A few wonders of the Peaks
The house is conveniently located, only a short walk from Buxton town centre where amenities include the stunning Pavilion Gardens and the renowned Buxton Opera House, plus a variety of shops in the Spring Gardens, Cavendish Arcade and Market Place. The Octagon Concert Hall at the Pavilion Gardens officially reopened in 2019 following major renovations. This iconic, Grade-II listed building was constructed in the 1870s to the designs of local architect Robert Rippon Duke and now hosts weekly fairs and concerts.
If you like walking then you are in the perfect spot with the Peak District National Park on the doorstep. Walking in the Peak District offers a diverse and delightful mixture of countryside from which to choose. You may prefer to trek across exposed moorland or easier paths, especially around the White Peak where walkers can descend into the Derbyshire Dales and follow riverside paths, woodland tracks or simply cross fields and stiles over an undulating landscape with glorious far-reaching views. The majority of paths, tracks and rights of way are clearly way-marked and have accessible stiles or gates which are well maintained and regularly monitored. The Peak District and Derbyshire are criss-crossed by recognised routes and paths for ramblers such as the Limestone Way, the Midshires Way, the Pennine Bridleway, the Derwent Valley Heritage Way and the southernmost stretch of the famous but indomitable Pennine Way. Then there are the disused railway lines running through the heart of the White Peak countryside which have been utilised and transformed into the Tissington Trail, the Monsal Trail, the High Peak Trail and the Black Harry Trails. Ordnance Survey Maps of the Peak District along with a collection of books and suggested walking routes (on laminates to take on your walk) are on the lounge bookshelf. For other ideas have a look at some of the suggestions from Christopher Somerville (travel writer and walking correspondent for The Times).
Buxton Train Station is only a 10 to 15 minute walk along the pedestrianised Broad Walk in the Pavilion Gardens. From there you can catch a direct and frequent service to Manchester Piccadilly Station, Stockport and other picturesque towns, including New Mills. Local bus services run from the Market Place to surrounding towns and villages such as Ashbourne, Bakewell and the beautiful village of Ashford-in-the-Water.
Buxton Crescent & Spa Hotel
The Buxton Crescent is an elegant grade I listed Georgian building with a covered colonnade and soaring Doric columns. It is one of Britain’s most striking historic buildings and was the focus of Buxton’s golden age of health tourism back in the 19th century. However, by 1990 it had fallen into such a poor state of repair that it was labelled one of Britain’s most endangered listed buildings. After a recent £70m renovation that required one million hours of painstaking work by architects and artisans, it’s been returned to its former glory and reopened in late 2020 as a thermal spa resort hotel. Spa day packages are available to book.
Chatsworth House
Chatsworth House is a stately home and the seat of the Duke of Devonshire. It has been home to the Cavendish family since 1549. The house is set in expansive parkland and backed by wooded, rocky hills that rise to heather moorland. It contains major collections of paintings, furniture, Old Master drawings, neoclassical sculptures, books and other artefacts. Chatsworth has been chosen in several surveys as Britain’s favourite country house.
Solomon’s Temple & Poole‘s Cavern
Taking in the fresh Derbyshire air is one of the healthiest and cheapest local activities. There are so many options, but one that is easy to reach via a footpath from the back of the house are the beautiful Grinlow Woods, and if you are feeling energetic it’s only a short invigorating walk from there up to Solomon’s Temple where there are breathtaking 360 degree views over Buxton and across the Derbyshire dales. The structure, built in 1894 by Solomon Mycock, is a 20-foot-high two-storey tower built on top of a Bronze Age barrow, sitting on top of a ridge at a height of 440 metres (1,440 ft) above sea level. For a less energetic walk visit Poole’s Cavern which is a carboniferous limestone cavern, one of the finest show caves in England, and boasts many strange and wondrous formations, sculpted over millions of years.
The Old School, Buxton 