There between an ancient Roman fort and an old leadworks next to his family home at Brough is where former Derbyshire cricketer Peter picked up his love of the game and an affection for shire horses.

And it's where he still lives now.

The cricket is all in the glorious past but Peter's love of horses is the thing that gets him out of bed at 5.30am to prepare for shows or take any of his five Brough Shires working for the day.

Weddings, funerals, fetes, promotions and exhibitions at Carsington, Chatsworth and Castleton are where Peter and Major, Monarch, Joseph, Thomas and William try to earn their living.

Next week it's Bakewell Show – where Peter's horses have been winners in the past.

As with many former professional sportsmen nothing will ever replace the adrenalin-fuelled thrill of his cricketing days but showing horses comes close for Peter.

"The nearest thing I have come to the buzz of playing cricket is when I harness up the horses and make sure the dray is clean for a show," said the 68-year-old former Derbyshire all-rounder.

"The camaraderie reminds me of my cricketing days as well after we've had a couple of pints. There's nothing quite like winning to make the beer taste better – whether that's at cricket or with the horses in a show.

"I really enjoy driving them and dressing them – they look majestic in harness.

"My mother used to plough with shire horses when she was a girl and I have always had a soft spot for them. I bought my first one in 1989 as a pet for £200 but things have come on a bit since then.

"I sneak the odd one in now and again and hope my wife won't notice because they are all the same colour!"

The Medieval Great Horse came to this country when it carried King William's conquerors in 1066 and has been bred through the centuries for its power and reliability as a working horse.

In their 19th century heyday, there was a heavy horse population of well over a million in this country, but by the early 1960s this had dwindled to a few thousand.

Today the Shire Horse Society processes about 500 registrations annually.

Standing next to a couple of shires in a field is a humbling experience.

Almost a ton of horseflesh, a 7ft tall, muscular emblem of power and loyalty, their awesome heads could end a life with a single nod yet they exude gentleness and patience.

Horses have replaced cricket as Peter's main passion but it was as a boy that Peter got the cricket bug in the field outside his parents' house now overlooked by the house he built for his family in 1976.

"I played cricket in the village as a young lad. There were two of us and we played every day in the field.

"We put 10 boxes around the field in certain postions and they had numbers written on them. If you were batting and you hit one of them you got the number of runs written on the box.

"Robin Baker was the lad I played with and it was a bit one-sided. We spent day after day playing, just the two of us.#
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