Peak district

Ringed by large industrial cities, the Peak District is a hallowed stamping ground. Its well-trodden valleys (always called dales) and hills nurtured are virtually loved and walked to bits, though here and there you still find pockets of real solitude.

There's a vast amount of interesting walking and sightseeing here - the latter including some choice country houses and industrial sites. Scenically there's a striking divide between the Dark Peak and the White Peak. The Dark Peak (in the north, and along the west and east edges of the Peak National Park) is an area of bleak, rather forbidding gritstone moors, with some blustery (if often boggy) viewpoints and some exciting roads for driving. The White Peak is a hundred times more gentle in character, with high, flat pastures of bright green grassland enclosed by dry stone walls, clusters of photogenic farm buildings and small old-fashioned villages all the buildings in a uniform silvery stone. Deep dales cut into the White Peak plateaux, revealing dramatic gorges such as Monsal Dale and Dove Dale.

This tour focuses on the eastern side of the area, including Chatsworth House, the caves district around Castleton, the moorland of the Dark Peak above Hathersage and the plague village of Eyam.