4 Best Sights in Matlock, Manchester, Liverpool, and the Peak District

A 15-minute drive outside Matlock, this period village includes the National Tramway Museum of Antique Vehicles and a tram restoration workshop with a public viewing gallery. On the vintage streets, you can board old trams that take you to the surrounding countryside and back. Spend your pennies in the old-fashioned sweets shop or ice cream parlor before exploring the woodland walk and play areas.

Few houses in England evoke the late Elizabethan era as vividly as Hardwick Hall, a beautiful stone mansion and walled gardens 10 miles east of Matlock. The vast state apartments well befit their original chatelaine, Bess of Hardwick, who, by marrying a succession of four rich husbands, was second only to Queen Elizabeth in her wealth when work on this house began. Unique patchwork hangings, probably made from clerical copes and altar frontals taken from monasteries and abbeys, grace the entrance hall, and superb 16th- and 17th-century tapestries cover the walls of the main staircase and first-floor High Great Chamber. Access is signposted from Junction 29 of the M1 motorway.

A cable car ride across the River Derwent takes you to this 60-acre country park on the crags above the small village of Matlock Bath. Tickets include access to the woodland walk, nature trails and a willow sculpture trail, guided tours of two caverns and a former lead mine where workers toiled by candlelight, access to the film theater, and use of the audio tour. There are also two adventure playgrounds and a restaurant.

This quaint museum contains a collection of historic carriages, including the last remaining London to Holyhead Royal Mail coach in Britain, dating from around 1826. Trips through the local countryside on some of the carriages are available for £30 per person an hour (booking ahead is advisable).