Market towns & villages
Towns and villages worth the drive
From the silk town on our doorstep to the spa town, market towns and stone-cottage villages of the White Peak, all within half an hour or so.
Leek, on our doorstep
Leek — the 'Queen of the Moorlands' — is a traditional market town just five miles from Lane Head. Its wealth was built in the 19th century through the silk industry, and former silk mills still stand around the town. There are supermarkets if you need them, but it's the independent shops, cafes, pubs and regular weekly and speciality markets that make Leek worth the short drive.
Villages of the White Peak
Hartington is a pretty village with independent shops, pubs and cafes set around a duck pond, and footpaths radiating out towards Beresford Dale to the south and the Upper Dove valley to the north.
Hartington's village green and duck pond.
Alstonefield is smaller again — a picturesque village of limestone cottages around a village green, and a good starting point for the fairly steep walk down into Mill Dale and on to Dovedale. The George, right on the green, is worth knowing about if you want a pint at the end of it. Longnor, with its cobbled streets, is worth a wander too.
Buxton, Ashbourne & Bakewell
Buxton is a historic spa town where Buxton Crescent has recently been restored to its former glory — the Buxton Crescent Visitor Experience tells its story, and the Pavilion Gardens are beautiful, accessible ornamental gardens. Buxton also has theatre, cinema, and the Buxton International Festival each July.
Ashbourne is a picturesque Derbyshire Dales market town with plenty of historic buildings and independent shops, with its own Ashbourne Festival in June/July.
Bakewell sits on the banks of the river Wye, with mellow stone buildings, a medieval five-arched bridge and quaint courtyards — and yes, somewhere to try an authentic Bakewell pudding, not just the tart.
See also
Grand houses nearby
Several of England's best-known historic houses sit within reach: Chatsworth, near Bakewell, with an art collection spanning 4,000 years; Lyme Park, on the Cheshire edge of the Peak, with its medieval red deer herd and the lake where the BBC's Mr Darcy famously emerged; Hardwick Hall, the Elizabethan house built by 'Bess of Hardwick'; Sudbury Hall, with its lavish 17th-century staircase; and Kedleston Hall, an 18th-century mansion with Robert Adam interiors, near Derby.