Darwin Forest Country Park Walks – Bakewell To Chatsworth House

Darwin Forest Country Park Walks – Bakewell To Chatsworth House

This is an 8.5 mile circular walking route from Bakewell to Chatsworth House in the Peak District National Park.

From our base at Darwin Forest Country Park we drove 15 minutes up to Bakewell and parked in the large car park at The Brooklands.

We then followed the signposts to the Monsal Trail behind the sports centre, through housing and then walking left at the next signpost gently up the track to a stile by the bridge.

We crossed over the bridge and then went immediately left down the steps to join the Monsal Trail, signposted to Wye Vale.

Darwin Forest Country Park Walks – Bakewell To Chatsworth House – Bridge Down To The Monsal Trail

We continued our walk along this gentle track passing under another bridge and at the next bridge we walked right up some steps to join the A619.

We crossed over the road and walked left and then right at the first lane all the way to Ball Cross Wood.

After a short break on the bench we walked left up the lane passed Ballcross Farm all the way to the next fork in the lanes where we enjoyed the views.

Darwin Forest Country Park Walks – Bakewell To Chatsworth House – Edensor

We walked right down the track all the way to Edensor where we stopped for another break under the tree of the church green to admire the church itself and the gateway to Chatsworth House.

We then crossed over the road to the main pathway to Chatsworth House.

Darwin Forest Country Park Walks – Bakewell To Chatsworth House – Tedi

Darwin Forest Country Park Walks – Bakewell To Chatsworth House – View From The Bridge

We continued our walk right at the bridge and followed the river passed the first weir. At the second weir we stopped for lunch as Tedi ran up and down the hills at Calton Lees – I really don’t know where he gets his energy from!

Darwin Forest Country Park Walks – Bakewell To Chatsworth House – Calton Lees

We then walked uphill from the picnic benches to cross the stream and walk left along side the car park to continue our walk straight ahead where we then joined the track all the way to Calton Houses.

We walked through the houses and then up to the top of Calton Pastures where we continued our walk left along the wide grassy path to a large pond.

Darwin Forest Country Park Walks – Bakewell To Chatsworth House – The View Back To Calton Lees

We walked left around the pond, through the gate and followed the signpost back to Bakewell.

Darwin Forest Country Park Walks – Bakewell To Chatsworth House – Back To Bakewell

At the gate we entered Manners Wood and followed the rocky track as it zig zagged down all the way to the golf course where we then rejoined the earlier track back to the bridge.

We retraced our steps following the Monsal Trail signposts back to the car park, 4.5 hours after we started!