Fox House – Grindleford – Hathersage – Fox House

Dave Darwent

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Fox House – Grindleford – Hathersage (including Mellor's) – Padley Gorge – Fox House

Starting from the busy Fox House Inn, on Hathersage Road – a regular Sunday Lunch haunt for residents of cities and towns for miles around – this walk first takes you through part of Longshaw Estate (NT), where you will find one of the widest ranges of mushrooms and toadstools on any one site in Derbyshire. The estate extends much further than many people realise and this walk continues to White Edge before descending into Padley Gorge near Nether Padley.

It then proceeds to Grindleford (where there is an excellent cafe, but I suggest that you try to keep going until you can enjoy the superb food in Hathersage, which is a particular feature of this walk). Emerging from Longshaw Estate at Grindleford, the walk then gently ascends as it crosses farmland and more woodland, until you emerge briefly onto the A6187 at Hathersage Booths, high above Hathersage itself. There is then a short, steep descent over fields right down into the valley bottom, where you walk in beautiful woodland beside the River Derwent before emerging a few yards from David Mellor's world-famous cutlery factory and museum, in the stunning, award-winning 'round building', hidden on the edge of the woods.

Here you can enjoy some of the finest food for miles around (all local, most organic, cooked to order and all home-made) before retracing your steps into the woods and following the Derwent through the wooded valley until you are almost back in Grindleford. Crossing the railway line there is a short, gentle climb followed by an even shorter steep climb into Upper Padley, from where there is a gentle woodland stroll which ends at Longshaw Lake, barely ten minutes from Longshaw Lodge and Visitor Centre, where there is another excellent cafe. Finally the route takes a five-minute walk back to the starting point.

At the start and finish this walk shares common ground with Walk 2823 by Julia Ewart.

England - Central England - Derbyshire - Peak District

Features

Birds, Butterflies, Cafe, Flowers, Food Shop, Gift Shop, Good for Kids, Great Views, Industrial Archaeology, Moor, Museum, National Trust, Pub, Public Transport, Restaurant, River, Tea Shop, Toilets

7/10/2017 - Mark Harris

Thoroughly enjoyed this walk on our visit to the Peak District in July 2017. It is definitely worth the diversion to the David Mellor café, however the café at Grindleford Station did look very inviting and we would have stopped had it not been so soon since we started out. We also recommend you stopping for an ice cream from the van and taking the time to stop at grid reference 28-30 to paddle in the very cooling Burbage Brook.