Next stop: The Peak District

You might like the HF Holidays Peak District country house in Thorpe, a small village not far from Buxton and Bakewell. A 4-night stay in late March-early April as a “self-guided” guest is £449-£475. A bit more than your target £100 a night, but the price includes all meals (breakfast to order, packed lunch, and 4-course dinner with choice of mains, including veg is that is your preference. You are welcome to join the evening “walk talks” for description of the next day’s guided walks, and the pub games or whatever other entertainment is offered after that.

https://www.hfholidays.co.uk/holidays-and-tours/4-night-peak-district-self-guided-walking-holiday?format=pdf&vid=735

We we did the “self-guided”option as our first HF Holidays adventure, we could pay £10 each if we wanted to join the guided walk (which we did). I don’t know if they still offer this option, but you could ask. The actual “guided” option, with a choice of guided walks each day, is an extra £100. But it sounds like you wish to explore on your own, so the self-guided sounds more suitable for you. The brochure gives a list of nearby towns and villages, including Bakewell, Buxton, and others with equal charm.

We have enjoyed the camaraderie of the other guests on the holidays we have done with this company (actually a member-owned cooperative), whether on walks or at meals, or evening social hour, and are planning on one or two more next year.

My husband and I were in Bakewell in July and liked it a lot. There are several hikes you can do from the town including one going to Chatsworth and one to Haddon Hall. We chose not to tour the houses because we aren’t into big fancy houses, but we enjoyed the hikes.

We had a two bedroom cottage, which is more than what you need. We got takeout pizza and fish and chips for dinner. I did not get the appeal of the Bakewell Tart, but I do not have much of a sweet tooth.

I think you would enjoy staying in Bakewell, but I don’t have anything to compare it to.

There is Castleton which gives access to both the Dark and White Peak and has a lot of good walking from the village (as well as the caves and a ruined castle). It is however further to drive if you are wanting to visit Chartsworth or Haddon Hall.

The reason why Castleton is a bit hard to get to from the Manchester side is that the main highway (the A625) was closed in the 1970's after a series of landslides as it crossed the hill called Mam Tor (locally called The Shivering Mountain).

The road became totally unmaintainable and no longer exists. I remember the Mam Tor slides from my early years in Cheshire. Everyone in the area at the time does. They were spectacular.

Now you descend through the Winnat's Pass- a narrow but pretty spectacularly scenic road between high cliffs- so no fear of heights here.

If you do end up in Castleton do go to either of the show caves in the village- Treak Cliff or Speedwell Cavern.

Speedwell is an old lead mine, known for it's underground boat trip. Treak Cliff is noted for it's large deposits of Blue John Stone- a very rare mineral. A piece of Blue John jewellery (while not cheap) would be a unique souvenir of your trip, and a heirloom for your grand children.

Visitors were going down Speedwell when it was still a working mine in the 18th century.

I wouldn't like to choose between the two- if you have time do both.

There is also the nearby Peak Cavern which is different again- but I wouldn't want to turn you into a mole!

By day the village and the Pass become very busy with visitors- this is a very popular area for locals both from Derbyshire and Manchester. But they are locals, so don't stay overnight.

I visited Bakewell and Chatsworth last December, both very busy and good visits. I lived in England, on and off, for a few years as a youth and a young man. Visited Matlock, Bakewell and Buxton a few times, hiked quite a few miles in Dovedale.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/peak-district-derbyshire

Lola, thanks so much! It's a bit more out of the way than I'd like as I'd prefer to be more centrally located but it does look nice. And it sounds like a good deal with the meals included. So it's on my list!

Carroll, thanks! I think right now Bakewell and Castleton are at the top of my list, so now I just have to see what accommodations they both have. I loved Bakewell when I was there before.

wasleys, I really like the idea of staying in Castleton. I had already noted it for the history there, which I love. But the walking around there sounds great! Now I just have to find a place to stay there or in Bakewell, so we'll see what I can come up with.

Stuart, thanks for all the info! The Castleton area really sounds interesting!

Gundersen, thanks for your thoughts! I'm every excited about visiting here - it's such a beautiful area!

Hi Mardee. We stayed in Hathersage for a week in early June. We didn’t tour the whole of the peak district - we are more of the travel type to plonk ourselves somewhere and explore the surrounding area at a leisurely pace, walking, bird watching and visiting local pubs. Just thought I’d add my recommendations for some of the places we enjoyed. The walk from Hathersage to Stanage Edge is quite lovely and passes by some of the old buildings that are thought to have been used as inspiration by Charlotte Brontë for Jane Eyre. The church in Hathersage is also worth visiting, and has the (possible?) grave of ‘Little John’. There are quite a number of nice pubs and restaurants in the village for lunch. We also visited Eyam and enjoyed it, there are walks from the village, including a short one to the stone where the villagers left money for food during the plague. Padley Gorge was another nice walk in the area, for something different.
I’m guessing you will have a car, which is a good thing. We didn’t and found the buses to be somewhat unreliable (confirmed by locals we spoke to).
Enjoy your trip - we thought the area was quite lovely, better even than I had hoped.

If you do get to Castleton, do go and look at the landslips on the old A625 mentioned by isn31c. They did try repairing the road before evetually deciding to give up. I remember a friend commenting after it had been closed that he couldn't understand why the council couldn't repair it. We took him to see it. His comment was a rather surprised 'oh.... I see what you mean. ' Mam Tor wasn't called the Shivering Mountain for nothing.
This makes a very nice easy walk taking in the Broken Road and Blue John Cavern too, which is the foutrth of the caves in Castleton.

Winatt's Pass is spectacular but as isnc31 says, busy. try and save that for later in the day when most of the day visitors have gone home.

Hathersage and Eyam (the plague village) mentioned by Ethel are only a few minutes drive from Castleton. There is also Edale and the start of the Pennine Way..

Thanks, ethel and wasleys! I am getting more and more excited about this trip!

Ethel, I've been checking out Hathersage and it looks quite interesting! And Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books - I just re-read it last year so now will have to pull it out again before I go. The area sounds wonderful - thank you!

wasleys, thank you for all the links! Those areas look amazing! I had no idea The Peak was so diverse in scenery. I missed a lot the last time I was here, but really just sort of blew through. I'm so glad I have some time now. I will keep looking in that area for places - it sounds like a great place for a base.

The Peak was so diverse in scenery.

It all comes back to the underlying rock. The White Peak to the south is limestone (well drained, fertile, green fields, stone walls). The Dark Peak to the north is gritstone, (poorly drained, lot of moorland with peat, heather and gritstone ridges and outcrops.) They produce very different scenery and land use. Castleton is virtually on the boundary between the two. Bakewell is white Peak.

I can't wait to see it all, wasleys - and thank you for the explanation. I was wondering what the difference was between Dark and White.

BTW, I just made a booking at The Bull's Head in Castleton for 5 nights. It had good reviews and the price was decent (£90 for a double with breakfast). I like staying in pubs - definitely convenient for having a pint in the evening! I think it will be a great location!

That sounds great. You will have a wonderful time. If you are beer drinkers, there is plenty of choice of pubs in Castleton too. CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) published this earlier this year.

You will have a wonderful time. If you are beer drinkers, there is plenty of choice of pubs in Castleton too.

Well, it's just me, but I like to drink beer (more so when I'm traveling than at home, where I typically drink wine). Good to know there is a variety of pubs! Thanks for the article - I'm bookmarking it.

I'm narrowing down my itinerary and coming back here to add these great ideas to it! I definitely want to visit Tweak Cliff mine and I think Speedwell as well. They both look really interesting!

I like that circular hike you mentioned upthread, wasleys. It took me some time to figure out where I would park, but then realized that the grid reference for the Mam Nick car park works in Google maps as well as OS maps. And once I figured all that out, I looked on the Nat. Trust website and the directions to the car park were right there. Oh well. Either way I have it now.

I know you and Stuart both talked about how busy Winnat's Pass can be, but it looks like the best option to get to this hike, so I'm thinking that if I schedule the hike for a Monday morning and it's early April, it might not be too crowded?

Its very much my patch ,my pal runs the Peak Hotel,the Old Hall down at Hope.
Of the Mine Tours , Speedwell is very meh,Blue John the best by far and you are well set for doing Mam Tor and onwards to Hollins Cross as a great walk..

The Barrel up at Bretton , Derbyshires highest pub great food
The Ramblers over at Edale, best food by far of the two pubs in the village.

The Royal Oak down south of Buxton is a family favourite too.

April is lambing time ,great time to be out and about

Richard, thanks! Great information to have---especially the pub recommendations! I'm staying at the Bull's Head in Castleton and those pubs look to be pretty close. I love pubs! I had planned to visit Edale and Buxton, and will now add Bretton into the mix. :-)

I think the circular hike I'm planning to walk takes me right past the Blue John mine so I will make it a point to stop and visit it.

And I'm so happy it's lambing season! I was in Scotland in May of 2023, and thought I was going to die with all the lamb cuteness! All the baby lambs were with their mothers and looked so adorable. I can't wait to see more.

Yes, it shouldn't be too busy. That is the Monday after Low Sunday I believe, so the Schools will have started back after their Easter break.

is that the Blue John mine as in the wonderful Derbyshire gem Blue John? Special stuff. (Wonder if they let you graze the walls as you go through and pick up whatever falls off???)

is that the Blue John mine as in the wonderful Derbyshire gem Blue John? Special stuff. (Wonder if they let you graze the walls as you go through and pick up whatever falls off???)

Nigel, I believe it is - and wouldn't that be wonderful if they let you do that, ha ha! I have a feeling I will have to get my pickings from the gift shop, though. 😊

And thanks, Stuart! I was hoping for that.

In answer to Nigel- Yes it is-the Blue John. Blue John mine and Treak Cliff are the only places in the world where it is mined, although I believe there was another mine historically on the Winnat's Pass. Like many gemstones you probably wouldn't recognise it in it's unworked state.
Nigel has set me thinking- given our family history (especially Dad's) I am surprised that, as far as I have found, Mum didn't own a piece of Blue John jewellery.
There may be, for all I know. By and large I haven't had the heart to sort through most of the collection since she died.