6 Things to do in the Peak District

The Peak District National Park is 555 square miles and covers parts of the counties of Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, and Cheshire. We stayed in the small town of Chapel-en-le-Frith towards the North of the Peak District, close to Buxton. A link to our accommodation with a hot tub is here. This blog post gives you ideas of 6 things to do in the Peak District!

1. Climb Mam Tor

Situated just outside Castleton is Mam Tor (meaning Mother Hill) which is 517m high. It’s a manageable and enjoyable walk for beginners or with children. The viewpoint at Mam Tor stretches north over the Edale Valley to Kinder Scout and the Derwent Moors and is just beautiful.

Once you reach the top you can continue to walk for miles. Parking wise, there is a National Trust car park (chargeable) or free spaces on the road near the entrance if you go at a quiet time.

2. Visit The Heights of Abraham and Matlock Bath

Situated at the south of the Peaks is the cable car experience to the Heights of Abraham 60-acre hilltop park. There is no dedicated parking for the attraction so we parked at Matlock Bath train station and walked less than 5 minutes to the start of the cable car journey.

Tickets are fairly steep at £25 but include the cable car journey, two caverns (Great Masson and Rutland Caverns), nature trails and amazing viewpoints. Given the caverns near Castleton are around £17 entrance, this is pretty good value. The cave tour was around 1 hour and was informative and interesting. We also climbed the Victoria Prospect Tower which gave fantastic views over the countryside.

After Abraham Heights we spent a short time at Matlock Bath which was developed as one of the UK’s first tourist destinations. It has a seaside feel without actually being on the coast!

3. Visit Castleton

Visit the small village of Castleton, home to Peverill Castle, cute riverside walks and the Peak Cavern aka the Devil’s Arse! To access the castle, you need to park in the town and then walk up – it’s pretty steep just to the entrance (£9, English Heritage site).

The town is small with a handful of tearooms, shops that sell Blue John stone and pubs. We had a drink outside at The Castle pub which had views of the castle and a snack in Tilly’s Tea Rooms.

There are several other caves situated around Castleton including Speedwell Cavern , St John Cavern and Treak Cliff Cavern.

4. Visit Chatsworth House and Gardens

Chatsworth House has been passed down 16 generations and is a stunning venue to visit near Bakewell.

You can choose from the following tickets (prices for adults):

Just car park to walk around the grounds – £5 per car
Farmyard and playground – £7
Garden + farmyard – £18
House, garden and farmyard – £29

We have visited twice – once to the gardens which were expansive and so beautiful and once just to the grounds. The latter option is brilliant value as you can still see the house from the outside, the surrounding River Derwent and all the sheep and deer roaming the grounds.

5. Visit Bakewell

Bakewell was my favourite town and must be on your list of things to do in the Peak District. It’s a great base for exploring and would be keen to stay there next time. It is situated only 10 minutes from Chatsworth Houser and is famous for, yup you guessed it, Bakewell Tart and Bakewell Pudding.

There are plenty of tea shops, pubs and independent shops, cobbled streets and the Love Bridge where thousands of padlocks are tied to the bridge. I recommend the Lavender Tea Rooms in Hebden Court with a little courtyard outside and two floors of seating inside.

6. Climb Solomon’s Temple

Situated in Buxton, you can park at Grin Low Car Park for free to access Solomon’s Temple. The walk is only 30 minutes to the top giving you gorgeous views of the Peaks.