Nine Ladies Stone Circle
The Nine Ladies is a circle set it a copse of silver birches, within a beautiful moor, 10 metres in diameter, with each stone less than 1 metre in height. There is a very mystical quality about it. Some of the stones are slightly leaning and there is an outlying stone, a block of millstone grit, which is just over half a metre high and is called the King Stone. It stands approximately 45 m from the centre of the circle and legend has it that one Sunday, nine ladies and a fiddler came up to the Moor to dance. For this act of sacrilege, they were all turned into stone. It is a small early Bronze Age circle and is part of a complex of prehistoric circles and standing stones on the moor. It is owned by English Heritage and is often visited by tourists and hill walkers but it is also very popular with druids and pagans, especially around the Summer Solstice. It is a site which has long been a popular place for long-running environmental protests, mainly pagan protesters who helped fight against the quarrying of moor. Some pagans leave offerings in the centre, or heart of the circle.
Haddon Hall
Haddon Hall has welcomed visitors from all over the country over the ages, from aristocracy to the general public and its beauty and atmosphere never fails to enchant those who leave, enticing them back for more. Described by Simon Jenkins in ‘The 1000 Best Houses’ as ‘the most romantic house to survive from the middle ages’, it certainly lives up to its name with a very romantic legend surrounding it. The elopement of the daughter of the Duke of Rutland, heiress Dorothy Vernon, was reputed to have run off with John manners, the second son of Thomas Manners (the first Earl of Rutland) in 1553. A film was made about the story starring Mary Pickford, but it wasn’t actually shot at Haddon itself. It is one of the finest examples of a fortified mediaeval manor house in existence today and present-day Haddon Hall dates from the 12 century to the early 17th century.
It lay dormant for over 200 years from 1700 until the 1920’s when the ninth Duke and Duchess of Rutland restored the house and gardens once again. It has avoided fire, warfare, family misfortune and changing fashions, but little has changed over the recent centuries providing-us with a unique view of early English life and history.
Lathkilldale National Nature Reserve
Lathkilldale is situated 2 miles south-west of Bakewell between the villages of Over Haddon, Monyash and Youlgrave, very close to Alport. There are car parks at Over Hadden, Moor Lane, Youlgrave and Conksbury Bridge and there is also a regular, although infrequent, bus service which runs to the reserve. It is managed by English Nature and consists of parts of five separate limestone valleys in the Peak District National Park – Lathkill, Cressbrook, Monk’s, Long and Hay dale. It is one of the superb examples of the major wildlife habitats of the white peak natural area. The rivers and streams are among the purist in the country and is home to species rich scrub, heath on limestone, lead spoil, flushes, dewponds, rock exposures and caves.
Caudwell’s Mill and Craft Centre, Rowsley
There has been a mill on the River Wye, near it’s confluence with the River Derwent, at Rowsley for at least 600 years and little has changed to the one which still resides there today. Visitors today can see a fine example on all four floors of an early water powered roller mill as a complete "machine", believed to be the only such mill left in Europe that can be visited.
Caudwell’s mill can be visited every day throughout the summer and at weekends during the winter months. The mill is an important educational resource for school children, who can take part in special workshops, with worksheets and a teacher’s pack available. Local craftspeople, a craft shop and a cafe now occupy the stables, cart sheds and stores around the courtyard.