Bakewell Station and Chatsworth Park

Our walk today is Walk 1 from the Monsal Trail booklet. We start from Bakewell Station but walk away from the Monsal Trail and up towards Manners Wood; this marks the boundary between the estates of the Dukes of Devonshire and Rutland (so we cross from the Haddon Estate into Chatsworth Park).

It is a steep ascent through the woods, but there are good views as we head down to Edensor village; much of this is privately owned by the Dukes of Devonshire (the Cavendish family), and we pass St Peter’s Church to go through the entrance gates to the village and on to the footpath towards Chatsworth House. We have visited this previously, and do not visit on this occasion.

At Chatsworth Bridge, we follow the footpath across Chatsworth Park by the River Derwent; the gardens of Chatsworth House were designed by Capability Brown in 1762. We eventually reach the Chatsworth Garden Centre, where we head west across meadows back towards Bakewell via a steep descent this time through the Manners Wood. We join the Monsal Trail and walk up towards Bakewell Station, where we end our interesting 7.5-mile walk and head back to our accommodation.

Later on, we went to The Manners for dinner and Robinsons beer!Read more