Things to do in East Midlands

Edale in the Hope Valley of the Peak District is the southern terminus of the Pennine Way, Britain's first and most celebrated long-distance walking route, a small valley village beneath the great escarpment of Kinder Scout that provides the starting point for the 430-kilometre walk to Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders. The combination of the Pennine Way tradition, the excellent walking available from the village on the Kinder Scout plateau and the dramatic Dark Peak landscape that begins immediately above the valley makes Edale one of the most historically significant and most visited walking destinations in Britain. The Kinder Scout plateau above Edale was the scene of the Mass Trespass of 1932, when a group of Manchester ramblers deliberately trespassed on the private moorland in defiance of the landowners who excluded public access to the high moors. The subsequent prosecution of the trespassers created national publicity and contributed to the long campaign for access to open country that eventually resulted in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act of 2000. The event is commemorated each year and has been recognised as one of the most significant acts of civil disobedience in the history of outdoor recreation in Britain. The village of Edale provides the visitor services, cafes and the Moorland Visitor Centre of the national park that serve both Pennine Way walkers beginning their journey and day visitors using the Hope Valley railway line to access the Peak District walking without a car.

Bolsover Castle is located in Bolsover, Derbyshire, England. There are three main buildings standing today. The "Little Castle" is a mock medieval keep built in a romantic style. The Terrace Range is a separate block near the Little Castle, and has a suite of state rooms and living quarters, with kitchen area. The Riding School is at right angles to the Terrace Range, running from the car park to the end of the Terrace Range furthest from the Little Castle. There is a Discovery Centre in the Riding School. Parts of the original curtain wall are incorporated in the "Wall Walk" in the castle gardens. The castle regularly hosts historic and cultural events throughout the year and is popular for family picnics. Bolsover Castle was built by the Peverel family in the 12th century. It was taken over by the Crown in 1155 when the third William Peverel went into exile. The castle was strengthened later in the 12th century with the addition of a stone keep and curtain wall around 1173. The castle was attacked in 1216 and fell into disrepair. Sir Charles Cavendish bought the castle in 1608, and rebuilt the castle into an elegant home. The tower, known as the "Little Castle", was completed around 1621. The Cavendish family subsequently added the Terrace Range and Riding School Range. During the Civil War Bolsover Castle was taken by the Parliamentarians who damaged it, and Bolsover again fell into ruin in the 1650s. William Cavendish restored it again by 1676, also adding a new hall and staterooms to the Terrace Range. The castle was later owned by the Dukes of Portland. In 1883 the castle was no longer in use as a residence, and eventually given to the nation by the 7th Duke of Portland in 1945. The castle is now in the care of English Heritage. Bolsover Castle Bolsover Castle Looking NW towards the main keep with the ruined facade on the left.

Mam Tor, which takes its name from the Old English and Celtic words meaning Mother Mountain, rises to 517 metres at the head of the Hope Valley in the Peak District National Park and offers some of the finest panoramic views in the Dark Peak. The summit is connected to neighbouring peaks along the Great Ridge by a clearly defined ridgeline walk that provides a satisfying and accessible circular route from Castleton, one of the most popular in the Peak District. The hill earns its nickname the Shivering Mountain from the geological instability of its eastern face, where alternating layers of hard millstone grit and softer shale have been subject to repeated landslips over thousands of years. The largest and most significant of these landslides destroyed the road that once crossed the hill's lower slopes, leaving the famous rippled and tilted tarmac of the old Mam Tor Road as a striking demonstration of what happens when a road is built on unstable ground. The road was officially closed to traffic in 1979 and has not been repaired, the authorities having accepted that the unstable geology makes any permanent repair futile. The summit is reached by a well-maintained stone path from the National Trust car park at Mam Nick, a steep but short ascent of around fifteen minutes that brings walkers onto the broad summit plateau topped by the remains of a large Bronze and Iron Age hillfort. The hillfort at Mam Tor is one of the largest in the Pennines, with ramparts and ditches enclosing over six hectares of the summit, and archaeological excavation has revealed evidence of permanent occupation during the Bronze Age, unusually for such an exposed hilltop location. The views from the summit are exceptional and justifiably famous. To the east the Hope Valley stretches towards Sheffield, with the Kinder Scout plateau visible to the north across the Edale valley. To the west the limestone White Peak gives way to the characteristic curves of the Cheshire Plain. On clear days the views extend across multiple counties, and the position of the summit at the junction of the Dark and White Peak landscapes means that two quite different geological worlds are visible simultaneously. The Great Ridge walk east from Mam Tor to Lose Hill provides one of the finest ridge walks in the Peak District, a straightforward path along the crest with views on both sides throughout. Castleton village at the base of the hill provides excellent cafés, the magnificent Blue John Caverns and access to Peveril Castle, making the area one of the most rewarding destinations in the entire national park.

Zouch is a small historic village straddling the boundary between Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire on the banks of the River Soar, a settlement of quiet charm and considerable age that sits within the pastoral heart of the East Midlands countryside. The village is small enough to have escaped the suburban development that has absorbed many similar communities across this part of England and retains a character shaped by its long agricultural and river-crossing history. The River Soar at Zouch provides the defining feature of the village's setting and history. The river crossing here was significant as part of the historic route network connecting the Midlands towns of Loughborough, Nottingham and Leicester, and the ford and later bridge at Zouch served generations of travellers, traders and livestock drovers moving goods and animals between these settlements across the flat river meadows of the Soar valley. The current Zouch Bridge, a modest structure crossing the river near the village pub, is the latest in a succession of crossings that have occupied this point for many centuries. The countryside surrounding Zouch is characteristic of the Soar valley floodplain: flat, well-watered meadows that supported extensive cattle grazing in the historic farming economy of the Midlands. The river itself, now also used as part of the Grand Union Canal network, passes through a landscape of willows, water meadows and the occasional boatyard that gives this section of the Soar a pleasant navigational character. Narrowboats and leisure craft pass through the village during the warmer months, adding a gentle animation to the riverside. The village pub beside the river provides the social centre of the community and a comfortable stopping point for walkers, cyclists and boaters exploring the Soar valley, which offers pleasant low-level walking through some of the quieter and less-visited landscapes of central England. The network of public footpaths across the surrounding meadows and the towpath of the navigation provide several hours of easy walking in a setting that has been shaped over centuries by the rural economy of the English Midlands.

Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire is one of the most famous forests in the world, its name inseparable from the legend of Robin Hood and the tradition of the outlaw who robbed the rich to give to the poor that has generated stories, ballads, plays and films continuously from the medieval period to the present day. The forest once covered a vast area of central Nottinghamshire and its oaks supplied timber for shipbuilding and charcoal for the ironworking industries of the region across many centuries, but the current area designated as country park and nature reserve represents only a fraction of the medieval forest and concentrates around the ancient oak trees that are the most significant surviving feature. The ancient oaks of Sherwood Forest are among the oldest and most ecologically important veteran trees in Britain. The Major Oak, the most celebrated individual tree in the forest, is estimated to be between 800 and 1000 years old and has a girth of approximately ten metres, its enormous crown supported by a system of cables and props that have maintained its structural integrity for over a century of conservation management. The tree is traditionally associated with Robin Hood as the hollow in which he and his merry men sheltered, a legend that the tree's age makes chronologically plausible even if historically unverifiable. The veteran oak population of the forest, including hundreds of ancient trees of great age, supports a community of invertebrates, fungi, mosses and birds associated with ancient wood pasture that is of international conservation importance. The saproxylic beetles and other deadwood invertebrates living in the decaying heartwood of these ancient trees include species found in very few other locations in Britain and represent one of the most significant concentrations of ancient woodland biodiversity in England. The visitor centre at the Sherwood Forest Country Park provides interpretation of the Robin Hood legend and the ecology of the forest.

Stanage Edge in the Peak District is the most famous gritstone climbing crag in Britain, a continuous escarpment of millstone grit approximately four miles long above the Derwent Valley near Hathersage whose south-facing cliff faces provide over one thousand rock climbing routes. The edge is not only the principal centre of Peak District climbing but one of the most important venues in British rock climbing history, the location where many pioneering climbs that established British climbing culture were first achieved. The gritstone of Stanage has a distinctive friction quality that has shaped the technique of generations of British climbers, the rough granular surface requiring a different approach from limestone crags. The walking along the top of the edge provides one of the finest moorland ridge walks in the Peak District, with views westward across the Sheffield valley and eastward over the White Peak providing a panorama of the entire national park character. The Long Causeway, an ancient packhorse route crossing the edge at its highest point, provides the historic connection between the Dark Peak and White Peak. The combination of the climbing heritage, the ridge walking and the views make Stanage one of the most visited single destinations in the Peak District.

Peveril Castle occupies one of the most dramatically positioned sites of any castle in England, perched on a limestone crag high above the village of Castleton in the Peak District with steep drops on three sides making it almost impregnable without the benefit of modern artillery. The combination of natural defensive strength, historic interest and sweeping views across the Hope Valley makes it one of the most rewarding castle visits in the north of England, accessible via a steep but short footpath from the village below. The castle was built shortly after the Norman Conquest by William Peveril, a knight who was among the followers of William the Conqueror and received extensive lands in the Peak District as a reward for his service. The Peveril family gave the castle its name and held it until its estates were forfeited to the crown following a succession of complications in the twelfth century. Henry II subsequently invested in the site, adding the square stone keep that remains the most prominent feature of the ruins today in 1176, providing the castle with a proper royal tower after earlier construction that had relied largely on the natural defensive properties of the crag itself. Sir Walter Scott set his 1823 novel Peveril of the Peak here, further cementing the castle's romantic reputation and drawing Victorian tourists to what was already a remarkable piece of landscape history. The novel is now largely forgotten but the castle's setting remains as atmospheric as any fictional treatment could wish. The keep, though roofless, retains most of its walls to full height, and the entrance passage and interior arrangement of rooms can still be traced clearly. The curtain wall following the edge of the crag encloses a large inner ward, and on the north side the natural limestone cliff forms the defensive wall without any additional construction being required. The gatehouse and various domestic buildings have been reduced to lower wall remnants but contribute to a sense of the full medieval complex. Below the castle, Castleton village offers a remarkable concentration of Peak District attractions: the show caves including Blue John Cavern, Speedwell Cavern, Peak Cavern and Treak Cliff Cavern are all accessible from the village and between them represent some of the finest cave systems open to the public in England.

Tissington is one of the most attractive and best-preserved estate villages in the Peak District, a cluster of limestone buildings around a triangular green most celebrated as the origin of the well-dressing tradition. This distinctively Peakland practice of creating large decorated pictures from flower petals, moss, leaves and other natural materials pressed into clay frames around the village wells has been practiced in Tissington on Ascension Day each year for over four hundred years, attracting visitors throughout the dressing season from late spring through summer. The origin of the well-dressings is traditionally attributed to gratitude for the village's clean water supply during the Black Death of 1348 to 1349. Whether this specific origin is accurate or not, the dressings represent a continuation of a very old tradition of venerating water sources that may have pre-Christian roots in the veneration of sacred wells found throughout the British Isles. The village itself is a handsome example of an estate village, its buildings arranged around the green in a composition reflecting the care of the FitzHerbert family who have owned Tissington Hall since the sixteenth century. The Tissington Trail, following the disused railway line through the White Peak limestone country, begins in the village and provides excellent cycling and walking in the surrounding national park landscape.

Hathersage in the Hope Valley on the edge of the Dark Peak is one of the most scenically and historically interesting villages in the Peak District, a settlement beneath the great gritstone escarpment of Stanage Edge whose combination of the magnificent walking immediately accessible on the surrounding gritstone moorland and edges, the Charlotte Brontë associations from her visits to the village in 1845 that contributed to the Jane Eyre character of Morton, and the grave of Little John, the legendary companion of Robin Hood, in the churchyard creates a destination of unusual literary and legendary depth. The walking from Hathersage is among the finest available from any Peak District village, Stanage Edge immediately above the village providing over a thousand rock climbing routes on the gritstone and the ridge walk along the edge providing views across the Hope Valley and Sheffield to the east and the Dark Peak moorland to the west. The Burbage and Millstone edges visible from the village provide further superb gritstone walking in a landscape that has attracted climbers and walkers from Sheffield since the late Victorian period. The Charlotte Brontë connection, established during her visit to her school friend Ellen Nussey in Hathersage in July 1845, placed the village in the landscape imagination of one of the greatest Victorian novelists. The house where she stayed, Moorseats, the local family names including Eyre that appear in her novel, and the name Morton for the village version of Hathersage all appear as direct borrowings in Jane Eyre, published in 1847.

Castleton in the Peak District is one of the most comprehensively interesting villages in the national park, a settlement in the Hope Valley beneath Mam Tor whose combination of the remarkable concentration of show caves, the ruins of Peveril Castle on the limestone ridge above the village, the Blue John mineral unique to this area and the walking available on the surrounding gritstone and limestone hills creates a destination of exceptional variety and scientific interest. The four show caves accessible from the village represent different aspects of the remarkable cave system that honecombs the limestone below Castleton. Peak Cavern, accessible from the village centre through a dramatic gorge entrance, is the largest natural cave entrance in Britain, its great arched opening once housing a rope-making village of considerable complexity. The Blue John Cavern and Treak Cliff Cavern contain deposits of Blue John, a semi-precious fluorspar mineral found only in the mines of Castleton and unique to this area of Derbyshire, whose purple and yellow banding has been worked into decorative objects since the Roman period. Speedwell Cavern, entered by boat along an underground canal, provides a different and entirely memorable cave experience. Mam Tor above the village, its summit accessible by a fine ridge walk, provides outstanding views of the Hope Valley and the contrast between the limestone White Peak to the south and the gritstone Dark Peak to the north, one of the most informative single viewpoints for understanding the Peak District geology.

Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire is one of the most extraordinary houses in England, a building so ahead of its time and so boldly conceived that it has never quite stopped astonishing visitors in the four centuries since its construction. Built between 1590 and 1597 for Elizabeth Shrewsbury, better known as Bess of Hardwick, the hall was a deliberate statement of power and cultural ambition from one of the most remarkable women of the Elizabethan age. Bess was born into relatively modest gentry in 1527 and through four strategic marriages accumulated a fortune that placed her second only to Queen Elizabeth I in wealth among the women of England. By the time she commissioned Hardwick Hall she was in her sixties and at the very peak of her influence, and the building she created reflects that confidence completely. Her initials ES, for Elizabeth Shrewsbury, are worked into the roofline in elaborate stone lettering so large they can be read from a considerable distance, an unmistakable declaration of ownership and ambition. The hall is most celebrated architecturally for its extraordinary expanse of windows, which led to the contemporary rhyme "Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall." At a time when glass was enormously expensive, the facades of Hardwick Hall are filled with it from ground to roof in a way that was genuinely unprecedented in English architecture. The windows flood the interiors with natural light and create a visual drama on the facade that looks almost modern in its transparency. Robert Smythson, who may have contributed to the design alongside Bess herself, created a building that pushed the technical boundaries of Elizabethan construction. The interiors are equally remarkable. Hardwick preserves one of the finest collections of Elizabethan textiles in existence, including tapestries, embroideries and needlework that Bess spent decades accumulating. Many pieces were worked by hand by Bess and her companions, including the captive Mary Queen of Scots, who spent years under Bess's guardianship at nearby Chatsworth. The Great High Chamber and the Long Gallery are among the grandest surviving Elizabethan rooms in England, their original furnishings still largely in place. The estate surrounding the hall includes a walled garden, an orchard and a deer park, as well as the ruins of the earlier Old Hardwick Hall that Bess had inhabited before commissioning this grander replacement. The contrast between the ruins of the old hall and the magnificence of the new one says everything about the ambition that drove this remarkable woman. Hardwick Old Hall is managed separately by English Heritage and stands close enough to view clearly from the gardens. Hardwick Hall is now in the care of the National Trust and is open to visitors throughout the year. The combination of exceptional architecture, extraordinary textiles, strong historical narrative and beautiful Derbyshire countryside makes it one of the most rewarding historic house visits in the country.

Lincoln Castle is situated 37 miles north of Nottingham, in Lincoln city centre near the cathedral. Today's castle comprises of two mottes; one with an observation tower, the other a 12th century shell keep and curtain wall, a Georgian building within the bailey, an eastern gatehouse with two round 13th century turrets protected by a barbican and a large western gatehouse with barbican. Facilities The castle is open daily all year from 10am. Visitors may explore alone or take one of the guided tours of the castle site when one of the castle's volunteers will talk about the history of both the castle and its occupants. Other possibilities include a walk along the length of the curtain wall; offering fantastic views of the cathedral, city and surrounding countryside, a visit to the prison including the women's wing and the chapel along with an exhibition which includes the rare opportunity to see one of the four original copies of the Magna Carta sealed by king John in 1215. There is also a cafe and shop on site. The first castle was built on the site for William the Conqueror in 1068 on the site of a Roman fortress with the original wooden structure being later replaced by a stone castle. Lincoln Castle is unusual in that it is only one of two surviving castles to have two mottes; the other being Lewes Castle in East Sussex. It saw combat in both the 1st and 2nd Battles of Lincoln, following the first battle the 'Lucy Tower' was built and after the second battle, and the signing of the Magna Carta, new barbicans were added to the east and west gates. In 1787 a prison was built on the site and until 1868 inmates were publicly hanged in the north east tower. In 1878 the prison was relocated to another site when the castle was left unoccupied. Lincolnshire County Council now own the castle.

Wirksworth is an attractive and historically important small town in the Derbyshire Dales whose combination of the medieval church, the Georgian and earlier stone buildings of the town centre, the remarkable heritage of lead mining that shaped its history and the contemporary arts and crafts community that has developed in the regenerated town create a destination of unusual depth and character for a Derbyshire market town. The town has been recognised as one of the most successful examples of cultural-led regeneration in the East Midlands. The Church of St Mary contains one of the finest collections of early medieval carved stones in England, including the Wirksworth Stone, a carved coffin lid of approximately 800 AD depicting scenes from the life of Christ in a style of considerable sophistication and historical importance. The collection of Saxon and early Norman carved stones within the church represents a body of early medieval sculpture equivalent in quality to much better-known sites and relatively little visited. The National Stone Centre at Middleton-by-Wirksworth, a short drive from the town, provides excellent interpretation of the geology of the Derbyshire limestone and the history of quarrying and lead mining that shaped both the landscape and the economy of the area. The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, a heritage steam railway connecting Wirksworth with Duffield and the national network, provides a nostalgic transport connection to the surrounding Derbyshire countryside.

Nottingham Castle is a landmark heritage and museum site on the Castle Rock above the city centre of Nottingham, occupying a spectacular natural position on a sandstone promontory that has been the most strategically dominant point in the city since the Norman period. The original Norman castle was replaced by a ducal palace built for the Duke of Newcastle in the seventeenth century, which was subsequently burned by Chartist rioters in 1831 and restored as a museum in 1878, making it the first provincial municipal art gallery and museum in England. The castle complex includes the medieval underground caves and passages carved into the sandstone beneath the rock, the museum and art gallery displaying Nottingham's industrial and cultural history, and the statue of Robin Hood outside the gate. The museum underwent major redevelopment and reopened in 2021 with an enhanced visitor experience.

Arbor Low in the limestone country of the Derbyshire Peak District is the most significant Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial monument in the English Midlands, a henge monument of approximately 2500 BC consisting of a circular bank and ditch enclosing a central plateau on which approximately fifty limestone slabs lie recumbent, the stones having fallen or been deliberately laid flat at some point in their history in a departure from the upright arrangement typical of most British stone circles. The site commands extensive views over the limestone plateau and its elevated position above the valley below makes its role as a ceremonial gathering place immediately comprehensible. The monument consists of a great circular bank reaching approximately two metres in height with a ditch inside it and two opposing entrances, enclosing an area of approximately fifty metres diameter. The recumbent stones inside the enclosure were originally upright and the reasons for their current position remain unclear, though it seems likely that many were toppled deliberately rather than simply falling under their own weight. The interpretation of Arbor Low must acknowledge this uncertainty while appreciating the monument's scale and its position in the landscape. The nearby bowl barrow of Gib Hill, visible from Arbor Low and connected to it by a linear earthwork, is one of the largest prehistoric barrows in the Peak District and was built adjacent to the henge in a relationship that suggests the two monuments were conceived as parts of a single ceremonial complex. The combination of Arbor Low and Gib Hill makes this one of the most significant prehistoric landscape settings in the English Midlands.