2 Best Sights in Bakewell, Manchester, Liverpool, and the Peak District

The United Kingdom's first-ever national park (inaugurated in 1951, paving the way for a further nine parks), the Peak District provides a wild green space for the estimated 20 million people who live within an hour’s journey of it, including the inhabitants of Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent, as well as for millions of visitors from outside the area. Located mostly in northern Derbyshire but including parts of Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, Cheshire, and Yorkshire, the national park is generally divided into the Dark Peak (gritstone moorlands) and the White Peak (limestone), but it has a remarkable diversity of landscapes that make it popular with hikers, cyclists, climbers, and cavers.

It's also much-loved for the spa towns, country houses, and heritage sites that are found within the park itself. Visitor centers with information on outdoor activities in the region can be found in Bakewell, Castleton, Derwent, and Edale. Public transport is patchy; it's best explored by car.

One of England's greatest country houses, the "Palace of the Peak" is the ancestral home of the dukes of Devonshire and stands in vast parkland grazed by deer and sheep. Originally an Elizabethan house, it was altered over several generations starting in 1686 and now has a hodgepodge look, though the Palladian facade remains untouched. It's surrounded by woods, gardens, greenhouses, rock gardens, and a water cascade—all designed by Capability Brown in the 18th century and, in the 19th, Joseph Paxton, an engineer as well as a brilliant gardener. Plan on a half day to explore the grounds; avoid Sunday if you can, as it gets very crowded.

Inside are intricate carvings, superb furniture, van Dyck portraits, Sir Joshua Reynolds's Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire and Her Baby, John Singer Sargent's enormous Acheson Sisters, and fabulous rooms, including the Sculpture Gallery, the library, and the Painted Hall. On the estate, you'll also find a working farm with milking demonstrations, an adventure playground, cafés, restaurants, a tea shop, and a farm shop; you can even stay in several cottages scattered throughout the grounds.