The Peak District National Park's wild, rolling hills (despite the name, there are no mountain peaks) attract many walkers and hikers. Located 20 mi/30 km southeast of Manchester, the park stretches across the southern part of the Pennines and beautiful sheltered valleys, among which Dovedale is outstanding. The longest and most challenging footpath in the country—the 250-mi/415-km Pennine Way—runs from there northward to the Scottish border.
Within the park are some of the most exquisite and stately homes in the country, including Haddon Hall and Chatsworth (the Duke of Devonshire's magnificent baroque mansion) near Bakewell. If you'd rather explore natural chambers, the area around Castleton has a handful of caves that are open to the public, and Poole's Cavern outside Buxton is also spectacular.
Sheffield, located on the edge of the park, is noted for its Winter Garden (the largest temperate greenhouse in a European city) and Magna, an attraction that fuses the city's steelmaking history with scientific adventure.
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