Best Hidden Gems in Derbyshire
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The best hidden gems in Derbyshire are Solomon’s Temple, Chrome Hill, Blue John Cavern, Robin’s Hood Stride, Old East Buxton Monsail Lime Kilns, Alport Castles, Reynard’s Cave and Thorpe Cloud.
Derbyshire and the Peak District pack an extraordinary variety of landscape into a small compass, from limestone dales and gritstone edges to show caves and hilltop follies, and its best hidden gems lie scattered well beyond the honeypots. Above Buxton, Solomon's Temple crowns a Bronze Age mound with wide views, while the jagged Dragon's Back of Chrome Hill rears over the upper Dove valley.
Underground, Blue John Cavern still works its banded ornamental stone near Castleton, and out on the moors Robin's Hood Stride and Alport Castles offer weathered rock and one of Britain's largest inland landslips. Walkers on the Monsal Trail pass the ruined East Buxton lime kilns, while in Dovedale the rock arch of Reynard's Cave and the cone of Thorpe Cloud reward a scramble and a climb.
Some need care, a concessionary path or a long moorland walk. Here are eight of the best hidden gems to seek out in Derbyshire.
Solomon’s Temple
Photo: John Myers via Geograph.org.uk
Solomon’s Temple, also called Grinlow Tower, is a small Victorian folly on the hilltop of Grin Low above the spa town of Buxton. It stands on top of a Bronze Age burial mound, a two-storey stone tower with an open top reached by an internal stair, giving wide views over Buxton and the Peak District.
It was built in the 1890s, paid for by public subscription and named after a local man, Solomon Mycock, on whose land an earlier tower had stood, partly to give work to the unemployed. Reached on a short walk up through the country park woods, it is free and open.
Seek it out for the climb and the view from the top.
Chrome Hill
Photo: Bill Boaden via Geograph.org.uk
Chrome Hill is a steep, narrow limestone ridge in the upper Dove valley on the Derbyshire and Staffordshire border, its jagged skyline earning the nickname the Dragon's Back. It began as a reef in a tropical sea some 330 million years ago and now stands as a sharp hump above the fields, often walked together with its smaller neighbour Parkhouse Hill as a scrambly ridge with wide valley views.
There is no ordinary right of way to the top; a concessionary path allows access. It is part of a protected geological and grassland site.
Seek it out by the concessionary route, and take the scramble carefully.
Blue John Cavern
Photo: Darren Haddock via Geograph.org.uk
Blue John Cavern is a show cave on the western flank of Mam Tor, at the head of Winnats Pass near Castleton in the Peak District. It is one of only two places where the banded blue and purple ornamental stone called Blue John is still worked, the other being nearby Treak Cliff Cavern.
Guided tours descend a steep passage into natural chambers past the historic Blue John veins, with the cave holding a steady cool temperature year-round. There is a gift shop on site, and it opened to visitors around 1800.
Seek it out on a guided tour and wrap up for the cool air below.
Robin’s Hood Stride
Photo: Andrew Hill via Geograph.org.uk
Robin’s Hood Stride is a weathered gritstone outcrop on the moors between the villages of Elton and Birchover in the Peak District, crowned by two tall pinnacles at either end. The wide gap between them, the Weasel and the Inaccessible, gives the rock its name, from a legend that Robin Hood stepped from one to the other.
It is a favourite for scrambling and short rock climbs, and stands on an ancient trackway with the small stone circle of Nine Stones Close in the field just below. Rising to around 250 metres, it gives wide views over the surrounding country.
Seek it out for the pinnacles, the circle and the moorland outlook.
Old East Buxton Monsail Lime Kilns
Photo: Ashley Dace via Geograph.org.uk
Old East Buxton Monsail Lime Kilns are a tall, ruined bank of Victorian lime kilns set into a buttressed stone wall beside the Monsal Trail, near the old Miller's Dale station in the Peak District. Walkers and cyclists on the level, traffic-free trail, a former railway line, pass right in front of the arched kiln openings.
Limestone was burned here to make quicklime, carried away by rail for use in industry and on the land. The kilns are now part of a wildlife reserve, their buttresses fitted with nest boxes and their stonework slowly taken over by woodland.
Seek them out on foot or by bike along the Monsal Trail.
Alport Castles
Photo: Stephen Burton via Geograph.org.uk
Alport Castles is not a castle at all but a huge landslip on the side of a remote valley in the Dark Peak, north of the Snake Pass. Great blocks of gritstone have slipped down the hillside over thousands of years, and from a distance the broken shapes look like the ruins of a fortress.
The standout piece is the Tower, a mass of rock left standing below the main scar, resembling a motte with a keep on top. Reaching it means a long walk over open moorland, several miles from the nearest road, so it stays quiet, its loose rock left to nesting ravens and peregrines.
Seek it out on a long, well-prepared moorland walk.
Reynard’s Cave
Photo: Mat Fascione via Geograph.org.uk
Reynard’s Cave is a large natural limestone cave fronted by a free-standing rock arch, set high on the valley side above the River Dove in Dovedale, in the Derbyshire Peak District. The river cutting down through the limestone over thousands of years opened up the older cavern, and the arch now frames views back over the dale.
It is reached from the stepping stones and the Lover's Leap steps, then a short, steep scramble up. A neighbouring cave produced a notable hoard of Iron Age and Roman coins in 2014.
Seek it out with sturdy footwear for the scramble to the arch.
Thorpe Cloud
Photo: Mark Percy via Geograph.org.uk
Thorpe Cloud is a steep, cone-shaped limestone hill standing at the mouth of Dovedale in the Peak District, on the Derbyshire and Staffordshire border between Thorpe and Ilam. Its rounded 287-metre summit is a short but sharp climb from the dale and a well-known viewpoint up Dovedale and out over the surrounding country.
It is National Trust land, and the celebrated Dovedale stepping stones cross the River Dove at its foot. Seek it out for a quick, steep ascent and one of the finest views over the dale.
FAQs
What is the best hidden gem in Derbyshire for a view?
Solomon's Temple above Buxton and Thorpe Cloud at the mouth of Dovedale both reward the climb with wide views, one over the town and Peak District, the other up the dale. Robin's Hood Stride and Chrome Hill also give sweeping moorland and valley outlooks.
Do you need permission to walk up Chrome Hill?
Chrome Hill has no ordinary right of way to its top. Access is by a concessionary path across a protected geological and grassland site, so keep to the permitted route and take the scramble carefully.
Can you visit Blue John Cavern without a tour?
No. Blue John Cavern is seen on guided tours, which descend a steep passage into the natural chambers past the Blue John veins. The cave stays cool year-round, so bring a layer even in summer.
Conclusion
Derbyshire's best hidden gems run from hilltop follies and show caves to landslips, lime kilns and the sharp limestone hills of the dales, each with its own character. Some are easy and open, like Solomon's Temple above Buxton and the lime kilns beside the Monsal Trail, while others ask more of you, a guided tour into Blue John Cavern, a concessionary path up Chrome Hill, a scramble to Reynard's Cave, or a long moorland walk out to Alport Castles.
Take note of the access and the ground before you set off, wear the right footwear and go prepared for the weather. Between them they capture the Peak District at its most varied and rewarding, above and below ground.
Whether you manage one or work through all eight, these are the best hidden gems to seek out in Derbyshire.
