A Portrait Of Rowsley

With art, heritage, shopping and fine dining, Mike Smith enjoys a day out at this lovely village on the edge of the Peak District National Park

It was David Naylor, the painter and co-owner of DerwentWye Fine Art in Rowsley, who reminded me of the village’s connections with the distinguished artist Dame Laura Knight. Throughout her long life, Dame Laura, who was born in Long Eaton in 1877, retained memories of idyllic childhood holidays spent with her mother and two sisters in the village of Rowsley, where they would stay on a farm and have a daily routine of packing a picnic and going off to sketch in the nearby dales or at Haddon Hall.

In 1933, Laura was invited back to Haddon Hall to paint a portrait of Violet, 9th Duchess of Rutland. On her way to the hall, she passed ‘the fields and winding stream never to be forgotten’ and during her stay at Haddon, the Duke and Duchess took her on a nostalgic trip to Rowsley to see the places she had visited as a child and remembered so vividly throughout her life.

David Naylor has a similar affection for Rowsley, where, in partnership with Steve Earnshaw and John Basford, he established Derwent-Wye Fine Art over 20 years ago. Although John is no longer a member of the consortium, David and Steve continue to organise displays of Modern British paintings in their welcoming exhibition space. Collectors of the much sought-after work of the Sheffield artist Harry Epworth Allen are particularly drawn to the gallery, which also offers an expert framing and restoration service. At the time of my visit, David was putting the final touches to his fine painting of his wife Diane, who has worked for many years at the picture library at Chatsworth.