Hathersage

Hathersage's hotels and inns make the most of a village that has been welcoming walkers and climbers for well over a century. At the centre, historic coaching inns such as The George and The Plough Inn combine comfortable en-suite rooms with the kind of restaurant and bar you actually want to spend an evening in, rather than a bolt-on afterthought - useful after a day on Stanage Edge or the surrounding moors. Beyond the village centre, guesthouses and farmhouse B&Bs offer a quieter base, often with views out towards the Edge or down the Hope Valley, while a scattering of self-catering cottages suit longer stays or larger groups.

Because Hathersage sits directly on the Hope Valley railway line, with direct trains to both Sheffield and Manchester, it is an unusually practical base for a Peak District stay without a car - you can walk out of your hotel, up onto Stanage Edge, and be back in time for dinner without ever needing to drive. Booking ahead is strongly advised for weekends from spring through autumn, when the village's popularity with walkers and climbers means the best rooms go quickly, and also around the Kinder Scout and Hope Valley walking festivals when the whole area gets busier than usual.

Hathersage packs a lot into a small footprint, and most of its best-known attractions can be reached on foot from the village centre.

• Stanage Edge - The most famous gritstone edge in the Peak District, stretching for almost four miles above the village. It is one of the most popular rock climbing venues in Britain, with hundreds of routes of all grades, but it is just as rewarding as a walk, with sweeping views back over Hathersage and the Hope Valley.
• Hathersage open-air swimming pool - A heated 100ft outdoor lido, opened in the 1930s and still going strong, with views up towards Stanage Edge and the parish church while you swim. It is one of only a handful of genuine outdoor pools left in the country and a distinctly Hathersage way to cool off after a walk.
• Little John's grave, St Michael and All Angels' churchyard - Local legend holds that Robin Hood's lieutenant, Little John, is buried here beneath a huge yew tree, the grave marked by two stones roughly ten feet apart said to reflect his great height. Whatever the truth, it has been a place of pilgrimage for Robin Hood enthusiasts for well over a century.
• Charlotte Bronte's Hathersage - In 1845 Charlotte Bronte spent several weeks staying at the vicarage with her friend Ellen Nussey. She is thought to have drawn on North Lees Hall, a fortified Elizabethan farmhouse just outside the village, as the model for Thornfield Hall in Jane Eyre, and to have borrowed the Eyre surname from memorials to the local Eyre family in the parish church. North Lees Hall can be seen from the footpath up towards Stanage and is now available as a holiday let.
• Peak District National Park walking - Hathersage is one of the best-placed villages in the Peak District for walkers, with routes heading up to Stanage Edge and Higger Tor, across to the gritstone outcrop of Carl Wark, or south through gentler farmland towards Eyam and the limestone dales.
• Camp Green and the village centre - A pleasant riverside green by the Derwent, close to the shops, cafes and pubs along the main street, and a good starting or finishing point for a day on the hills.

The village has several long-standing pubs at its centre. The Plough Inn is a 16th-century inn on the banks of the River Derwent, known for its cask ales and AA-rosette food. The George, a 500-year-old former coaching inn with strong Bronte connections - Charlotte Bronte is thought to have stayed there while it inspired the fictional George Inn in Jane Eyre - combines a restaurant, bar and boutique rooms in the heart of the village. Alongside the pubs there are cafes and tea rooms serving walkers and climbers heading to and from Stanage Edge, plus a village shop and bakery for provisions before a day on the hill.

Camping around Hathersage puts you within walking distance of some of the best gritstone scenery in the Peak District, with Stanage Edge, Higger Tor and Carl Wark all reachable on foot from the village. As with the rest of England, wild camping is not legal here without the landowner's permission - almost all of the surrounding moorland is privately owned or managed by the National Trust and Peak District National Park Authority, and rangers do patrol popular spots, so it is worth sticking to one of the area's established campsites rather than pitching up on the open moor.

The terrain around Hathersage is properly upland: expect exposed, often boggy ground on the tops, fast-changing weather even in summer, and cold nights whatever the season, so a four-season-capable tent and sleeping bag are worth having if you are pitching outside the height of summer. Local campsites range from simple, view-heavy fields with basic facilities to smaller family-run sites with better amenities, and most are set within a short drive or walk of the village, the Edge and the river.

The best camping season runs from late spring to early autumn, when the ground is drier, days are longer and the moors are at their most walkable, though a clear autumn weekend can bring some of the best light of the year over Stanage. For anyone who would rather skip the tent-pitching, a growing number of glamping options in the area - shepherd's huts, pods and yurts - offer a warmer, drier way to wake up to the same views, without sacrificing the feeling of being out on the edge of the moor.