Buxton & Western Peak District Cottages

Buxton is high up in the Derbyshire hills surrounded by the Peak District National Park. The centre piece of the town is the Georgian Crescent recently reopen as a luxurious hotel but offering hydrotherapy and spa treatments to day visitors. If you don’t fancy taking the ‘Waters’ then how about exploring the Pavilion Gardens, visiting the magnificent Opera House or listening to the incredible echo in the Devonshire Dome.

This might all sound a bit boring for the kids but remember that you can always take them to the Buxton Go- Carting centre, let them go ape in the Go Ape adventure playground or be wide eyed in Pooles Cavern, a two-million-year-old natural limestone cave on the edge of the town. After all the excitement a bit of retail therapy might do you all good on a wander along the well-stocked high street.

When thinking about caves a visit to the caverns in Castleton is another must. All four caverns offer something different. Have a boat trip on an 18th century lead mining tour in Speedwell Cavern. Marvel at the amazing stalactites and stalagmites in Treat Cliff Cavern. Enter the UK’s largest cave entrance in Peak Cavern which is also known as The Devil’s Arse. Blue John Cavern is where the beautiful Blue John fluorspar, the rarest mineral in the country, is mined. 

Castleton guarded over by Peveril Castle is really interesting to visit with the caverns, the Mam Tor Shivering Mountain, and nearby Edale, one of the most visited villages in the country because it is at the start/finish of the Pennine Way. On a nice day set off up the Way, climb to the top of Kinder Scout and experience wild, wild moorland and, if you are in luck see the Kinder Downfall where water really does flow uphill!

This is the true Peak District but it can be bleak and dangerous for the unwary so you might like to come down from the tops and explore some of the other lovely villages in this part of Derbyshire. Over the hill to the west is Chinley where you will find the ‘Chippy of Chinley’, our favourite fish and chip shop, but more importantly the Peak Forest Canal where you can spot lots of colourful narrow boats in the Whaley Bridge and Bugsworth canal basins

Tideswell with its ‘Cathedral of The Peaks’, cafes, restaurants and easy access to beautiful Millers Dale valley must also be on your list, as should nearby Litton with its great village pub set proudly on the village green. Millers Dale village is interesting because of the remnants of the major railway station on the Midland Railway line. It is hard to believe that there was such a large station with numerous lines, platforms and even its own post office in the middle of nowhere! 

But we have left the best till last. There is something almost magical as you drive through Monyash, which gets its name from Many Ash Trees, and then go down the steep and winding road into Dovedale. The little village of Crowdecote is at the bottom and Longnor is on the opposite hillside. The valley is beautiful but look to the north and see Crome hill and Packhouse Hill which are amazing landscape features formed from coral reefs millions of years ago.