'We're one of the few villages frozen in time'

The picture postcard location that's entirely owned and run by one family |

- DIANNE BOURNE

PRETTY stone cottages, a tranquil mill pond and an historic hall at its heart. Strolling into the village of Tissington is like taking a step back in time.

There are no street lights or road markings, indeed there are barely any modern developments at all here.

It makes it an idyllic spot in the midst of the Peak District National Park, and a honeypot village for visitors come the summer months. Not least thanks to its popular tearooms which opens daily for visitors next to the historic Tissington Hall.

This is also one of the most unusual villages in England. For it is one of the handful of places to have been owned by the same family for the past 500 years. Sir Richard Fitzherbert is the current incumbent of the historic 17th Century Tissington Hall - and it is his life's work to keep the village he owns thriving. He inherited the estate at the age of 25 from his uncle in 1989.

He owns all the properties in the village, well, all except for five cottages that an ancestor "lost over a game of cards" back in the 18th century. The remaining 40 cottages and 10 farms are rented out to tenants who Sir Richard says all pull together to make village life as idyllic as possible.

There are also now seven holiday lets within the village that tourists can book out to make a holiday of it in this picturesque part of the Peaks.

Although Sir Richard is the first to admit that owning and running a 2,000 acre village is far from as glamorous as it may sound. He says he has ongoing battles with council planners over making any improvements at all in the village - such are the strict rules around developments in a Conservation Area like this.

He says: "We live in a Grade II star listed building in a conservation village in a National Park - so we have restrictions upon restrictions. I can hardly sneeze without permission.