Walking In Derbyshire

Pilsley, Bakewell is a very picturesque village within the Chatsworth estate. Many of the gritstone cottages in the village are occupied by estate workers at Chatsworth. There is a lovely spacious green in the middle of the village and there are stunning views all around the village. Part of the village was built in the […]

Belper is a lovely little town with many shops, restaurants and a gorgeous cinema. It is situated on the Derwent River and has a vast history. Belper is the birthplace of the factory system. Derwent Valley Mills were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2001. With Cromford Mill hosting a visitors centre to […]

Dovedale is one of those iconic places in Derbyshire which everyone knows about, but finding a circular route can be a little tricky. You have a few choices on this walk to either walk down to the stepping stones, have a paddle, head up to Thorpe Cloud for the views or just picnic by the […]

This has got to be one of our favourite walks which we discovered just coming out of lockdown. It takes in the beautiful views over Ogston Reservoir. You also get a bit of height on this walk so the view down the hills at one or two points is pretty stunning. Ogston Reservoir is owned […]

Set alongside the River Amber is the picturesque village of Ashover. Quaint cottages, stone houses and old pubs fill this favourite Derbyshire village of mine. It may take you a while to drive through the village as it is so pretty, with many cute cottages for you to stop and admire.  Ashover has a truly […]

It was while I put the final bits and pieces to April – Monyash edition and, mentioning in the text that it starts and finishes in Monyash, it struck me that there is another of my favourites also starting from Monyash old market square.  It is only a little under four miles, but it leads […]

If you were living in the Peak District countryside around a hundred years ago, the chances are that you would be following a dual working schedule.  Part of your working day would be tending the needs of a dairy herd and maybe carrying out a little ploughing and growing feed crops for those valuable cattle.  […]

When the eighteenth century Duke of Bridgewater’s fiancé gave him what we might today call the push, he decided that not only was he secretly pleased to be rid of her, but to be honest, he was also bored by London, which took up too much of her time through the London Society she frequented. […]

The South Manchester town of Stockport gets most of its water from two reservoirs filling the narrow upper reaches of the Goyt Valley near Buxton.  It is hard to realise that  this was a self-supporting estate with its own coal mines and small industrial estate where gun powder was made.  Errwood Hall, the central building […]

At the forefront of the Pentrich Rising were Jeremiah Brandreth, a 31-year-old unemployed stocking knitter who had a wife and two children; Isaac Ludlam, a bankrupt farmer who owned a small quarry where he had built up a small supply of pikes; and William Turner, a stonemason and ex-soldier.  From Pentrich this walk will take […]

The popular village and National Trust property of Ilam and its hall, are based on a Saxon settlement, later expanded in Victorian times.  In its early days it was where the early Celtic Christian missionary St Bertram baptised his flock, using a well on the slopes of Bunster Hill to the north of the village […]

Cromford owes its birth to Richard Arkwright, founder of the water-driven cotton spinning frame, one of the leading inventions of the Industrial Revolution.  Harassed by home-based cotton spinners and weavers in his native Lancashire, in 1771 he opened his first mill, using the convenient power of the nearby River Derwent, close to the Crom Ford, […]

When the civil engineer William Jessop and his associate Benjamin Outram finished building the Cromford Canal. While they were linking the expanding industries of the Derwent Valley to the Midlands, it was soon realised that if the canal was continued in a northerly direction, it would open the burgeoning new cotton industry to markets around […]

Standing at 850 feet above sea level on an isolated hilltop, Riber Castle, to give it its acknowledged title, has dominated Matlock’s eastern skyline ever since John Smedley built it in 1862.  His idea was to make it the de-lux version of the spa hotels springing up around the town, venues of places offering accommodation […]

In 1086 when Duke William of Normandy’s monks were compiling the Domesday Book in order to record the value or otherwise, of the conquerors’  ‘new country’, in listing the wealth of lands in the north Midlands, they recorded details of a section of countryside close to what is now called Ilkeston which was a private […]

by Rambler I don’t think I have ever written about a walk where the instructions needed to mention street names, but as this walk involves the use of streets dating back to Matlock’s origins as a spa town, it will be helpful if I name the handful of them necessary, in order to reach the […]

During the height of the railway mania tracks were being laid often with little or no purpose, throughout the land.  While there were already lines running up the east and west coasts, linking London to Edinburgh and Glasgow, with cross country connections to Birmingham and other major industrial areas across industrial Midlands, Manchester and the […]

By Rambler Before I begin my description of this walk, I must put in an explanation of what I mean by Bull Ring.  First and foremost I have no intensions of sending walkers all the way down the A38 in order to walk round Birmingham’s busy Bull Ring commercial district.  The bull ring (notice the […]

Following her sterling work amongst wounded soldiers in the Crimea, Florence Nightingale returned to England.  After spending a few days in London, she boarded the London to Manchester train at St Pancras Station.  Leaving it unannounced at the tiny halt serving Whatstandwell, she set off to walk quietly along the hillside road, climbing steadily to […]

By Rambler ‘Sough’ is the lead miner’s term for the method of draining water from a mine. One of the most attractive roads through the Peak District, the one between Bakewell and the A515 Buxton/Ashbourne road takes some beating.  Around a mile beyond the cut-off for Monyash, to the right two small chimneys indicate the […]

There are many enigmatic remains throughout the Peak District; stone circles, cairns and burial mounds were left by people who did not tell us who they were.  Carl Wark the focal point of this walk is one such relic, but we have no way of telling if it was Iron Age or post-Roman, but it […]

Opening my latest copy of WALK DERBYSHIRE the seventh no less, I realised that the first walk in the guide took in much of Kedleston’s parkland, but less than half of its beautiful woods and plantations.  As enjoyable as the walk maybe, it would be a great pity to exclude the extensive woodlands covering North […]

Starting from a popular pub, the Barrel Inn, which is the focal point of the hamlet of Bretton, a small hamlet high on Eyam Edge, the walk enjoys delightful views over the surrounding countryside. Wooded valleys, one of which, Bretton Clough, is the focal point of this walk.  By tradition Bretton Clough is where the […]

Deepdale you may ask, for the name doesn’t appear on any Ordnance Survey map?  Now better known as Dale Abbey, the village was once called Depedale, then Deepdale and eventually the modern name, Dale Abbey in remembrance of the abbey that flourished here from 1162 until Henry VIII’s quarrel with Rome in 1536. A lonely […]

As a few members of my brood have a nought at the end of their birthdates this year, we decided to celebrate by holding a family get-together.  The venue decided upon was the Mermaid Inn, an old drovers’ pub high on Morridge Ridge above Leek.  Due to the change in drinking habits following the ‘drink/drive’ […]

The A52 Derby to Ashbourne road passes through some of the gentlest rural countryside in Derbyshire.  Tiny villages little changed in centuries sit around junctions of minor roads that wander pleasantly between both ploughed fields and pasture. This walk skirts three of them, one barely bigger than a hamlet; starting at Osmaston, the largest, it […]

I am indebted to Amber Valley Group of the Ramblers Association, as it is they who first planned this interesting walk.  Despite their good work, especially in producing the excellent leaflet I picked up way back in 2005, regrettably the leaflet is now out of print, but luckily I came across a rather dog-eared copy […]

This short walk skirts the rapidly expanding western boundary of Derby enjoying some of the fine surrounding countryside, and returns by way of the Bonnie Prince Charlie Walk. The Great Northern Railway was once a cross country line from Grantham to Stafford by way of Nottingham, effectively linking both east and west coast mainlines.  It […]

This winter’s walk is one of my favourites, both in summer as well as winter.  I can see Riber Castle quite easily from our bedroom window, in fact most of the walk is visible from where we live, high above the Derwent Valley.  I followed the walk on a wintery day last February, when the […]

Izaak Walton, seventeenth century author of ‘The Campleat (sic) Angler – The Contemplative Man’s Recreation’ would have been familiar with at least half of this walk. The Dove was one of his favourite places to cast a fly, along with his younger friend, the impecunious Hartington landowner, Charles Cotton. They regularly fished the river’s clear […]

Once Duke William was crowned as King of England following the Battle of Hastings, it took several years before the Normans could claim true domination of the country beyond the readily subservient south of England.  Throughout the north and marshes of East Anglia, rebellious Saxons made it clear that they wanted nothing to do with […]

There are not many walks claiming to start downhill, but this one does (although the height lost must be regained at the end, but nothing is perfect, is it?) The walk starts from the car park accessing Solomon’s Temple before dropping down to the centre of Buxton and its Pavilion Gardens, returning by way of […]

This month’s walk has a little bit of archaeology thrown in for good measure.  All it takes is a strong pair of legs, keen eyesight and maybe but not essentially, a lightweight set of binoculars. Starting and finishing in the delightful village of Taddington, a place where winter snows seem to come long before other […]

Here is a walk through some of the historical countryside surrounding the plague village of Eyam, a village where the Covid-19 pandemic must have jogged some deep folk memories from a time when the inhabitants of Eyam made a courageous stand against an outbreak far worse than that which beset them in more recent days. […]

Here is a walk through history – from medieval times through the industrial revolution to the present day.  Starting at the quaintly named Golden Valley, it passes the monument to a Victorian ironmaster and civil engineer, before crossing farmland slowly recovering from the depredation of open-cast coal mining in order. From here farm lanes reach […]

Combs Moss is an outlier of the higher moors of the Daark Peak.  It sits between Buxton and Chapel-en-le-Frith, mainly overlooking the latter.  Looking upwards from Chapel, a long escarpment dominates the skyline, marked by two protruding side ridges radiating from its eastern edge.   The further of the two, between Combs and Short Edges, […]

Two prominent hills guard the southern entrance to Dovedale; bulky Bunster rises to the west at the end of a broad limestone ridge, while Thorpe Cloud’s graceful summit looks to the east.  The steeper of the two, the Cloud has footpaths on three sides and as such has become a popular venue for walkers looking […]

Children will love this walk, for where else can they visit three counties within a matter of seconds?  The highlight of the walk is the bridge known as Three Shire Heads, where Staffordshire, Cheshire and Derbyshire all meet at a point in the middle of an ancient pack horse bridge over the River Dane.  To […]

This walk explores one of the lesser known parts of the White Peak.  Properties in Elton where the walk starts, would be easily recognised by any returning inhabitant, even after the passage of long forgotten centuries. At one time there were two villages, Gratton as well as Elton, but following an outbreak of the Black […]

Distance: 10.3 miles of easy road walking, mostly through woodland followed by a gravel track above Howden and Derwent Reservoirs. Recommended Map: Ordnance Survey Outdoor Leisure Series Sheet1; The Peak District, Dark Peak Area Public Transport: Hulleys and TM Travel 273, 274 & 275 Two Hour Service from Bakewell and Sheffield via Castleton and Bamford. […]

History is everywhere with us in the Peak District.  People have lived on and shaped the land for thousands of years, from the erectors of prehistoric standing stones and henges, right down to the current developments needed to house today’s expanding population. This walk touches a sample of five different ways the Peak has been […]

DISTANCE: 3½miles (5.6km) of easy walking along farm lanes and woodland, plus by-roads and side lanes. RECOMMENDED MAP: Ordnance Survey 1:25000 scale Explorer Map, Sheet 269, Chesterfield & Alfreton. PUBLIC TRANSPORT:  Stagecoach X17 from Matlock. CAR PARKING: Roadside on Belland Lane, connecting the A632 Matlock/Chesterfield road to the B5057 Darley Dale /Two Dales road. REFRESHMENTS: […]

DISTANCE: 5 miles (8km) of field and river path walking linked by a mile of walled farm track.  Reasonably dry underfoot except during lengthy wet spells. RECOMMENDED MAP: Ordnance Survey1:25,000 scale Outdoor Leisure Series Sheet 24, White Peak area. PUBLIC TRANSPORT:  TM Travel service 65 between Sheffield, Miller’s Dale and Buxton, hourly service, Monday to […]

DISTANCE: 3½ miles (5.6km) of moderate forest track, open moorland, surfaced road, waymarked field path and rough access drive.  525 foot (160m) climb. RECOMMENDED MAP: Ordnance Survey Outdoor Leisure Sheet 1, Dark Peak. 1:25,000 scale. PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Hourly TP service buses to Buxton, then bus or train to Disley where a short walk along a […]

Lathkill Dale is one of my favourite walking areas of the Peak. I don’t know how many times I have walked beside what Izaac Walton called ‘the purest of streams’. I have walked there and enjoyed it in all weathers and in every season of the year. There are almost unlimited variations of footpath routes […]

5 miles (8km) of moderate to strenuous walking on well-defined footpaths and by-roads. 492-foot (150m) descent and ascent. Recommended map: Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 scale, Outdoor Leisure Map Sheet 2, The White Peak. Bus Services: High Peak number 58, hourly on weekdays and two-hourly on Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays. Car Parking: Pay and Display Tegg’s […]

5 miles (8km) of minor road and field path walking with one steady 252 foot climb (77m). Moderate. RECOMMENDED MAP: Ordnance Survey Explorer Map Sheet OL24.  1:25000 scale; the Peak District, White Peak Area.     PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Your Bus service between Ashbourne and Matlock calls at Carsington Water Visitor Centre and Carsington village every […]

4¼miles (6.8km) of moderate walking on field paths and cart tracks; rocky in DeepdaleRECOMMENDED MAP: Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 scale Outdoor Leisure map Sheet 2; The White PeakBUS SERVICES: Transpeak TP service from Derby stops at the Monyash road-end. Hulleys 177 Bakewell to Buxton via Monyash service stops at Chelmorton Post Office. High Peak 193 Tideswell to […]

A short 4 mile (6.4km) easy walk along clear paths and a quiet upland road.  One steady climb of 220ft (67m). Muddy sections near both farms and woodland passed along the way. Recommended Map:  Outdoor Leisure Map Sheet 24 The Peak District – White Peak Area. Transport: The X17 Chesterfield service leaves Matlock bus station […]

5 miles (8km): easy riverside walking along two attractive dales, linked by an interesting village street. RECOMMENDED MAP: Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 scale Outdoor Leisure Series; Sheet 24, The Peak District, White Peak Area. PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Hulley’s 171 hourly service from Bakewell (no Sunday service). CAR PARKING: laybys at roadside beyond River Lathkill bridge outside Alport. […]

3miles (4,8km): easy/moderate walking. Two short climbs on easy gradients RECOMMENDED MAP: Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 scale, Outdoor Leisure map Sheet 2, The White Peak. BUS SERVICES: Hulleys’ 172 runs at 38 minutes past the hour from Matlock, Monday to Saturday. CAR PARKING: on the village main street – please make sure you do not interfere […]

When Country Images magazine was first launched in 1994 we were pleased to be able to include walks from ‘not so’ Old Perce. Over the following months he traversed the Amber valley and provided delightful walks that, as all walks should, start and finish at the local pub. With many village pubs closing that has […]

The car park at the Cromford end of its namesake canal is a popular starting point for at least five walks to my reckoning. Most weekends and days in between, well-clad walkers will be congregating, busily pulling on their boots and at the same time, chatting to their friends. This walk starts, like all the […]

The two great houses visited on this walk are within four miles of each other as the crow flies, but each has made a unique impression on the face of the Peak District.  Chatsworth, ancestral home of the Dukes of Devonshire has developed following the fashions of house-building nobles.  Additions have been made since its […]

It is hard to believe that the ever constant bustle of Derby’s traffic is barely a couple of miles away at its closest point.  Kedleston’s park is an oasis of tranquility, with now naturalised groves and plantations, set around hundreds of acres of green-sward and lakes.  All this overlooks winding ponds separated by tinkling waterfalls, […]

I have to make an apology before embarking on the text for this walk.  In July I acquired a new hip, this was after upwards of ten years trying to ignore an ever growing problem. Fortunately I had the sense to build up a stock-pile of walks, which kept Garry and Alistair happy at Images […]

Tucked away on a bend of the Manifold river, Ilam Hall village was built in the 1820s on the instructions of Jesse Watts-Russell. The original Victorian houses of the village echo the fairy-tale image of the hall, built at a time when skilled labour was cheap. It was also a time when tenants could be […]

Winster is a haphazard cluster of seventeenth and eighteenth- century houses linked by narrow hillside alleys or ginnels as they are known locally.  They sit in a pattern which suited the lead miners and their families in the hey-day of this now extinguished Peak District industry. The walk follows paths once trodden by miners who, […]

This walk, around the parkland of Elvaston Castle, is one of my occasional excursions from some of Derbyshire’s grand houses.  Unfortunately it could almost be described as from one of Maxwell Craven’s ‘Lost Houses’.  Financial constraints on its present owners, Derbyshire County Council, make it impossible to fund the necessary £6.1 million needed to restore […]

There are no records of any simpleton, either in Foolow or Silly Dale; both names come from Anglo Saxon English and have entirely different meanings than in today’s language.  Foolow means multi-coloured hill, possibly a reference to nearby Eyam Edge. Silly is Old English for pretty, an apt description of this little-known dale, especially in […]

The history of the Peak District is writ large on this walk.  Starting way back in time when volcanoes spewed out their lavas, the walk enters one of the loveliest dales in the White Peak, but it was where orphaned children were unable to enjoy its delights.  Climbing out of the dale, the way is […]

I had visions of Michael Fish, the man whose forecast about there being no danger of hurricanes, went as his Scots forebears would have put it; ‘gone aft a’gley’.  In my case it was a completely wrong interpretation of the forecast. According to a weather map in the Guardian a day or so before the […]

The dales this walk covers are within a mile or two of each other and even though they join later, both are entirely different in character.  Their names are the Manifold and the Dove. Their character is mostly determined by the rocks over which their rivers flow; gritstone shales for the Manifold and carboniferous limestone […]

This short walk can be fitted in with a trip exploring more of Dovedale or simply as a day out combined with lunch at one of the hospitable pubs in villages round and about the valley. It is over 300 years since Izaak Walton fished in the pure waters of the river Dove along with […]

On a sunny weekend today’s Matlock Bath is popular with middle-aged motorcyclists whose expensive mounts line the riverside frontage.  They are just the modern manifestation of the visitors who come to enjoy the local scenery.  As far back as the Georgian era, people have come to admire the unique setting of this small village: at […]