Hurdlow

Hurdlow itself is too small to offer hotels, but its position on the High Peak Trail, two miles from Parsley Hay and around eight miles from Buxton, makes it a useful base for exploring the White Peak by car, bike or on foot. Hurdlow Grange, a converted barn over 300 years old, offers self-catering holiday accommodation right in the hamlet, while the Royal Oak pub provides food, drink and a campsite alongside it. For a wider range of places to stay, from farmhouse B&Bs to hotels, Buxton is the nearest town of any size and makes an easy base, with Ashbourne to the south offering a further alternative if you're exploring the Tissington Trail end of things.

Wherever you choose to stay, the appeal of this part of Derbyshire is the same: open limestone countryside, dry-stone walls, and two of the Peak District's best traffic-free trails meeting almost on the doorstep. Nearby villages such as Monyash and Youlgreave add pubs, duck ponds and access to Lathkill Dale, while Buxton brings its Georgian architecture, opera house and show caves within easy reach, giving visitors based around Hurdlow a genuine mix of quiet countryside and small-town amenities.

Hurdlow's appeal is almost entirely about what surrounds it rather than the hamlet itself, but that's no bad thing when the surroundings include two of the Peak District's best-loved trails and some genuinely ancient sites.

• High Peak Trail — Hurdlow has its own level access point onto this 17-mile former railway line, which runs on crushed limestone from Dowlow near Buxton down to High Peak Junction at Cromford; it's two miles to Parsley Hay and 4.5 miles to Friden along a gentle, largely flat gradient.
• Tissington Trail — joining the High Peak Trail at Parsley Hay, this second former railway line runs a further 13 miles south to Ashbourne, together giving over 30 miles of traffic-free cycling through rolling limestone dales.
• Parsley Hay Cycle Hire Centre — two miles from Hurdlow, this Peak District National Park-run centre hires out adult and children's bikes, electric bikes, tandems and trailer-bikes, and has a café and toilets, making it the obvious starting point for a family ride.
• Arbor Low stone circle — a short drive south near Monyash, this Neolithic henge of around fifty fallen limestone slabs surrounding a central stone "cove" is one of the most important prehistoric monuments in the East Midlands, and free to visit.
• Buxton — the nearest sizeable town, roughly eight miles north-west, with its restored Buxton Opera House, the Pavilion Gardens, and Poole's Cavern, a show cave and country park on the edge of town.
• Monyash and Youlgreave — nearby limestone villages worth a detour for their pubs, duck ponds and access to Lathkill Dale, one of the White Peak's prettiest limestone valleys.

The Royal Oak at Hurdlow is the hamlet's main focus, a stone-built country pub on the A515 serving food all day from breakfast through to dinner, with produce sourced where possible from suppliers within a 20-mile radius, open fires, and its own campsite behind the pub. Parsley Hay's cycle hire centre has a small café and takeaway for trail users, and for a wider choice of pubs and cafés, Buxton and the surrounding White Peak villages such as Monyash and Youlgreave are all a short drive away.

Camping around Hurdlow means pitching on the high limestone plateau of the White Peak, with the High Peak and Tissington Trails on your doorstep for walking and cycling straight from the tent. The Royal Oak at Hurdlow runs its own campsite behind the pub, giving direct access onto the trail network along with hot food and a fire close by, which makes it a popular, sociable option for families and cyclists passing through. It's worth remembering that wild camping without the landowner's permission is illegal in England, unlike in Scotland, so this stretch of the Peak District needs to be enjoyed from a proper site or with permission arranged in advance, even though the open, empty-feeling limestone scenery can look tempting for a rougher pitch.

The terrain here is exposed: wide, walled fields with little natural shelter from wind, so a sturdy tent and warm sleeping bag are sensible whatever the season, and conditions can turn quickly even in summer. Late spring to early autumn is the easiest window for camping, when evenings are milder and the trails are driest underfoot; winter camping on this plateau is a much harder, colder prospect and best left to experienced campers. For those who'd rather have four solid walls and a roof after a day on the trail, glamping options such as shepherd's huts and pods are increasingly available across the wider White Peak, offering a comfortable middle ground between a tent and a cottage while still keeping you close to the limestone dales and old railway paths that make this part of Derbyshire worth the visit.