Scenic Place in East Midlands

Southwell in Nottinghamshire is a town of considerable distinction centred on one of the finest and most unusual Norman minster churches in England, a building whose architectural quality and the fame of its carved naturalistic foliage in the chapter house have made it a destination of pilgrimage for admirers of medieval architecture since the Victorian period. The town itself, with its surviving Georgian and earlier buildings, its connection with the writer Byron and the remarkable Southwell Workhouse, provides a concentration of cultural interest unusual in a Nottinghamshire market town. Southwell Minster, the cathedral church of the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, is a Norman and Early English building of exceptional quality whose west front with its two tall round-arched towers is among the finest Norman church facades in England. The interior contains excellent work of several medieval periods, but the chapter house, built in the late thirteenth century, is the building's supreme achievement, its walls decorated with carved foliage of almost overwhelming naturalistic quality and variety. The leaves, flowers and plants carved from the local Mansfield stone in the arch mouldings and capitals of the chapter house represent a unique moment in English medieval sculpture, their realistic observation of specific plant species giving them an almost botanical character. The Southwell Workhouse, managed by the National Trust, is the most complete surviving example of a pre-Victorian workhouse in Britain, the building whose design influenced the design of workhouses across England under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. The building and its interpretation provide a compelling and sometimes disturbing account of attitudes to poverty in nineteenth-century England.

Zouch Bridge carries the road across the River Soar between the Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire villages of Zouch and Normanton on Soar, a crossing of modest scale in the flat river valley landscape of the Soar floodplain that reflects the long history of settlement and movement in this productive agricultural corridor of the East Midlands. The bridge and the surrounding riverside landscape form part of the quiet, undervisited countryside characteristic of this section of the Soar valley, a landscape of water meadows, reed-fringed banks and gentle pastoral scenery that provides a rewarding contrast to the more dramatic upland landscapes for which the wider Midlands region is less well known. The River Soar in this area forms part of the Grand Union Canal navigation and the combination of the navigable river, the towpath walking and the cycling routes of the National Cycle Network through the valley create a network of accessible routes through this attractive lowland landscape. The river here is broad and slow-moving, its banks lined with willows and alders and the floodplain meadows supporting a range of wetland plants and the wading birds and wildfowl that favour these river valley habitats. Zouch village itself is a small settlement with the characteristic quiet charm of the Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire border country, its traditional brick and stone buildings set beside the river in a landscape that feels genuinely rural despite its proximity to the urban centres of the East Midlands. The riverside pub at Zouch is a popular destination for walkers and cyclists following the Soar valley routes. The combination of the river crossing, the towpath walking and the gentle pastoral landscape of the Soar valley makes this a rewarding quiet countryside destination for those seeking uncrowded waterside scenery within comfortable reach of the East Midlands cities.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Zouch Meadows lies along the flood plain of the River Soar near the village of Zouch on the Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire border, forming part of the wider mosaic of riverside grassland, wetland and woodland that characterises this section of the Soar valley. The meadows represent a type of traditional agricultural landscape that has become increasingly rare in the East Midlands as drainage improvement, agricultural intensification and urban development have progressively eliminated the seasonally flooded water meadows that once lined many English river valleys. The hydrology of the meadows is driven by the River Soar, which regularly overtops its banks during winter and spring rainfall events, depositing silt across the meadow surface and creating the waterlogged conditions that prevent agricultural improvement while supporting the plant communities characteristic of traditional water meadow habitats. These communities, which include yellow flag iris, meadowsweet, ragged robin, marsh marigold and a range of sedges and rushes, provide both ecological value and seasonal visual interest, particularly in late spring and early summer when the meadow flowers are at their peak. The riverside habitats associated with the meadows attract a good diversity of bird species throughout the year. Kingfishers hunt along the river margins, grey herons stalk the shallow margins of the flooded sections, and sedge and reed warblers breed in the taller emergent vegetation along the water's edge during the summer months. Winter flooding can attract wildfowl including teal, mallard and occasional wigeon that use the flooded meadow surface for feeding. The Soar valley provides a network of public footpaths that allow exploration of the meadow landscape and the broader river corridor on foot, connecting Zouch with neighbouring villages and providing a gentle, low-level walking experience through quintessential Midlands countryside. The towpath of the Soar Navigation, which parallels the river through this section, provides an additional off-road route suitable for both walking and cycling.

Laxton in Nottinghamshire is the only village in England to maintain the medieval open field system of communal agriculture, a system of farming in large unenclosed strips that was the standard agricultural arrangement of medieval England before the enclosure movement of the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries converted the great majority of agricultural land to the enclosed fields recognisable in the modern English countryside. The continuation of the open field system at Laxton under the management of the Crown Estate provides the only living example of this ancient agricultural tradition in England. The three open fields of Laxton, West Field, South Field and Mill Field, are still farmed in strips by the tenant farmers of the village in a system managed by the Court Leet, the medieval manorial court that continues to meet annually to adjudicate disputes and allocate strips in a continuation of a tradition that has operated on this site for at least 800 years. The Court Leet is the oldest surviving court of its kind in England and its annual meeting provides a direct connection to the medieval agricultural and legal traditions of the English countryside. The visitor centre in the village provides an excellent account of the open field system and the history of Laxton's remarkable survival, and the walking on the field paths provides direct access to the strips and the field boundaries that demonstrate the system in its working form.

The Peak District was designated England's first national park in 1951 and remains one of the most visited in the world, a landscape of extraordinary variety covering approximately 1,438 square kilometres of the southern Pennines that combines the gritstone moorlands and edges of the Dark Peak to the north with the limestone dales and white rock of the White Peak to the south in a contrast of landscape characters that provides an almost unlimited range of walking, cycling and outdoor recreation within easy reach of several large English cities. The Dark Peak, named for the dark gritstone that underlies the high moorland, is a landscape of severe and dramatic character. The great moorland plateaux of Kinder Scout, Bleaklow and Black Hill, reaching over 600 metres and covered in blanket peat and cotton grass, provide the most challenging and most atmospheric walking in the park, their vast, trackless expanses a contrast to the more developed landscapes of the surrounding towns. The gritstone edges, including Stanage, Froggatt and Curbar, are among the finest rock climbing venues in Britain and provide excellent ridge walking with views over the moorland to the east and the Derwent valley to the west. The White Peak to the south and centre of the park is a landscape of a quite different character, its limestone dales, ancient meadows and stone-walled farmland creating a pastoral and intimate scenery that is accessible and gentle by comparison with the moorland above. Dovedale, Lathkill Dale and the Manifold Valley are among the finest limestone dales in Britain, their clear streams, wooded slopes and exposed white limestone creating a landscape of delicate beauty that draws walkers and cyclists in great numbers. The market towns of Bakewell, Buxton and Matlock Bath provide visitor services and historical interest, and the great country houses of Chatsworth, Haddon Hall and Hardwick Hall are all within or on the edge of the park.

Eyam in the Derbyshire Peak District is the village that sealed itself off during the bubonic plague outbreak of 1665 to prevent the disease spreading to the surrounding communities, a remarkable act of collective self-sacrifice that has made the village one of the most celebrated examples of communal heroism in English history and one of the most visited heritage destinations in the Peak District. The plague was brought to Eyam in a consignment of cloth from London and under the leadership of the rector William Mompesson and the nonconformist minister Thomas Stanley the village agreed to quarantine themselves rather than flee and risk carrying the disease to neighbouring settlements. The plague killed approximately 260 of the village's 800 inhabitants between 1665 and 1666, the plague graves scattered across the surrounding fields and gardens rather than concentrated in the churchyard providing the most tangible evidence of the scale of the mortality. The Plague Cottages where the outbreak began and the Boundary Stone where money was left in vinegar-filled holes to pay for supplies brought by outsiders are among the most visited sites in the village. The Eyam Museum provides an excellent account of the plague year and the village's response to it, and the annual Plague Commemoration service held in August at the outdoor Cucklett Delph church, where services were held in the open air during the plague to reduce infection risk, provides a living connection to the events of 1665.

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.

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.

Padley Gorge in the Peak District is one of the finest examples of ancient oak woodland in the English uplands, a stream gorge on the Burbage Brook above Grindleford in the Derbyshire Derwent Valley that supports a remarkable temperate rainforest habitat of sessile oak, rowan, holly and birch whose ground layer of mosses, ferns and woodland plants thrives in the sheltered, humid conditions of the gorge. The combination of the ancient woodland, the stream cascades and the millstone grit boulders creating the gorge character makes Padley one of the most beautiful short woodland walks in the Peak District. The woodland is of considerable ecological importance as one of the few remaining fragments of the upland oak woodland that would have covered large areas of the Peak District gritstone country before woodland clearance for agriculture and fuel began in the prehistoric and medieval periods. The sessile oaks, many of them several centuries old, grow from the gritstone boulders in the contorted forms characteristic of ancient upland woodland, their mossy trunks and lichen-covered branches creating the layered texture of a genuinely ancient wood. The gorge is famous in Peak District birding circles for its pied flycatcher population, one of the most reliable nesting sites for this attractive summer visitor in the entire region. The flycatchers arrive from West Africa in late April and the males' white forehead patches and musical calls are characteristic of Padley Gorge throughout May and June. Wood warbler and redstart are also regular breeding species in the gorge, providing some of the finest songbird watching in the Peak District. The walk from Grindleford station through the gorge to Longshaw Estate above connects with the National Trust's extensive moorland and woodland at Longshaw for a rewarding circular walk.

Monsal Head in the Peak District is one of the most celebrated viewpoints in the national park, a clifftop viewpoint above the deep limestone gorge of the River Wye near Bakewell from which the Victorian railway viaduct — now carrying the Monsal Trail walking and cycling route — spans the dale in a composition of industrial heritage and natural limestone gorge scenery. The viaduct was condemned by John Ruskin when built in 1863 but has long since become a celebrated element of the landscape. The Monsal Dale viaduct carries the Monsal Trail, an 8.5-mile route following the former Midland Railway line through the limestone dales of the White Peak, across the gorge at a height providing views along the dale in both directions. The trail passes through several tunnels, now lit and open to cyclists, providing a complete heritage railway experience through the best section of White Peak limestone scenery. The River Wye below the viaduct provides excellent trout fishing and the combination of the water, the limestone cliffs, the hanging woodland and the viaduct above creates a landscape of considerable variety in a short section of the dale.