British Break: The Peak District

20.07.2023 - 13:19 / wanderlust.co.uk / Charlotte Brontë / Jane Austen

Some rules are meant to be broken. In 1932 several hundred ramblers and Young Communist League members trespassed onto the moors of Kinder Scout to protest the fact that walkers in England and Wales were being denied access to areas of open countryside. They were confronted by gamekeepers employed by wealthy private landowner, the Duke of Devonshire. Five of the trespassers were imprisoned.

The outrage that followed the Kinder Mass Trespass paved the way for the Peak District to become the UK’s first national park in 1951, as well as the subsequent creation of ten further national parks, the Pennine Way (the UK’s first national trail, opened in 1965) and other long-distance walking routes. A little disobedience goes a long way.

Situated at the southern end of the Pennine Hills, between Sheffield and Manchester, the Peak District National Park is one of the UK’s most popular areas, with 1,440 sq km of gritstone ridges, craggy peaks, farmland, moorland, lakes, rivers and dales, as well as traditional English villages.

For anyone who likes the great outdoors – not just hiking, but cycling, mountain-biking, rock-climbing and horse-riding – it’s hard to beat. And at the end of any day in the hills, there’s usually a great pub nearby with a real fire and hearty grub. Some of the Peak District’s food and drink exports have become famous, from the original Bakewell pudding (which inspired the Bakewell tart) to Buxton mineral water.

The Peak District’s dramatic landscapes and sometimes ‘moody’ weather has inspired many. Charlotte Brontë, who stayed at the vicarage in Hathersage while writing Jane Eyre, used the village as the novel’s setting while Jane Austen declared that there was ‘no finer county in England than Derbyshire’ in Pride & Prejudice; that book’s 2005 adaptation made fine use of local locations.

It’s not hard to find space free of film crews or other people, though. There are large expanses of wilderness and numerous walks, not least the Mass Trespass route, which allows hikers to follow in the original rebels’ footsteps. Get your boots on – it’s your civic duty.

Get up early and hike along the gritstone ridge of Curbar Edge, which affords views from high above the villages of Curbar and Calver in the Derwent Valley. Then head to Chatsworth House, one of the country’s grandest stately homes and stuffed with treasures from ancient Egyptian artefacts to paintings by Lucian Freud. You could spend a day here, exploring the house and enormous gardens, with their cascading waterfalls, ponds, woodland and maze.

For lunch, head to The Devonshire Arms at Beeley, a cosy country pub (try the honey-glazed halloumi with harissa), or book a table at three AA Rosette-awarded The Gallery restaurant at The