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 edge of the Peak District National Park you'll find the magnificent Hardwick Hall. Built by the formidable Bess of Hardwick in the 1590s, it's a wonderful example of an Elizabethan country house, set on a hilltop position overlooking the Derbyshire countryside. Outside there are also extensive formal gardens, parkland with family woodland trails, a lovely restaurant and a National Trust gift shop.
Read MoreA trip to the magnificent natural cavern of Thor’s Cave is an unforgettable experience for those visiting the beautiful Manifold Valley in the Staffordshire Peak District. The huge arched entrance is set in a steep limestone crag and is easily visible (and quite accessible) from the path below.
Read MoreLadybower Reservoir is one of three large reservoirs located in the beautiful Upper Derwent Valley in the Peak District. It's surrounded by wonderful countryside and, at 5.5 miles, our easy circular walk around part of its shores is a great way to spend a day, especially with a picnic (no barbecues please) or a meal at the nearby Yorkshire Bridge Inn afterwards.
Read MoreAshford-in-the-Water is - arguably! - the most perfect little village in the Peak District. Certainly if you're looking for chocolate-box appeal, you'll be hard pressed to find anywhere more picturesque. It has everything that a country village needs: an idyllic riverside setting, complete with a medieval bridge, pretty limestone cottages, narrow lanes, a tearoom and cosy country pubs. The Sheepwash Bridge across the River Wye is one of the most photographed bridges in England, and it’s not hard to see why.
Read MoreStanage Edge is a stunning gritstone escarpment north of the pretty Peak District village of Hathersage. It runs for almost four miles roughly north to south, rising to 458 metres (1,503 feet) at its highest point. Stanage Edge is the absolute epitome of the Dark Peak. Its gritstone plateau is a wild, unforgiving place offering unsurpassed views of the Hope Valley, and in warmer months its slopes are softened by blooming purple heathers and bright bracken. Here and there are abandoned millstones, harking back to the industrial past of this area. Despite its height and imposing presence, Stanage Edge is quite accessible for most, and a visit to this incredible...
Read MoreMatlock 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.
Read MoreDating 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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