Alfreton - This mining town is attractive, with a fine church, pleasing main street and attractive old houses. Leisure Centre and swimming pool. A mansion, Alfreton Hall, is converted into a local government offices. Petroleum was first obtained from a coal seam in a mine nearby at Riddings.

Ashbourne - Twenty miles east of Stoke-on-Trent. A beautiful old-world town near Dovedale, gateway to the Peak District, often visited by Dr. Samuel Johnson. 16th century Grammar School, almshouses, Green Man" Inn, and monuments in the Early English church. This is Adam Bede's country. On Shrove Tuesday, on a field three miles long, the inhabitants turn out to play a massed game of football.

Bakewell - An extremely attractive greystone market town, famous for its tarts. River Wye spanned by old bridge. Headquarters of the Peak District National Park. Nearby are medieval Haddon Hall and 18th century Chatsworth House.

Belper - A cotton-mill town on the Derwent, with a 13th century chapel. Once used as the larder for the salting of the venison of Duffield Forest. It was owing to the efforts of Jedediah Strutt in 1775, who utilised the water-power of the river, that the great cotton mills came into being.

Buxton - An inland health resort at an altitude of 1,000 feet with curative waters, used by the Romans. A fine crescent, built by the Duke of Devonshire. The hospital, once the Duke's riding-school, has a dome larger than St. Peter's, Rome, or The Pantheon, Paris. Victorian Pump Room now has an exhibition on microscopic phenomena. Poole's cavern extends for nearly half a mile under the hills. A wonderful centre for exploring Dovedale, the Peak, Haddon Hall, and the Derbyshire Dales.

Dronfield - Important market and industrial town located between Sheffield and Chesterfield.

Glossop - A town (and village) to east of Manchester of cotton mills set at the foot of the Peak District. An excellent centre for exploring Kinder Scout, and the other heights of the Peak. Pennine Way passes close to the town. Snake Pass follows a Roman road over to Hope Valley. Heritage Centre.

Hope Valley - Set in the glorious northern end of the Peak District National Park, the Hope Valley is a cluster of attractive villages, each with fascinating history. Glorious walking country, show caverns and an abundance of stately homes.

Matlock - Eighteen miles north of Derby. A popular inland spa situated in the Derwent valley, in a rocky gorge of great beauty with high hills rising on every side. Fine views from Heights of Abraham (cable car available). Huge caverns remain for lead mining. Peak Railway follows valley to north, while to south is famous Arkwright's Mill at Cromford the first water powered cotton mill, now a museum. Nearby is Winster, a lead mining village of great beauty and antiquity.

Ripley - Industrialised former market town to north east of Nottingham. Steam railway at the Great Midland Centre. Nearby are the Crich National Tramway Museum and at Eastwood the D H Lawrence Birthplace.

Swadlincote - Close to the Leicestershire and Staffordshire borders this former Derbyshire coalmining town has been successful in attracting modern manufacturing (eg Toyota car making). Near Swadlincote is the National Trust property Calke Abbey, and much of the countryside south of the town is being turned into the new National Forest. A ski centre is a major attraction.