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A week in Bakewell without a hard day

Two viewpoints, two dales, nothing that needs fitness.

One base: Bakewell. You unpack once.

A week in Bakewell without a hard day
Photo: Rob Bates, via Unsplash (unsplash.com/photos/bz-2G-P7iT4), Unsplash License, fetched 2026-08-30
Nights
6
Best in
Spring, Summer, Autumn

Bakewell is the largest town inside the Peak District, and it works as a base for people who want the national park without wanting a hard day in it. The A6 and A619 cross the River Wye here on the medieval Bakewell Bridge, and the town has a wide range of shops and cafes, useful on the days when nothing else is booked. Two of this trip’s four stops need no walking at all, and the other two are short, flat, and rated easy. Six nights gives the week room to be unhurried.

Who this suits

Families with young children, first-time visitors to the Peak District, and anyone booking a week around a cottage rather than a mountain. Monsal Head and Curbar Edge are both reachable straight from a car park, so they suit anyone who wants the view without needing to climb for it, and the Monsal Trail’s old railway gradient means the walking day is close to flat. Lathkill Dale is the only one of the four with any descent, and even that amounts to the walk down into the dale and back out again.

What this trip skips

This is deliberately not a walking holiday. Nobody who wants Kinder Scout, Stanage Edge or a hard day on gritstone should expect to find it here; Bakewell suits families and easy, low-level walking, and this itinerary sticks to that brief on purpose. Anyone who tires of easy scenery by day three has the whole rest of the White Peak within a short drive, but that is a different, harder trip than the one built here.

Day by day

  1. Day 1

    Settle in, walk the old railway

    Bakewell's former station at Coombs Road, closed to passengers since 1967, marks the start of the Monsal Trail, a flat, surfaced path along the old Midland Railway line. Hassop, the next former station, makes a natural turning point a short walk out, though there is no obligation to go even that far on the first day.

  2. Day 2

    Monsal Head, no walking required

    A short drive northwest puts you at Monsal Head's car park, looking straight down on Headstone Viaduct and the dale it once scandalised Victorian opinion by crossing. A hotel, a pub and a couple of cafes sit right at the viewpoint, so this is as much a lunch stop as a sightseeing one.

  3. Day 3

    Lathkill Dale from Over Haddon

    From Over Haddon the path drops into a National Nature Reserve where the River Lathkill runs clear over limestone, past two historic bridges and the weirs the Victorians built for trout fishing. Dippers work the river, and the whole loop is short enough for a morning without feeling rushed.

  4. Day 4

    Curbar Edge, another view from the car park

    Curbar Gap car park is at the top of the edge, so the gritstone and the view over the Derwent Valley to Chatsworth's parkland are a few minutes from the car rather than a hike. It is also a working climbing venue, so expect to watch a climb in progress a few metres from where you are standing.

    If it is coming down sideways: Bakewell Old House Museum, a tithe house of 1534 on Cunningham Place, is in the town itself and spans eleven rooms; check its season before planning a day round it.

  5. Day 5

    Free day in town

    Bakewell has held a market since a charter of 1254, and the Rutland Arms still tells the story of the Bakewell pudding, not tart, invented there by accident around 1820. A day with nothing booked suits the town as well as any of the dales around it.

  6. Day 6

    Depart, or one more easy loop

    Whichever of the week's four stops suited best is worth a slower second visit on the last morning, especially Monsal Head if the weather has been kind, before the drive home.

Where to stay for this trip

All within a short drive of Bakewell, so the day plans above still work.

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