70 Best Days Out in the Peak District
The Peak District National Park was founded on 17 April 1951, the first national park ever to be created in the UK. It covers 555 square miles of the most beautiful parts of Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Yorkshire and even parts of Greater Manchester.
To celebrate the 70th birthday of our very favourite place, we’ve collected together what we consider to be the 70 Best Days Out in the Peak District to inspire you to visit more of this wonderful area. Have a browse through our collection below to get suggestions for entirely new spots to discover, or to remind yourself to revisit old favourites.
You’ll find all the region’s best attractions in here, as well as the most popular beauty spots and a few hidden gems as well, not to mention some wonderful little villages and many of the vibrant towns on the borders.
Join us in celebrating the very best that the Peak District has to offer, not just in this special birthday year but in every year to come!
Just to the south of the pretty Peak District village of Tideswell you’ll find Tideswell Dale. This limestone valley with a stream running through its centre is home to a wide variety of plant and animal life, including many rare varieties of orchids and butterflies. It's a beautiful, sheltered spot with easy access paths throughout, and makes a great spot for a family picnic and walk. There's an obvious and accessible path through the dale, completing a circuit around 0.5 km in length around the inner perimeter of the dale.
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There’s only one place in the Peak District where you can find a Georgian mansion, an Italian-style villa, a Swiss cottage and a miniature castle all on the same street, and that’s Edensor! This pretty little village lies within the Chatsworth Estate in Derbyshire. It’s a picture-perfect place, with its eclectic mix of housing styles laid out around a wide village green, in the centre of which stands the graceful church of St Peter’s.
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The spa town of Buxton on the edge of the Peak District is a brilliant place to spend a day while in this area. It really does offer something for everyone, with stunning Georgian architecture, beautiful parks, indulgent spas, great shops, top-class theatre, and fantastic dining. For the kids there are caves to wonder at, woodland trails to explore, and a Go Ape experience with thrilling aerial rope walks.
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The beautifully wooded ravine of Wyming Brook is an absolute gem. It lies on the edge of the Peak District in Yorkshire, and it's a perfect spot for photographers, wildlife enthusiasts, hikers, or those who just want to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Wander among the trees here and discover a clear brook tumbling over mossy stones and part-submerged tree roots, criss-crossed by a series of a picturesque wooden footbridges. It's a stunning place to explore at any time of the year.
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The pretty Peak District village of Longnor lies in the Staffordshire countryside, situated on a high ridge south of Buxton. It’s a village full of history, with pretty stone houses lining narrow streets and a wealth of interesting buildings, including an ancient cobbled market square and market hall.
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Dating back to the Bronze Age, around 4,000 years ago, the stone circle known as the ‘Nine Ladies’ stands in a clearing on Stanton Moor in the Derbyshire Peak District. It's a place of myth and mystery, surrounded by clusters of ash, silver birch and beech trees. According to popular legend, the stones are believed to represent nine ladies who were turned to stone for dancing on the Sabbath. The King Stone represents the fiddler who provided the music for their revelry.
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A trip to Speedwell Cavern in the pretty village of Castleton is a truly unique Peak District cavern experience, where visitors can travel by boat along an underground river deep under the hills. Once a lead mine, the watery tunnels of Speedwell Cavern were originally blasted over 200 years ago by miners searching for lead reserves with primitive tools. Those same tunnels now provide a fantastic glimpse of the beauty underneath the Peak District for visitors to this area, allowing explorers to discover a fascinating subterranean world.
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