Welcome to Trusley

Trusley (click for a Google map) is a very small settlement and conservation area, in Derbyshire, England.

August/September, 2026: no longer a "rural settlement"

Latest news 26/09/2026

The application (see below) did not come before the August meeting of the SDDC Development Management Committee (some of us attended to see how things work) and is not on the agenda for the September 22nd meeting. We don't know why there is a delay.

Roofing, repointing, new gutters and removal of first floor windows has been completed at Eaton's Cottage (not a listed building).

Roofing and repointing work at Land End Cottage (a listed building) is ongoing.

The shed/stables close to Ivy Close Farmhouse (now The Old Courthouse) is having a complete roof replacement. The planning application lists this as a two bedroom annex for The Old Courthouse.

Background

A planning application has been submitted to South Derbyshire District Council.

An objection has been submitted.

The Trusley Conservation area is tiny - currently 10 dwellings and 10 adults (*).

The proposal is to turn 7 out of 10 dwellings into 23 hotel rooms for 46 guests

This is designed to maximise revenue from those attending the (excellent) Grangefields wedding venue.

* note: previously there were 27 adults in the Conservation Area but deaths, evictions and moving have reduced the numbers and homes have been untenanted for several years.

Trusley became a Conservation Area in 1968 - one of the first in the country and the first in South Derbyshire. It did so as an example of "a small hamlet" with "rural roots". For some reason, Gardener's Cottage, was not included in the Conservation area.

The word "settlement" is used 19 times in the Conservation Area Character Statement.

A settlement is defined as:

"a community where people build homes, live together, and carry out daily social and economic activities."

Until recently five dwellings have been occupied by resident tenants and sixth has been an AirBNB. If the change of use goes through there will be no homes for rent and only three dwellings with full-time residents: The Old Hall, Home Farm and The Old Rectory.

The scale of the proposal is huge. A proposal on a similar scale in Ticknall would affect 180 homes, in Etwall 840 homes, in Melbourne 1,260 homes, and in Swadlincote 9,600 homes.

How can you have a community when 70% of the dwellings have no residents?

Trusley Estate claims that conversion to hotel rooms is the only way to cover the cost of bringing houses up to modern standards. However, it provides no evidence to support this but states that, if planning permission is not granted, "the properties will remain out of use indefinitely".

The objection document covers this in detail and outlines alternative funding models that would enable Trusley to remain a living community with tenants in the renovated cottages.

Countryfile

The Countryfile TV programme on 13th September was about Westacre Estate in Norfolk (8,500 acres compared to 1,100 acres in Trusley) and one of the points made was that the owner has, over the years, sold off various buildings (including "the big house" to Sir Antony Gormley for £3 million in 2010), to fund the agricultural and environmental work on the Estate. Trusley is not on that scale, but it does have buildings and land assets that could be used in a similar way - without turning the village into an overnight dormitory!

You can watch the Countryfile programme here:

The objection supports the proposal to renovate the cottages but opposes the change of use to hotel rooms. Renovation work has already begun which seems to run counter to the claims about funding and leaving homes out of use.

A planning decision should not be based on what is most profitable or convenient for the applicant. If Trusley is no longer an example of a small rural settlement, what is the point of Conservation Area status?

This map shows the homes affected - click the image for a larger version.

May, 2026: Trusley Solar Farm

On May 1st, 2026 Castle Way Energy provided details of a proposed solar farm in Trusley covering most of the land associated with Goldhurst Farm.

Please click here for more details of what we know so far.

What exactly is Trusley?

Trusley is a small rural settlement and, even though most of us no longer make a living from agriculture, we are very concerned and worried about the future of the countryside.

The definition of "Trusley" varies. It could be:

The civil parish of Trusley - the lowest level of local authority organisation in England.
The smaller ecclesiastic parish of Trusley based on All Saints Church. The boundaries of this parish have changed over time - especially after Christ Church was built in Long Lane Village in 1859.
Trusley Estate. This has been held by the Coke and Coke-Steel family for generations but includes land outside the parishes of Trusley. The family became "Coke-Steel" in 1945 five years after Francis Coke married Ronald Steel who went on to become chairman of Doncasters Forgemasters in Sheffield.
The core area close to the church where most of us live.

In 2025, in the central village area, there are eleven homes, fourteen adults and two children. There are two farms south of the core (one farmed) and three farms north (one farmed).

The Conservation Area in the centre of the village has: a church, a Manor, an Old Hall, an Old Rectory, one tenanted farm, two tenanted cottages, three unoccupied cottages and one renovated but unoccupied farmhouse. For some strange reason Gardener's Cottage was left out when the Conservation Area map was drawn.

There are a few more farms and homes around the parish but our population is very small. We don't have a parish council but we do have the ultimate in democracy - a parish meeting where everyone can participate.

Please visit our maps page for a collection of old and new maps of Trusley and the surrounding area.

Trusley - emptying a community

These figures relate to the adult population in Trusley village / Conservation Area.

Over the last 40 years, Trusley village, as a community, has shrunk as people have died, children have left home and people have moved on or been evicted. The policy of Trusley Estate has been to leave rental property empty and some have been empty for over six years.

We now know why - see details of the June, 2026 planning application above.

The Coke-Steel family, as "The Trusley Estate", holds most of the land, farms, buildings, houses and cottages in the parish of Trusley - and some land (and property) beyond the parish boundaries.

In 1968 Trusley became the earliest Conservation Area in South Derbyshire because it is a rare example of a small rural settlement which has remaining almost unchanged for over 150 years. It is not frozen in aspic - there have been permitted changes here and there over the years - but someone who lived and worked here in the 19th century would recognise the village as it is now.

Trusley's houses and cottages were once occupied by those working on the land and today there are plenty of people wanting to live in the countryside, especially in a place as peaceful as Trusley.

Several of the farms, some tenanted, some not, have old Victorian barns and buildings unsuitable for modern agriculture and which have been slowly decaying over the last 50 years. The Estate has the unenviable task of trying to find alternative uses for them.

We had hoped that new tenants would be found for vacant homes and ways could be found to enable Trusley to remain as a living community and small rural settlement. We now know the Estate had no plans to do this - instead it wishes to turn them all into hotel rooms (see above).

Pumpkin patch 2023/2024/2025!

The Trusley Pumpkin Patch, organised by the Ferris family of Goldhurst Farm, has become an established institution!

The terrible weather early in 2024 meant that only 1,500 pumpkins appeared instead of the 15,000 of 2023 - this was covered on BBC national news. Other crops, potatoes and maize, suffered the same problems. This led to the decision to open only on the weekend 19/20 October instead of for the whole half term week of previous years. Even worse, the weather was so bad, rain and high winds, that it was unable to open on Sunday.

Those who were there on Saturday enjoyed themselves and the collection of old tractors was a big hit - including the unusual banana loader on the little grey Fergie!

2025 brought a dry spring and a summer of drought - not good for pumpkins! However, the weather was reasonably kind in October and the patch had a very successful year with a really good turnout.

One of the highlights of 2025 was the Opperman Motocart!

Discovery of the Temple of Mithras

Things get a little complicated in the small patch of Trusley that extends north of the Roman road of Long Lane.

A few years ago, during a periodic escape attempt by some of Home Farm's cattle, a heifer got into The Old Rectory orchard and tripped as she was guided out of the gate. She was fine but where she tripped turned out to be a vast underground room. Our conclusion was that it was an ancient Temple of Mithras, complete with altar, used by the Roman soldiers when they stopped at Long Lane Village to quench their thirst on their way from Little Chester in Derby to Rocester.

We were very disappointed to find out later that it was an empty Victorian cess pit!

It's quiet round here

Trusley is a very quiet place, nothing much was happening here at the time of The Doomsday Book at the beginning of the Norman occupation in 1066 - and nothing much is happening now.

If you hanker for night-life, or even a lonely street light as found in the nearby village of Radbourne, then Trusley is not the place for you - even our papers are delivered to a box fixed to an Oak tree about half a mile away where our little village lane ("Unnamed Lane" or just "Road" according to a sat nav!) meets a slightly larger lane. The limit of our public facilities is a post box in the wall at Home Farm - what more could we want?

Our area may be quiet and relatively unchanging (which is great!) but it has a fascinating history - from the deserted village of near-by Osleston to the reasons for the erection of the Primitive Methodist chapel at Lane Ends in neighbouring Sutton on the Hill.

Please click the image below for more about our village church. The strange pattern of mowing (visible on Google maps!) resulted from the rough ground left when the churchyard was mowed many years ago by a full-size tractor. When the mowing was later done by a smaller lawn tractor the rough parts could not be reached.

During 2023 the churchyard received some well-needed TLC and is now in excellent condition.

Please click the image below for a larger photo of Trusley in November, 2018 - not bad as a view from one's study desk!

The place that time forgot?

One of the great things about England is that there are still so many little places that give the appearance of being forgotten by time - Trusley is one of those places. In the hurly-burly of city life, or while working in "the global village", it is easy to forget what "quiet" really means.

Just because Trusley gives the impression of being stuck somewhere around 1848 belies the truth! Many of us here are all too familiar with the modern world and we make our living in it - from farming to high-tech electronics and software. We are pretty clued up on the world around us and some of us trade internationally - in some cases we do far more business outside the UK than within it!

So, "quiet" certainly - that's one of the things we love about the place, but "behind the times" - never! We are within 15 minutes of Derby and Burton-on-Trent, under an hour to Birmingham, Sheffield and Nottingham, and under 1.5 hours to Stratford on Avon - for the theatre don't you know!

Welcome to our site visitors from China! We are pleased to see that news of Trusley is spreading world-wide!

One of our contacts in China has provided some photos which may be seen here.

An Airbnb in Trusley

The Trusley Estate renovated the farm house at Ivy Close Farm, renamed it "The Old Court House" and, for while, made it available for rent on Airbnb.

Our battle with broadband and mobile signals

For many years we suffered from broadband speeds of under 0.6Mbps because our nearest BT cabinet is over 2 miles away. However, fibre arrived in 2018 and we now get speeds in excess of 100Mbps - but unfortunately our mobile signal remains poor, especially indoors.

Our lanes

We are surrounded by a network of small lanes (sat navs call the one through Trusley "Unnamed road") - some of which can be death-traps given the number of potholes in them - so drive carefully - and watch out for slow moving tractors!

In September, 2021, the whole length of the "Unnamed road" through Trusley, from "the triangle" to Butterpot, was resurfaced!

Eateries close by

We don't have a village pub or eatery but there are lots within easy reach of a pleasant cross-country drive.

Your can find full details of each one by Googling for them.

As in other parts of the country, many of our rural pubs have gone-up market (to bring in enough to stay open!) and some have had new extensions. The downside of extensions is they tend to be noisy: hard floors, hard walls, lots of echoes - difficult for the hard of hearing - especially when many customers seem to spend most of their eating-out time on their smartphones! However, most places retain tables in the bar area where the noise is less obtrusive.

The first three below are now part of a local chain and offer good food.

The Cow, Lees. Used to be "The Black Cow". Gone up market from being a rural pub.
The Horseshoes, Long Lane Village. Used to be "The Three Horseshoes".
Changing the name shows a lack of respect for history. "The Three Horseshoes" has always been the sign of a pub run by, or next to, the village blacksmith: horses with three shoes meant work for the blacksmith.
The Bluebell, Kirk Langley. Good food.
The Cock Inn, Mugginton. Standard food, nice tables in the bar area.
However, it is now owned by RedCat which is funded by a massive American "asset management" company so we won't be visiting again.
Darcy's Fish & Chips on Manor Road in Derby - 15 minutes drive from Trusley. We cannot speak highly enough of the quality of their fish & chips - and you can enjoy a beer or a glass fo wine with them!
The Red Lion, Hollington. Simple pub grub, good beer, not posh! Proper pub.
The Great Northern, Mickleover. Decent food.
The Boot, Repton. Excellent food, excellent beer, nice place - not cheap! Good for a "special" evening out.
The Bulls Head, Repton. Good food - but thought it was trendy to serve food on slates! Good food on plain plates: that's the secret.
The Wheel Inn, Ticknall. Very good. Nice village. Close to NT Calke Abbey.
The Dog & Partridge, Marchington. Very good.
The Roebuck, Draycott in the Clay. Very good.
Holly Bush Inn, Church Broughton. Simple pub grub, good beer, not posh!
Seven Wells, Etwall. Standard "chain" food - decent steaks.
Saracens Head, Shirley. Excellent.
The Crown inn, Marston Montgomery. Not been for ages. Was very good.
The Light House, Boylestone. Open Wednesday to Saturday. Good food - not cheap.
Jinnie Inn, Rolleston-on-Dove. Very good.
Dog & Partridge, Tutbury. Not been for years.

Trusley.com

A Derbyshire village