The Peak District: Local, Characterful Guides to Britain’s Special Places

Part of Bradt’s distinctive, award-winning series of ’Slow’ travel guides to UK regions, the new, thoroughly updated third edition of The Peak District (Slow Travel) offers a wider, more personal selection of places to explore than any other guidebook. Slow down and let expert local author Helen Moat not only guide you around all the well-known places in this much-loved area, but escort you off the beaten tourist track to uncover the hidden corners of the Peak District, teasing out its special qualities. The author’s love of interesting and colourful stories about people and places draws her to highlight quirky and unusual locations, from secret gorges, historical ruins and abandoned mills to strange follies and irresistible pubs. The result, for the reader, is a privileged understanding of what makes this stunning region tick - and why it deserves thorough investigation.

Although mostly in the county of Derbyshire, the Peak District extends into parts of Staffordshire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Yorkshire - making it readily accessible from major cities such as Manchester, Leeds, Derby and Sheffield. Its small surface area harbours unexpectedly diverse landscapes, including deep-cut dales, rocky escarpments, weathered tors and far-reaching moorland. From the characterful mill towns of Holmfirth, Marsden and Uppermill to the historical stone-built settlements that lie in the heart of the national park; from the elegant spa town of Buxton to the colourful market towns of Matlock, Ashbourne and Leek, the Peak District is filled with story and history - and great beauty.

Bradt’s The Peak District (Slow Travel) helps you connect with the people who work and live in the national park through the author’s first-hand accounts of their experiences, and helps you discover great places to eat and drink - with a particular focus on tasty, local and good-quality food in atmospheric venues and locations. An emphasis on car-free travel throws up a range of options for getting around, from walking, cycling, boating, buses and trains to more surprising modes of transport that form as much part of the sightseeing experience as they do simply getting from A to B. This is Slow Travel at its finest.

Helen Moat (helenmoatsite.wordpress.com) is a freelance landscape and travel writer, writing regularly for BBC Countryfile, Wanderlust and Derbyshire Life. She grew up in Northern Ireland then moved to England as a young adult. After spells in Germany and Switzerland, she settled down in the Peak District, which has become her adopted home. A keen walker and cyclist, she is happiest when outdoors and on the move. When not peddling alongside Europe’s rivers and seas, camping in the East African bush or trekking in the Thai rainforest, she is likely to be found wandering on the Peak’s moorland or spinning her wheels through the dales. Having learnt that ’slow travel’ is always the best, she is constantly inspired by the landscape, and by the people and places shaped by the Peak. Moat is always on the hunt for a good local story: the Peak District offers her plenty of material.