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Ashbourne
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Elegant Ashbourne

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Nearby Dovedale

Location: Ashbourne
County: Derbyshire
Telephone - please mention Let's Stay Peak District: (Tourist information/brochures etc) - (01335) 343666
Activities:
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Attractions:
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Website: http://www.peakdistrict-nationalpark.com/tourist/Ashbourne.html

Area Guides:
Ashbourne


Details: Ashbourne mini holiday guide - featuring Ashbourne holiday accommodation, town guide and tourist information. - Ashbourne hotels, Ashbourne holiday cottages, Ashbourne b&b, pubs, campsites, restaurants and much more -

Ashbourne holidays: click here to view the holiday accommodation listings for Ashbourne, Derbyshire

Elegant Ashbourne
Travelling from the south, elegant Ashbourne is the gateway to the Peak National Park. A thriving market town, Ashbourne is also architecturally impressive, boasting many fine Georgian buildings, and makes an excellent base for touring the southern Peak and the Staffordshire moorlands.

Ashbourne's main street has been described as architecturally the best in Derbyshire, and its crowning glory is the church of St Oswald which the novelist George Eliot wrote of as 'the finest mere parish church in the Kingdom';

To visit Ashbourne and to miss St Oswald's would be a crime - featuring an elegant 212 foot spire it houses the tombs of many of the area's medieval nobility, particularly the Cockaynes, and also the breathtakingly beautiful monument sculpted by Thomas Banks to Penelope Boothby, the daughter of a local aristocrat who died in 1791 aged just five years.

St John Street is the town's main thoroughfare and features one of the country's few remaining gallows-style inn signs at the famous Green Man and Black's Head Royal Hotel. Ashbourne is also well known for high quality shopping, including several antique shops and the Derwent Crystal workshops.

The twice weekly market makes a colourful addition to shopping opportunities.

Though the town itself is delightful and rewarding, Ashbourne's location is perhaps its best feature for the tourist. Dove Dale, the Manifold Valley, the Tissington Trail, and the Limestone Way are all easily accessed from Ashbourne and between them provide some of the best and most visually appealing walking in the country.

Tissington Trail
Unspoilt villages, many of them charming tiny hamlets surround the town, make this an excellent territory for discovering country pubs and restaurants.

Dovedale and the Manifold Valley
Ashbourne provides an excellent base for touring the southern area of the Peak Park - especially if your intention is to explore the dramatic limestone dales of the Dove and the Manifold - and is also an interesting town to visit or the day. It is also the major centre within the trout angling country made famous by Izaak Walton.

Ashbourne is, except during those amazing football matches, a quieter venue than Bakewell, Matlock or Buxton and, being surrounded by many tiny and picturesque villages, provides ample opportunity to really get away from the crowds.

Alton Towers
On the other hand if Ashbourne is your choice and you have children, Derby, Nottingham and Alton Towers are close at hand and the nearby reservoir of Carsington Water supplies a host of possibilities including watersports.

A walk along the Tissington Trail to Hartington is especially rewarding - the village of Hartington has a selection of pubs and tea rooms, its own brewery, and, of course, is home to the famous Hartington Stilton cheese, making it Britain's premier venue for a ploughman's lunch!

Ashbourne is also famed for its unruly tradition of Shrovetide football, held each year on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wedneday. Find a good vantage point early, and stick to it!

Facilities
Bank: Yes.
Shops: Yes, plenty.
Pubs: Many

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Another Peak District Tourist Guide listing created by Let's Stay Peak District - Tel: 01629 640 640.