar opens serving breakfast in the morning with their bar opening from 10am. However festivities are outside from midday with the rear drinks terrace extended into part of the car park where they will have two outside bars (one serving cask ale from Abbeydale Brewery with the other bar serving lager, spirits etc) and a food trailer from Pellizco (Mexican street food). Live music will be provided outside by the Britpop rockers at 4pm and 6pm then from 7:30pm onwards DJ Brad Gee will be keeping the party going.
The extensive outdoor drinking area at the Blue Stoops gets extended into the closed off car park and will be filled with 4 outside bars, a food stall doing burgers and loaded chips whilst a DJ will be out there providing a sound track!
The Green Dragon also extends their outside drinking area into a closed off car park on festival day. An outside bar serves cask ale, shorts and bottles supplementing the normal pub bar inside and a fish & chip van will be serving food there. It all opens at midday with DJ Higgz providing a soundtrack throughout the event until late except when live acts are on stage – We are Little Rock at 3pm, Andy Gates at 5pm and Cabronitas band at 8pm.
The Dronfield Arms closes their car park off too in order to add extra features to the usual pub bar, terrace and Pizza Pi kiosk. On festival day there is an outside bar, Cow Boys Burgers stall and music stage. Live music kicks off at 1pm with Josh Feely followed by Magenta Apricots at 2pm, Factor 50 at 3pm, Kickback at 4pm and Leo Millobarrow at 5pm. From 6pm until midnight DJ Phill will be providing party tunes outside for their popular One Valley sunset disco surrounded by trees, river, railway bridge and buildings!
Next door the Underdog bar also adds an outside bar round the back with a range of ciders and craft beer plus hot sandwiches whilst across the road the White Swan make use of their patio area. Live entertainment here begins with We Are Little Rock at 1pm then Dan Aspinall on at 4pm and finally Katie Rose. The England match will be on the TV inside the pub at 5pm.
The Beer Stop is just the other side of the railway bridge, this is a small specialist craft beer shop that also has a few taps of craft beer that can be enjoyed on the yard outside. Two street food traders will be popping up for the afternoon serving fried chicken and tacos and an outside bar is also planned.
Finally a short walk from Dronny Bottom (alternatively a ride on bus 15 or 44) is the Pioneer Club. This is a classic social club building with two rooms – lounge (with pool table and TV) and concert room. It also has a huge grass outdoor area, smoking terrace and car park. The Pioneer run a family friendly event for One Valley outside with bouncy castle, goody bags & games for the kids plus a BBQ stall whilst for the adults there will be a reasonably priced bar and a DJ on all day inbetween live acts – Marie Wells and Ken Lambert Drag.
BUSES
- 15 Dronfield-Chesterfield via Coal Aston, Apperknowle, Marsh Lane, Hundall, Unstone and Whittington Moor. Venues served: Manor House Hotel, Blue Stoops, Victoria, Beer Stop, Pioneer Club and Miners Arms (Hundall).
- 16 Dronfield-Chesterfield via Dronfield Woodhouse, Holmesfield, Barlow. Venues served: Manor House Hotel, Blue Stoops, Miners Arms (Dronfield Woodhouse).
- 43 Sheffield-Chesterfield via Heeley, Woodseats, Meadowhead, Dronfield Sainsburys, Dronfield Woodhouse, Gosforth, Dronfield Fire Station, Unstone and Whittington Moor. Venues served: Victoria, Jolly Farmer, White Swan, Drone Valley Brewery.
- 44 Sheffield-Chesterfield via Heeley, Woodseats, Meadowhead, Batemoor, Coal Aston, Dronfield Station, Unstone and Whittington Moor. Venues served: Pioneer Club, Beer Stop, Dronfield Arms, Underdog, White Swan, Drone Valley Brewery.
All the above bus services are operated by Stagecoach. The maximum single fare is £3 or a “Silver DayRider” ticket is available offering unlimited all day travel on their services in the area – £6.50 adult or £20 for a group of 5 people. You can buy tickets from the bus driver (cash or contactless) or on the Stagecoach app.
Additionally until 5pm the “Travel Derbyshire On Demand” minibus service operates. This is a bus with no fixed route or timetable, simply request a ride at least an hour in advance using their app and a route is created that caters for all the passengers booked that hour. It can be booked for journeys anywhere in North East Derbyshire and Chesterfield, subject to availability.
TRAINS
Dronfield railway station is served mainly by Northern‘s Leeds-Nottingham service, running hourly through the day and with services continuing late into the evening. Journey planning and fares for rail travel is available from nationalrail.co.uk. Venues walkable from the station are Dronfield Pioneer Club, Beer Stop, Dronfield Arms, Underdog, White Swan, Green Dragon, Manor House Hotel, Blue Stoops and Victoria. Buses serving the station are 15 and 44.