Most pitches on the site are very sunny but it can be very windy despite being in an old quarry. You approach the site through the country park which is just lovely and a 15 minute walk through the country park brings you to the Broadwalk which takes you into Buxton. Take the path up towards Solomon's temple and then follow the signs to Poole Cavern. This takes you down through the woods. Take Temple Road opposite the car park to the cavern and follow it down to the bottom. The Broadwalk is on the other side of the road. It's up hill most of the way back! The Temple is well worth a visit as you can go inside and climb to the top to see stunning views.
Buxton has a great park - well kept and full of things to see and do. There are great play parks for the kids - all ages and on the weekends there is something going on usually outside of the Pavilion. There are plenty of ducks to feed and squirrels and a lovely river running through. There are a good variety of shops including M&S, Waitrose etc and a market a couple of times a week. The main High Street has all the usual places - Boots, Costa Coffee and is pedestrianised. There is a Morrisons on the outskirts of town and a small co-op and Sainsburys.
The reservoirs are well worth a visit - they are beautiful and take you through stunning countryside.
The Monsal Trail is AMAZING ! A fairly easy bike ride that takes you through long tunnels and through stunning countryside. We rode all the way along to Bakewell where we spent an interesting few hours. The church is worth a visit, they have some very old stone carvings and a lot of local history. There are plenty of places on route to stop and eat/picnic and enjoy the views. It's about 9.5 miles each way if you do the whole thing. Parking is well signposted but finding a leaflet nearly impossible. Best to print something off before you go. Here is a link
http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/visiting/trails/monsaltrail
The Tissington Trail is also very good, but very different, open countryside rather than tunnels. We rode from Parsley Hay to Tissington. Tissington is a super little place, with an interesting church (look for the gravestone of the man that died on the Titanic), a lovely coffee shop, duck pond and Edward & Vintage sweet shop. There are also 6 wells - and Tissington is the home of well dressing apparently!
No 6 The Square in Buxton has the most huge pieces of cake and wonderful coffee and well worth a visit - a real old fashioned tea house.
The wardens at the time of our visit were super helpful and friendly and really made us feel welcome. There is only one toilet block so bear in mind it's a fair jaunt to the toilet block if you are down the far end of the site. There is a lovely play park for the children but no dog walk although the country park is only a skip from the gate. Fish and chip van comes Saturday night - they were ok but a very long wait for them to cook!
A great base for the Peak District.
