Town and Country Manners in Buxton

Through the streets and surrounding countryside of Buxton - spa town and for many the 'Bath of the North'.

Distance 3 miles (4.8km)

Minimum time 2hrs

Ascent/gradient 459ft (140m)

Level of difficulty Easy

Paths Streets and well-defined woodland paths (could be a little muddy in winter), a couple of stiles

Landscape Town and wooded hillside

Suggested map aqua3 OS Outdoor Leisure 24 White Peak

Start/finish SK 054734

Dog friendliness Dogs can run free once away from the town streets

Parking Pay car park by the Pavilion

Public toilets At car park and at back of Town Hall

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Directions
Background
Information

1 From the car park follow the tarmac terrace in front of the Pavilion. The terrace comes out at the square by the fine Edwardian Opera House. Turn right along the square to the Old Hall Hotel. Now turn left past the tourist information centre, which was formerly the Natural Baths building, built in 1851. Next you pass the Crescent, the Pump Room and St Ann's Well.

2 Take the tarred path left of the pumphouse and follow it up the parkland of the Slopes to the Town Hall. Take the little ginnel that runs to the left of the Town Hall to reach the Market Place. The market cross here dates back to the 15th century, and originally stood on Cockyard Hill, near where the Palace Hotel stands now. It was moved in 1813 when Buxton was awarded its market charter. Continue up High Street to Higher Buxton. St Anne's Church on the right is the oldest building in Buxton, dating back to 1625. On reaching a five-way junction, turn half right along Green Lane to its junction with College Road.

3 Turn left on a tarred path, then right over a stile onto the recreation ground. Take the path running alongside the right edge of the football pitch to the far side of the field. The continuing path now climbs rough pasture to enter Grin Low Wood. Keep to the southbound path, which climbs to a gate at the top of the plantation. It passes to the right of a dew pond before making a beeline for Solomon's Temple on the top of the hill. From here you can see Buxton stretched out below you, sheltered beneath the ochre-coloured moors of Combs Moss and Axe Edge.
Descend on the well-used path north-westwards to the woodland's edge. Go through the gate and follow the waymarked path down through the woods to the Poole's Cavern car park.

4 Beyond the Poole's Cavern you come to the junction of Temple Road and Green Lane. Go down the former, following it round to the right to a crossroads with the Pavilion Gardens ahead. Follow any one of the many paths across the gardens. After passing the three lakes and the miniature railway you will reach the Opera House. Turn sharp left here, down the terrace running alongside the Pavilion next door to return to the car park.

This short walk takes a look at the town from both street level and from a lofty perch in the hills. It explores Buxton's town and surrounding countryside.

Town highlights include the Pavilion, an iron and glass building of 1871 that includes a hot house with many interesting tropical plants and a spa-water swimming pool; the beautiful Pavilion Gardens, a charming reminder of the town's 19th-century heyday; and the Old Hall Hotel, a 1670 remodelling of the original hall built by the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury in the 16th century. He lived there with his wife, the notorious Bess of Hardwick.

Foremost in the townscape, though, is the Crescent, an elegant Georgian terrace designed by John Carr of York and modelled on the Royal Crescent in Bath. On the opposite side of the road is the Pump Room, which served spa water until 1981, and St Ann's Well. The spring that later became St Ann's Well was the one used by Roman legionnaires and later by Mary Queen of Scots in an attempt to cure her rheumatism.

Beyond the town environs, the walk heads up to Solomon's Temple, atop a hill. The temple was built in 1896 by Solomon Mycock on the site of a Neolithic burial mound, in an exercise to provide work for the unemployed.

Poole's Cavern, one of the so-called 'Seven Wonders of the Peak', was named after the 'robber Poole', who lived there during the 15th century. Archaeologists have uncovered relics of Stone and Bronze Age cave dwellers here, along with some fine Roman artefacts.

While you're there

The Buxton Museum and Art Gallery is well worth a visit. Here you can see Roman artefacts from many Derbyshire archaeological digs, and explore the fascinating geology of the Peak. In 1990 it won the Museum of the Year award for its Peak District Display.

Where to eat and drink

There's a wide choice of pubs and cafés in the town, but a particular favourite is the Café Nathaniel on Market Street. This is a licensed café-bar which serves coffees, snacks and meals.

What to look for

Take time to look at the buildings. Like many spa towns, Buxton has been very fashionable in the past. Wealthy 'High Society' folk were once enticed to take the hot spa waters and there is a wealth of grand architecture reflecting that prosperity. But the town has also known some very hard times when the spa boom ended and the visitors just stopped coming. Before the restoration programme initiated in the 1980s many of the town's elegant buildings had fallen into decay. Today you can see the tangible benefits of that restoration programme, but there is still an element of faded charm.