Derby's River Gardens to get a £400,000 makeover to bring back their glory days.

Derby's iconic River Gardens will get a £400,000 makeover to bring back their family-friendly glory days.For more than 50 years, the gardens were a public attraction that drew in families and workers from the city centre for lunch or a stroll. But, in recent times, they have become shabby and a haven for criminals.
Now, after completion of the nearby £100m Riverlights hotels, casino and retail development, the city council has decided it wants family picnics back in the park.

It has revealed it wants to improve street lighting, pavements, seating and possibly add public art in a bid to create an attractive riverside walk.
And the news comes as the man behind Riverlights revealed he was on the verge of signing a deal with a restaurant firm to take up a third of the complex's 25,000sq ft food and drink space.
It is hoped this, and the River Gardens revamp, will stimulate the area's night-time economy.
The improvements should be completed by the "end of spring or early summer of 2012".
The gardens would be given a modern facelift rather than returning to their look when they were first created in 1934.

You may be old enough to remember what the Derby river gardens used to look like, if not then watch my video I made a few years back made from old postcards of the time.

Video of old post cards of how Derby River Gardens used to look in its hayday.


Thanks
Andy

Video : Dovedale, See the Stepping Stones like never before. Beautiful Derbyshire Peak District.

August Update blog post : Stepping Stones Heath and Safety gone mad.

Here is my latest video promoting the local area. I dare say that if you are from Derbyshire then Dovedale Stepping Stones will be somewhere that you will have visited at some time. Its a great place to visit, perfect if you are looking for somewhere to visit in Derbyshire while the weather is nice. This tranquil and beautiful place is a "must see" place.

This video came about because I actually visited Dovedale one Friday in order to take lots of Panoramic photographs, while there I took a few short video clips too. When back to Derby  I looked at the videos and wished that I had recorded more footage. My answer to this problem was some clever software called  Pano2Movie as it allowed me to create video-like pans and incorporate them into the real video footage.
The first pan starts at 0:30, the sun rays which start at 0:45 I created using the "Light Rays" effect on the timeline in Sony Vegas 9 Pro to give the illusion of the Sun through the trees.

The sequence that starts at 4:17 shows what you can do using Pano2Movie as this kind of movement would not be possible with a video camera because I am panning to the ground while standing on stepping stones that are in the middle of the river Dove!

At 4:33 I used the FOV markers in Pano2Movie to zoom in, as you can see this made a very odd effect which makes it look like we are moving in mid air.

Anyway enough of the techincal stuff sit back and enjoy my video of Dovedale. This video is best viewed in 720p HD and fullscreen.

My video of Dovedale Stepping Stones.




My original source video that was uploaded to YouTube was 474Mb and took over two hours to upload!

Map of Dovedale Stepping Stones.
If you have never visited Dovedale Stepping Stones then here is a detailed map of this area.
I have marked the exact position of Dovedale Stepping Stones along with where you park etc.


View Dovedale, Derbyshire Peak District in a larger map

If you want to take the map with you then click the link above so you have a large version you can print out.
If you zoom out a bit you will see I have even marked on useful bits on the road to the car park.



Hope you like my little video of Dovedale.
Andy

Video of Ducks and a Pheasant at Peak Village Outlet, Rowsley Derbyshire

Here is my latest local video, a simple one of the Ducks and a Pheasant at Peak Village Outlet, Rowsley.



If you have ever parked in the car park at Peak Village Shopping Outlet in Rowsley Derbyshire then you can't have failed to miss these Ducks. They can always be seen at the end of the car park near the river.


The River Wye flows past the end of the car park and into the Mill next door.
The food you can see at 0:23 is Duck food I bought from Squeaks and Beaks at Alvaston, Derby.
Is that Pheasant at 0:57 a Common Pheasant or some other breed? Anyone out there know which it is?
Never seen a Pheasant here before. You can see the female Pheasant at 1:34 and at 1:47 in the silly bit !
This footage was taken on Friday 23rd April 2010 at 4:18pm.
Hope you enjoyed this little video of the famous Rowsley Ducks.
Andy