Relaxing in the Peak District

Hi!

If you haven’t read my little update post that went up a few days ago, you can find it here. It explains where I’ve been and what will be going on with my blog in the coming months. In this post, I mentioned that I’d been on a mini break to the Peak District. Today, I really wanted to share my pictures and memories from this trip with you!

As I’ve said so many times before, I was working full-time over summer so except for the odd day out here and there (and a lovely weekend away in York that you can read about here), I didn’t really have time for a holiday. So, as my last week of work was approaching, my boyfriend and I decided to book a few days away before the chaos of Uni started again!

We decided to stay in a Premier Inn as it was all we could really get at short notice but we were so happy with where we stayed. We stayed at the Chesterfield West hotel and the room was lovely and the staff couldn’t have been more brilliant! We owe one of our favourites memories of the trip to them (will explain more later!).

As we couldn’t check in until 2, we decided to leave home early, take the three and a half hour drive, and find somewhere to spend the day before checking in later. Our first stop was Dovedale.

This was our first experience of the Peak District and it was absolutely beautiful. Coming from a pretty flat area of England, the rolling hills and valleys were incredible and there was natural beauty everywhere we looked. We ended up walking for about three miles – along the River Dove, up to Lover’s Leap, further down the river, saw the caves and then back up again. We went over the stepping stones and saw so many dogs which I was incredibly happy about!

After this, we drove to the hotel to check in. Again, we were amazed by the amount of hills and the views around every corner! As our hotel was slightly further out from where we wanted to be (so we thought!), we asked the receptionist where we could go for a walk that was quite close. She suggested Curbar Edge and I’m so glad that she did!

This was one of our most favourite parts of the trip. It was a short drive away and then a little walk up to the edge. I think we went at the most perfect time of day – around 5 pm – as the sun was getting lower and cast the most beautiful shadows across the view. We sat for ages just picking out parts of what we could see and chatting. Although the pictures do make it look lovely, they still don’t do it justice. I would recommend going here if you get the chance!

The next day was technically our only full day so we’d planned a day out. We chose Heights of Abraham which is a park on a hill-top and can be accessed via cable car. I’d never been in a cable car before. I actually really enjoyed it but it did scare me when I realised how high up we actually were! At the top, there’s parks, caverns, walking routes and museums. Again, the views were incredible! But the caves, caverns and mines were amazing to see. It’s quite easy to get to and the price – £16 per adult – is quite reasonable for the amount there is do.

I actually found the caverns the most interesting. There was an inscription on one of the walls that detailed the people that worked there and it was fascinating to see that this was still here, years after these workers had made their mark. It was also interesting to learn how these caves turned from mines and workplaces to tourist attractions very quickly. If you’re like me and you like things like this, Heights of Abraham is definitely worth checking out!

We were planning on making a quick visit to Lumsdale Falls which is, apparently, a hidden gem of the Peak District. However, on the journey there, we got completely lost and it starting chucking it down! We decided to make our way back to the hotel via Chatsworth House, just so we could see it. But, as the rain began to ease off, I did a speedy Google search and found that the Linacre Reservoirs were really close.

I have to admit, although it was my idea, I wasn’t particularly bothered about the reservoirs. My boyfriend loved them and found it fascinating but I wasn’t really feeling it. They were, however, so pretty to look at and were incredibly calm as we were pretty much the only people there.

On our last day, we wanted to make a trip back to Curbar Edge to have a look at the many other ‘edges’ that ran along the same hill. This time, we went to Baslow Edge, just a little further down, which gave us a similar view but opened up more to the left. We could even see Chatsworth House, too. We actually sat here for quite a while, just taking in the morning view. There were also a lot of cows roaming around and as they were accustomed to people, we managed to get a few pictures of them!

From here, we set off for our final destination of the trip – Bakewell. We couldn’t choose between Buxton and Bakewell but as the latter was only a 20 minute car ride from us, we decided on that. We had Bakewell tarts, sat by the river and wandered through the little town. It was a relatively relaxing end to the trip, except for the huge hill we had to climb next to the church!

After this, we headed home – ready for me to move back to Uni the next day!

I hope you enjoyed this post! I really wanted to share my pictures from our trip away and let people know about hidden gems in the Peak District – go to Curbar Edge everyone! I’m also hoping to do a post about all the outfits I wore whilst away so keep a look out for that if you’re interested!

Alex x