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 on the outskirts of the Peak District National Park close to Ashbourne in Derbyshire, Sudbury Hall is a beautiful late 17th Century country house, the historic home of the Vernon family. Here you'll find a beautiful home with lavish interiors, as well as the wonderful National Trust Museum of Childhood. Outside there are acres of landscaped parkland with formal gardens and ornamental lakes, as well as a great outdoor woodland play area to help your kids burn off steam.
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Matlock Bath was one of England’s first true tourist destinations in the late 17th Century, when the healing properties of its warm spa waters were first discovered. Access to the area was improved in the 18th Century, and by the 19th Century Matlock Bath was a place for society’s finest to visit. And little wonder, for it occupies a beautiful position in a limestone gorge on the River Derwent, with attractive riverside gardens and steep wooded hillsides.
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The romantic ruins of Peveril Castle stand on a hilltop high above the pretty village of Castleton in the heart of the Peak District. Mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, this is one of England’s earliest Norman fortresses. It’s one of only 48 castles recorded at that time, and the only one in Derbyshire. Its historical significance is recognised by the fact that it’s a protected Scheduled Ancient Monument, designated to be of international importance.
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The truly beautiful wooded ravine known as Padley Gorge is only a stone’s throw from civilisation, but it feels like another world entirely. Located on the border between Derbyshire and Yorkshire, it lies at the eastern edge of the Peak District National Park. Padley Gorge is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), recognised in 1972 as being “the best example of the remnant oak and birch woodland that once covered much of the edges of the gritstone uplands of the Peak District.” Here, ancient trees grow along gentle slopes, forming the most wonderful twisted shapes, and in the valley below a clear stream, Burbage Brook, tumbles over rocks...
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The little Peak District village of Flash in Staffordshire has the distinction of being the highest village in England, and anyone who has ever visited on a snowy or windy day will be able to confirm that wholeheartedly! Flash is surrounded by wild open countryside on the southern slopes of Axe Edge Moor, south west of Buxton. It's also close to the popular beauty spot of Three Shire Heads, where Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire meet at a collection of picturesque pools, waterfalls and stone bridges.
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The beautiful village of Youlgreave or Youlgrave (it's one of the most misspelt village names in the area, if not the country) is one of the largest villages in the Peak District. It’s a wonderful place to explore with history around every corner, and it’s surrounded by stunning countryside in all directions, perfect for walking.
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Arbor Low is a stone henge situated just outside the pretty town of Bakewell. It's regarded as being one of the most important Neolithic sites in the UK, and very few henge monuments are as well-preserved. Thought to have been established in around 2500 BC and in use until the Bronze Age, Arbor Low was one of the first ancient monuments in the UK to be given statutory protection in the late 19th Century.
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