Experience the best of Castleton

Castleton sits in the Hope Valley in the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire, a village of stone cottages ringed by hills. Peveril Castle, a Norman fortress begun in the eleventh century, stands on a crag above it, its keep on the cliff edge. To the west, Mam Tor, the Shivering Mountain, so called for its crumbling shale face, rises to 517 metres, and the Great Ridge path leads from its summit to Lose Hill.

Four show caves lie around the village. Peak Cavern has the largest natural cave entrance in Britain and once sheltered rope-makers, Speedwell Cavern is reached by boat along a flooded tunnel, and Blue John and Treak Cliff caverns yield Blue John, a banded purple-blue fluorspar found only here. Winnats Pass, a limestone gorge, runs to the west, and Edale, the start of the Pennine Way, is a short drive north-west.

Each 29 May the Garland Ceremony sends a rider through the village wearing a tall frame of flowers. Derbyshire pubs serve hearty dishes, and Bakewell pudding is the county's sweet. The weather is changeable, with mist on the tops.