HATHERSAGE VILLAGE IN THE HEART
OF THE PEAK DISTRICT NATIONAL PARK...
..
Millstones by the roadside denote the boundaries of the very popular
District Peak National Park. This site overlooks nearby Sheffield.
This section of our web site is intended to provide our customers
and their guests with some pictures of and information about our
home base Hathersage. Hathersage is a charming unspoiled village
where Peak Activities Ltd's team of outdoor pursuits instructors
and training specialists is based in the accessible Hope Valley.
We're in the very heart of the Peak District National Park in the UK's
lovely Derbyshire Dales approximately 10 miles to the West of the
city of Sheffield which is over the county border in South Yorkshire.
Quite a few of our competitors now claim to be based in Hathersage
- but we've lived and worked right here in our own centre in the centre
of the village for over 22 years and we feel there's an important difference
between meeting someone here in a car park and actually being established
here and owning our own premises and facilities here.
A view across Hathersage
up to Millstone Edge & the Eastern Moors.
...
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- Peak Activities
runs private (closed ) courses & open courses
- ( i.e. events
open to the public ). Open
events include
activities
- such as
abseiling, caving,
orienteering, mountain biking, walking
- scrambles and rock climbing for complete novices. The
activities
- run by Peak
Activities in Hathersage have enjoyed rave reviews on
- BBC and ITV
television travel programmes and in media such as
the Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Sunday Telegraph Travel
- Sections. Click
here for media articles and press coverage of
- these events
at Rock Lea - our centre in Hathersage.
-
Rock Lea Activity Centre
in centre of Hathersage - operated by Peak Activities Ltd.
Peak Activities Ltd's UK operations are based at Rock Lea Activity Centre
which is located in the very centre of Hathersage ( Heather's Edge) in the
HOPE VALLEY in the very heart of the fabulous Peak District National Park.
We have owned our own centre in Hathersage for over 22 years.
From our popular base in Hathersage we run events for private groups
and also run regular events which are open to individual members of
the general public. Dates & prices of open courses at our centre in Hathersage.
Hathersage Railway Station Sign
- Peak
Activities are based where the lush green
- dales
of the White Peak's limestone scenery
- meet
the wild and craggy heather moorlands
&
- edges
on the rugged Dark Peak's
Millstone Grit.
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| Getting to Hathersage is
really easy by road rail or air |
| Accommodation in and around
Hathersage |
| Events in Hathersage open to
the public |
Hathersage
simple railway station comprises two well lit platforms
with small diesel passenger units stopping here approx every
hour.
There's no taxi rank here ( the station is unmanned ) but we
can
arrange transport from the station to your accommodation venue
if you're one of our clients having booked your training or outdoor
activities with us. Our minibuses are available for transferring groups
from the station to local conference venues for example.
| Services & Activities
offered by Peak Activities Ltd in and around Hathersage |
-
Hathersage, looking North
East
Hathersage Parish Church is located on a ridge of high ground above
the rest of the village and overshadowed by craggy hills and moorlands.
The crag shown in this photograph is one where we sometimes take our
customers rock climbing and scrambling and mountain biking. The area
around the village of Hathersage is full of ancient monuments including
"La Tene" Iron Age Hill Forts and burial mounds and Roman causeways.
.
Walking around the edge of Kinder Plateau with an expert guide from
Rock Lea Centre -Hathersage. Click on the image for more information
about walking in this wonderful region of the UK.
The village of Hathersage and the surrounding Hope Valley has dozens of
excellent varied upland and lowland walks - many of which start right at
on the doorstep of base here ( Rock Lea ). As you can see from some of
the pictures on this page, the crags which loom above the village are just
a 4 or 5 minutes minibus or car ride away...or a slightly longer walk or bike
ride away if you're feeling energetic !
Hathersage has long enjoyed a reputation for being an ideal base for walkers,
ramblers and a host of outdoor pursuits such as rock-climbing, abseiling, caving,
gliding, orienteering, potholing, & mountain biking. It is a superb place for our
various team building and staff development training courses - and as we have
exclusive access and use of a 2,000 acre estate in the wonderful Hope Valley,
Peak Activities Ltd. is the first choice for many well known companies wanting
team challenges, corporate events and private management development training
programmes.
Places to eat and stay in and around HATHERSAGE...
Accommodation in and around Hathersage includes numerous hotels & inns,
B&B's farmhouses, and camping sites. There are several tried and tested
conference centres nearby too.
PUBS & INNS IN HATHERSAGE....
The Millstone Inn, the Plough, the Scotsman's Pack and
the Little John Inn are just a few of the many attractions
for people staying over in Hathersage. If you like the
atmosphere of traditional inns and pub food and their
hospitality you'll enjoy visiting the many charming inns in
and around Hathersage.
The Plough Inn (left) & Scotsman Pack Inn (right) - two of the many places to eat & stay in Hathersage.
Within a three mile radius of the village centre there are no less than
eight pubs, several smart hotels, dozens of guest-houses ( known as
B&B's locally) and a good choice of youth hostels, camp sites, camping
barns and several well appointed conference & training centres.
There are some great places to eat in Hathersage including Sangham's
excellent Indian Balti Restaurant and Sintra's cafe and restaurant.
Longlands is a pleasant place to eat over one of the climbing shops.
The Hathersage Pool Cafe provide a great venue for those looking for
good low cost meals.
The George Hotel is a three star Best Western hotel in Hathersage
is just 80 metres from our centre. We have had hundreds of customers
staying at this hotel over the past 28+ years that we've been running
successful training events from Rock Lea. If you are booked into our
centre for activities you can phone us on 01433-650345 and we can
often arrange special rates for our groups of guests staying at such
local hotels.
Snake Pass Inn A57
The surrounding Hope Valley has many really pleasant
inns and pubs offering good food and hospitality. One of
our favourite remoter inns is the Snake Pass Inn on the
Snake Road ( A57 ) close to the summit of one of the high
passes between Hathersage and Glossop. This is run by
two very close friends of ours John and Sandra Atkin.
- Whether you're
looking for a nice farmhouse B&B or a well organised
- conference centre
or a luxurious hotel - there's almost every kind of
- accommodation you can think of. One of the advantages of using
- Peak Activities
is that we have
used most of the local accommodation
- options hundreds
of times before - so we know
all the best places to
- stay ( as well
as one or two to avoid too ! ) We can also arrange special
- rates at some
of the venues we regularly use with our clients.
-
.
...
A friendly farmhouse B&B we often recommend.
In and around the village of Hathersage there are lots of
excellent low cost inns, hostels, private camping barns,
lots of great B&B's. farmhouse accommodation, hotels,
camp sites, and lots of other great places where you can
stay on your own or with family or friends. If you're booking
activities with Peak Activities we operate an accommodation
booking helpline - but we regret we cannot help people who
are NOT paying to use our company's tuition services....the
general public wanting help with accommodation need to
contact local tourist information offices for such assistance.
Most of the local TIC's ( Tourist Information Centres ) are also listed
on our links pages. The staff at the tourist information centres are very
professional and very helpful...and it is possible to book & pay for
accommodation via some of the TIC's.
WALKS WITHIN EASY REACH OF OUR BASE IN HATHERSAGE
Close by is the start of the famous Pennine Way in the stunning valley
of Edale and Ladybower Reservoir and the Derwent Dams are just a short
walk from our base here too. By using our centre's fleet of minibuses we
can quickly get our customers all around the local area - and visit places
far from the crowded local honey pots ! The Gritstone crags of Stanage
& Froggatt are just a few minutes away from our centre in Hathersage.
Ladybower Reservoir in the Derwent Valley. Bleaklow's wild moorlands are beyond.
- Our
charming unspoiled stone-built village nestles a short walk beneath
- several
world famous rock-climbing crags such as Stanage Edge,
Gritstone
- Edge,
Burbage & Bamford Edge.
If you've not experienced the Derbyshire Dales and the High Peak before
you'll be very pleasantly surprised at how beautiful the mountain and
moorland and dales scenery can be...constantly changing with the turn
of the seasons. It's a great place for relaxing walks and tougher hikes,
treasure hunts, scrambles, and a terrific place to base residential
courses that call for quiet reflection and a chance to take a fresh
look at things in a new light. Whether you experience the area with
Peak Activities staff in winter or summer, autumn or spring, you'll have
a great time - even if it's raining !
Hathersage's heated swimming pool is open from April to September/October.
..
"CCC" & "Outside" are two of the four excellent outdoor gear shops in the main street of
Hathersage. One new addition is the "Patagonia" shop which now occupies the site of the
old post office just 100 metres from Rock Lea. The main street has numerous shops, banks
estate agents and other shops selling books, fruit, meat and general groceries.
The charming stone built Peakland village of Hathersage sits
above the River Derwent in the spectacular Hope Valley which
runs from Castleton & Mam Tor in the West across to Calver
near Chatsworth House over the East. The village of hathersage
is popular with day visitors and longer stay tourists all year round
and offers our guests a great range of charming inns and pubs,
lots of charming tea shops, cafes, gift shops, and no less than
four excellent outdoor equipment & outdoor clothing stores.
These gear shops sell anoraks, rucksacs, tents, walking poles,
maps, films and skiing equipment. ( Outside, and CCC ).
Our visitors to Hathersage can also enjoy the superb
outdoor swimming pool, some great hotels, a fantastic
Indian Balti restaurant, a delicatessen, & so much more !
Click on the picture below to see links to all the many
different outdoor sports activities now offered from
our popular base Rock Lea by Peak Activities Ltd.
....
The village's post office is now a Patagonia shop. Peak Activities popular base - Rock Lea
If you need a new film, a new waterproof jacket or a postcard,
Hathersage village has lots of shops, including a well stocked
new post office, book & gift shops, a fruit shop, butchers,
a cutlery factory outlet, & a useful pharmacy. Some of the local
shops in Hathersage including the One Stop off licence and the
Spar are open 7 days a week until 10-00 pm.
One of the more unusual buildings to be discovered in
Hathersage is the David Mellor "Round Building" which
sits on the foundations of Hathersage's former gasworks
on the southern edge of the village. This former gas works
site is now a popular destination for visitors celebrating
the life and works of designer and industrialist David Mellor.
Inside this round building with its award winning " floating roof "
is a busy cutlery workshops. Adjacent are a cafe, a shop and
a museum. The building has won prestigious architectural
awards.
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- The
village of Hathersage has many historical connections. Long ago
- it
was the centre of a thriving
business
manufacturing grinding wheels
- using
the local Gritstone rock. The millstone wheel now forms the
- National
Park's logotype. Strings of pack horses
used
to ply back
- and
forth through the village and many of the inns and buildings
date
- back
to the days when thirsty travellers and their animals spent a
- welcome
break in the village before setting off up
into the hills to
- get
over the moors to Sheffield before nightfall.
-
- The
village was the setting for much of the story of Charlotte Bronte's
- Jayne
Eyre story, which was written whilst the authoress stayed in
the
- old
vicarage. In the book Hathersage is described as the village
of "Moreton".
-
-
-
- In
the adjacent church yard Robin Hood's friend
Little John is reputed to be
- buried
in the village's church, and the modern
steel-framed umbrella
was
- invented
in the village in the 1850's when the village had many small
thriving
- metalworking
workshops. Samuel Fox who founded a great
steel
works later
- in
Sheffield once started with a modest mill ( now
demolished
) in the centre
- of
Hathersage which produced pins and nails.
Our centre in Hathersage has several minibuses which are great for getting around
exploring the local area and going from activity site to site. Why spend your time in
a car park of a conference centre when there's the whole National Park to play in ?
GETTING
TO HATHERSAGE IS EASY...
- The
village of Hathersage lies in the wonderful Hope Valley
- which is
in the heart of the beautiful Peak District National Park
- on
the junction of the A6187 (formerly A625) and
the
B6001
- c.
10 miles West of Sheffield. There are
good
road links to the
- M1
to the East ( junction 29 to London and the
South is just
- 16
miles away) and the M6 in the West. Service
buses link the
- village
to Sheffield and nearby market towns such as
Bakewell.
-
-
- click for road
maps
-
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- Hathersage
has a modest railway
station
which lies on
- the
main line between Sheffield to the east and Manchester
- over
in the West. The scenic mountain and moorland views
- seen
from the train coming into Hathersage from either
- direction are
superb. Trains from Sheffield and Manchester
- are
frequent and stop regularly here. Sheffield is a
major
- communications
hub with a main line railway station and an
- adjacent bus
interchange. We are in easy reach of airports.
- Manchester
Ringway airport and East Midlands airport are
- both
within 30 to 50 minutes drive of the centre of Hathersage
- and
we can easily arrange transfers from the airport for clients
- who
require that service. Click here for more travel information.
Clients visiting
Rock Lea frequently fly in to Manchester, Leeds
& East Midlands which are approx one hour away. Liverpool
&
Birmingham airport is about 90 mins drive away. Rock Lea's
own minibuses are available for collecting groups of guests from
the nearby airports. Groups have often used air transport to
Manchester to reduce journey times from the Channel Island and
from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. The journey from the
airport at Manchester can include a scenic trip over the wild
moorland wildernesses of Kinder Scout and Bleaklow.
- Hathersage's
night life revolves around the many local pubs, some
of which offer
pool,
live music, dances, discos, quiz-nights, darts,
pool & unusual sessions of bingo !
For those
with more exotic preferences the modern city of Sheffield
is just a short taxi ride, bus journey or train ride away.
Sheffield offers
late night shopping at the huge Meadowhall shopping mall,
cine-complexes,
a dry skiing slope, hundreds of bars, loads of cinemas, discos
& night clubs.
There's also ice-skating, ten
pin bowling
& several indoor rock climbing
venues for those with excess energy to burn ! ( After a busy
day with our
tutors you might only have enough energy left to go just across the road
into the Little John pub ! ).
-
Weekends and
Days of Caving, Abseiling, Climbing and much more in & around
Hathersage
-
- The Hope Valley...
- Product Index...
-
- A-Z Index to this
website...
- The many sports on
offer at Rock Lea Activity Centre...
-
- MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT
& TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES...
- CORPORATE HOSPITALITY
USING PEAK ACTIVITIES LTD'S SERVICES..
-
-
-
-
- PEAK ACTIVITIES LTD.
- Station Rd, Hathersage,
- Hope
Valley,
- Derbyshire, S32 1DD.
-
-
-
-
- www.peakactivities.com
and www.iain.co.uk
-
- Tel. 01433-650345
& 07771-855105