Peak District, GB

A country-house dining room in an Edwardian hall near Baslow holding a Michelin Plate and three AA rosettes for refined modern British tasting menus. This is the region's special-occasion table, with kitchen-garden produce and a serious wine list.

A two-rosette restaurant inside a riverside hotel at Ashford-in-the-Water, doing seasonal modern British plates with Peak District produce. Quiet, polished and made for a long dinner; the breakfast has its own following.

A family-run modern British spot in a basement room beside the River Derwent in Matlock, with a riverside terrace for warm evenings. Inventive seasonal cooking that punches above the town and lands in the Michelin Guide.

A family-run French restaurant in central Bakewell from career chefs Eric and Christiana Piedaniel, known for great-value classical cooking and a deep gin and wine list. Elegant but unstuffy, and consistently the town's top-rated table.

A stone village pub in Hayfield in the high north Peak, run as a proper gastropub with real ales and refined plates that put it on the UK's top-50 gastropubs list. Walkers and food-trippers both end up here after Kinder Scout.

A characterful old inn at Whitehough near Chinley with a huge real-ale range and hearty, well-made pub food in a warren of cosy rooms. It connects to the sister Paper Mill Inn next door, so there is plenty of space and beer.

A 17th-century inn on the green of the tiny hamlet of Foolow near Eyam, full of beams and open fires, serving generous classic pub food. The kind of out-of-the-way local that rewards the drive with character and value.

The traditional pub in the heart of Castleton, all stone and fires inside with a beer garden looking up at Mam Tor and Peveril Castle. The default refuel after the caverns or the Great Ridge, with solid pub plates and local ales.

A two-rosette restaurant in the village of Tideswell doing modern British plates and a tiered afternoon tea from local suppliers. A genuine dining destination in a part of the White Peak that is otherwise short on them.

A long-running independent Indian restaurant in Hathersage (with a Matlock sibling), doing North Indian cooking with a bit of Bollywood flair. The go-to curry house in the Hope Valley after a day on Stanage.

A small Buxton pizzeria turning out Neapolitan pies with 48-hour fermented dough from a wood-fired brick oven. Dog-friendly, independent and easily the town's best pizza for a relaxed evening.

Hathersage's favourite daytime deli-cafe, doing proper coffee, sandwiches, salads and hot dishes to eat in or grab for the hills. The reliable lunch and provisioning stop before a Stanage or Hope Valley walk.

A long-standing Castleton tearoom right at the village crossroads, doing big breakfasts, home baking and cream teas with a view over the Derbyshire dales. Unfussy, well-priced and exactly what you want before or after a cavern.

A home-cooking tearoom in the plague village of Eyam serving breakfasts, light lunches, cakes and cream teas, with proper gluten-free and vegan menus. The natural pairing with the village's history walk.

A daytime kitchen and bar in Hathersage built for long brunches and relaxed lunches, with a garden and waterside terrace and an evening restaurant programme. A more contemporary spin than the village's traditional tearooms.

The Bakewell pudding spot trading in the town since the 1800s, where the puff-pastry, jam and almond pudding was supposedly invented by accident. Buy a boxed pudding to take away or sit upstairs in the cafe for one warm with custard.

A family-run Thai restaurant in central Buxton trading since 2004, doing authentic, fresh-tasting plates with strong vegetarian and gluten-free choice. The reliable change-of-pace dinner in a town otherwise built on pub food and tearooms.

A flat, traffic-free rail trail along the old Midland line between Bakewell and Blackwell Mill, running through lit tunnels and over the Headstone Viaduct above the Wye. The easiest long walk or cycle in the area, with cafe stops along the way.

A short, easy riverside loop in the south of the park crossing the River Dove on the famous stepping stones beneath the cone of Thorpe Cloud. Roughly three miles, family-friendly, and one of the prettiest dale walks for the effort.

A moderate gritstone-edge walk above Hathersage, roughly six miles, along the top of the climbers' crag with constant views over the Hope Valley. Boulders and millstones make it more interesting than a typical ridge stroll.

The signature ridge walk of the Peak District, looping from Castleton over Mam Tor along the Great Ridge to Lose Hill, about six miles with a steep early climb. Continuous valley panoramas on both sides once you gain the ridge.

The hard day out from Edale up the stone steps of Jacob's Ladder onto the Kinder Scout plateau, about eight miles of moorland with serious elevation. The plateau is wild and featureless, so it demands fitness and navigation.

A short, easy woodland loop above Buxton climbing through Grin Low to the Victorian folly tower for a town-and-moors panorama. Around two miles from the Poole's Cavern car park, doable in an hour.

A sharp little circuit from Castleton up the Winnats Pass gorge and back down the limestone gully of Cave Dale beneath Peveril Castle. Around four miles but steep, packing in dramatic rock scenery for the distance.

An 18th-century lead mine at the foot of Winnats Pass where the tour is by boat, gliding along a flooded underground canal to the Bottomless Pit cavern. A genuinely different cavern experience and a solid rainy-day plan near Castleton.

A working Blue John mine above Castleton with some of the finest stalactite formations in the Peak, including the Fairyland and Dome of St Paul's chambers. The Blue John stone here is mined nowhere else in the world.

A two-million-year-old natural limestone cave on the edge of Buxton, dog-friendly and set in a wooded country park with the Solomon's Temple walk above. The guided tour covers Roman finds and dramatic chambers, good for families and rainy days.

A hilltop country park above Matlock Bath reached by cable car over the Derwent gorge, with show caverns, woodland trails and viewpoints once you are up top. A full half-day out that is especially good with kids.

A jewel-box Edwardian theatre designed by Frank Matcham in the heart of Buxton, with a year-round programme of drama, music, opera and cinema. The auditorium alone is worth a ticket, all gilt and painted ceilings.

The brewery tap on the edge of Bakewell from one of the region's best-known independent breweries, pouring the full range fresh with wood-fired pizza alongside. A relaxed, grown-up evening just off the town centre.

Known locally as the Devil's Arse, this is said to be the largest natural cave entrance in Britain, set in a gorge behind Castleton with the remains of a rope-makers' village inside. The guided walk-through tour is theatrical and family-friendly.

Beyond the house, the Chatsworth estate runs a year-round events calendar, an adventure playground and working farmyard, and a much-loved farm shop, making it a full day out rather than a single attraction. The grounds suit kids, dog walks and grown-up garden wandering alike.

The Cavendish family's vast stately home near Bakewell, with a painted hall, sculpture gallery and a 105-acre garden built around the gravity-fed Emperor Fountain and Cascade. The grounds and farmyard keep kids busy while the house handles the grown-ups, and the parkland beyond the pay barrier is free to roam.

The 517m 'Shivering Mountain' above Castleton, named for the landslips that keep crumbling its eastern face. A paved path from the Mam Nick car park gets you to a Bronze Age hillfort summit with the whole Hope and Edale valleys laid out below.

A narrow limestone gorge of jagged pinnacles that the road threads through just west of Castleton, the remains of a reef from a tropical sea. It is dramatic from the car but better on foot, with Speedwell Cavern sitting at its foot.

A four-mile gritstone escarpment above Hathersage that is the spiritual home of British rock climbing, lined with old millstones abandoned mid-quarry. Even non-climbers come for the flat-topped edge walk and the view over the Hope Valley.

The viewpoint where you look straight down onto the Headstone Viaduct arcing across the Wye valley, with a pub and cafe right at the parking. It is the postcard view of the White Peak and the start of the best stretch of the Monsal Trail.

One of England's earliest Norman fortresses, perched on the crag directly above Castleton with a square keep added by Henry II. The climb up is steep but the ruins frame Cave Dale and the whole village below.

The small museum telling how the village of Eyam quarantined itself during the 1665 plague to stop the spread, with the cottages and boundary stones still marked around the village. A sobering, specific bit of history rather than scenery.

A small Victorian folly tower on Grin Low above Buxton, built over a Bronze Age burial mound, with a short climb to a 360-degree view over the town and moors. An easy half-hour leg-stretch from the Poole's Cavern car park.

The Peak District's only weekly market, around 140 stalls of produce, cheese, bread, plants and bric-a-brac filling Bakewell's market place every Monday. The town hums on market day with the cafes, delis and pudding shops all busy.