A Taste of the Peak District

Accommodation, activities and attractions of Derbyshire’s  Peak District in the UK

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A Taste of the Peak District is a comprehensive online guide to the Peak District of Derbyshire. We endeavour to provide you with an insight into the region to enhance your visit (or to convince you to spend some time here!)

Hope is the Derbyshire town that gives the Hope Valley its name. From Hope you can access the Edale valley.

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How to get here - Transpennine Express, Virgin and Midland Mainline trains, National Express coaches.

Hope lies half way along the Hope Valley in Derbyshire, at the confluence of the River Noe and Peakshole Water.

Close to Hope lies the main source of mass employment in the Hope Valley - the cement works. This is one of the Peak District’s major human made landmarks and can be seen for miles around, I have often sat at the top of Stanage Edge and Bamford edge, belaying, with the view of the cement works puffing smoke. Many people hate it, regarding it as unsightly and incongruous, but it brings employment to the area and was built way before the Peak District National Park was conceived. Is it any worse than the lead mines and lead smelting works of past centuries? You make up your own mind.

The town is an ancient settlement and the church has one of the many Saxon crosses (unfortunately a headless cross) found in the Peak District. At the time of the Domesday Book, Hope had both a priest and a church, a real privilege for a Derbyshire town.

Only the font remains of the original church. The reason for Hope’s importance? It was a key centre in the ‘Royal Forest of the Peak’, a hunting forest for medieval Royalty. There are two 13th century slabs in the church which carry what are believed to be symbold of two important forest officials (woodruffes).

Earlier, the Romans had been in the area. About a mile away lie the earthworks of their fort, Navio. This is sited at Brough and thought to be a base used to protect Roman lead mining interests in the Peak District.

Many old buildings survive at Hope, including the Elizabethan Aston Hall, dating from the late 1500s in  a nearby hamlet.

Farming is still important to the Peak District economy, Hope still hosts a market and annual agricultural show I believe. There is also an old pinfold still in existence (an enclosure in which stray animals were placed until the owner could retrieve them).

Hope is a great centre for anyone interetsed in the Outdoors, with soem of the best mointain bike routes in Derbyshire plus plenty of walking and climbing nearby.

Click here for accommodation in the north west of the Peak District and here for the north east. Both are very convenient for visiting Hope and the Hope Valley.

Twitchill Farm Cottages (sleeps 4, 6, 8 and 8). Four self catering holiday cottages overlooking the Hope Valley in the Peak District National Park. These stone built cottages are located around an 18th century farmhouse on Win Hill, with ... more or visit owner’s web site