Rolleston on Dove within the Landscape

Rolleston on Dove lies on the edge of the River Dove's flood plain in the entrance and extending up through the broad shallow valley of the Alderbrook. These are the geographical features which attracted the first homestead to the site and which strongly influence the characteristics of the village today. From the Alderbrook it spreads eastwards above but still close to the flood plain to join with the small Edwardian settlement that grew up around the railway. All these feature, together with the extensive maintenance of mature trees and new planting, make the village very unobtrusive within its surrounding landscape. Other than St. Mary's Church steeple, buildings rarely break the skyline. Approached along any of the three main roads, by lane or by footpaths across the fields, you are barely conscious of the village until you are within it.

The main roads from Stretton in the east and Tutbury in the west, cross low undulating ground which hides the village and exposes views across the river into Derbyshire. The shape of the fields and the remains of individual tree plantings seen coming from Horninglow and Anslow (The Lawn) still reflect the parkland nature of the Mosley estate lands. Marston Lane from Derbyshire in the north and crossing the River Dove, passes over flat meadows with the remains of ridge and furrow cultivation still obvious. Willows, alders and occasionally more durable deciduous trees prolifically mark old ox bows and water courses as well as supplementing hedgerows.

No longer the County boundary, the Ream and, the remnants of the former meanderings of the River Dove, added to its present course, provide a valuable rural scene much enjoyed by many on lazy summer afternoons.

Despite its unobtrusiveness within the landscape and perhaps for very similar reasons, from within the village there is a strong sense of ruralness, or looking out into and being part of the countryside.

This is exemplified where space between buildings occurs as in Brookside (adjacent to the Brookhouse footbridge) and in Beacon Road (by the Public Footpath to Craythorne).

Two other factors strongly enhance this. Firstly there is the very long "coastline" between the village and countryside with long spurs such as Craythorne, Brook Hollows and The Croft which reach right into the heart of the village. Secondly, because of the way the village has grown, long lengths of its approach roads are built up on only one side, the other being completely open to arable and pasture fields, meadows, paddock, cricket field and spinneys.