Matlock Farm Park - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

Peak Rail is a preserved railway in Derbyshire, England, which operates a steam and heritage diesel service for tourists and visitors to both the Peak District and the Derbyshire Dales. Steam services operate throughout the year together with a host of various special events. Enjoy a leisurely Sunday lunch, cream or afternoon tea on the Palatine Restaurant car.

Riber Castle is one of the Peak’s famous follies having been built by a local industrialist to reside in at one time. Standing at around 853 feet above sea level, high above the Derwent Valley, with its dramatic silhouette of 90 foot high towers and 1450 foot of battlements. It has beautiful gardens stretching down the hillside and offered a world-famous water cure-all until it closed in the 1950s. Today the building is the headquarters of Derbyshire County Council.

The Heights of Abraham, one of Britain’s top visitor attractions. The estate has been welcoming tourists for over two centuries. The main attraction here is the cable car and Among the attractions in the park, which has been open since Victorian times, are cavern and mine tours. There are also views of the dramatic scenery of the valley of the River Derwent. The cable car was opened in 1984 to provide easier access.

A small early Bronze Age stone circle traditionally believed to depict nine ladies turned to stone as a penalty for dancing on Sunday. It is part of a complex of prehistoric circles and standing stones on Stanton Moor. The Nine Ladies features a creation myth similar to those associated with many other stone circles. Local legend records how nine young maidens danced at the Sabbath to the tunes played by a lone fiddler. For their sin, they were turned to stone.

A beautiful and small upland area in a fine position overlooking both the Derwent and Wye valleys. Possibly it is for this reason that it was chosen as a center by the Bronze Age inhabitants of the area, who have left so many traces of their occupation upon the moor. The moor contains at least 70 barrows as well as stone circles, ancient enclosures and standing stones and is of such interest to archaeologists that the whole area is now protected.

The Peak District Lead Mining Museum is located at Matlock Bath, Derbyshire, England. The museum has a fine collection of old mining equipment and artifacts from the former lead mines of the area including several very impressive pumps of various types - the Derbyshire mines were plagued by water problems, so pumping was very important and a major contributor to the cost of extracting the ore.