{"id":31794,"date":"2023-10-25T14:53:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-25T12:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/f9389130-ee70-4842-b974-a869e5075179"},"modified":"2023-10-25T15:39:33","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T13:39:33","slug":"castleton-guide-pubs-things-to-do-and-how-to-visit-the-mysterious-caves-of-blue-john-cavern","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/rss_feed\/castleton-guide-pubs-things-to-do-and-how-to-visit-the-mysterious-caves-of-blue-john-cavern\/","title":{"rendered":"Castleton guide: pubs, things to do and how to visit the mysterious caves of Blue John Cavern"},"content":{"rendered":"

Discover one of the quaintest villages in Britain with our visitor’s guide to Castleton, which includes the best caves to visit, places to eat, drink and stay, and where to walk. <\/p>

By Roly Smith\n <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 25 October 2023 at 12:53 PM<\/p>

\n\n

Castleton\u2019s fame lies in its splendid situation, standing at the head of the beautiful Hope Valley and surrounded by hills which are at the geological junction of the White and Dark Peaks in the Peak District<\/a>. Planning on visiting Castleton? Find out the best things to do, caves to visit and pubs to drink in with our visitor’s guide. <\/p>

Peak District walks<\/a><\/li>
Peak District guide<\/a><\/li>
12 fairytale towns to visit<\/a><\/li><\/ul>
Sunrise from the popular limestone gorge of Winnats Pass above Castleton\/Credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Pubs in Castleton<\/h2>
There are several great inns in Castleton. A good place to start for a pint or pub lunch is the 17^{th<\/sup>-century\u00a0}Castle Hotel<\/a>\u00a0in Castle Street, said to be haunted by a young woman.\u00a0<\/p>
Discover more haunted places<\/a><\/li>
Gorgeous country churches<\/a><\/li><\/ul>
Castleton caves<\/h2>
This little planned township dates from the 12^{th<\/sup>\u00a0century when it was laid out on a grid-iron plan beneath commanding\u00a0}Peveril Castle<\/a>, on its lofty crag between the precipitous gorges of Peak Cavern<\/a> and Cave Dale.\u00a0<\/p>
It is thought that the\u00a0Parish Church of St Edmund\u00a0in Castle Street was built by the same architect who built the castle, and there is certainly a resemblance in the dogtooth ornamentation of the chancel arch.\u00a0<\/p>
Britain’s most incredible castles<\/a><\/li><\/ul>
Today, Castleton depends largely on the tourist trade, and the four famous show caves of\u00a0Peak Cavern, Treak Cliff, Speedwell\u00a0and\u00a0 Blue John<\/a>\u00a0attract thousands of visitors every year.\u00a0<\/p>
<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Learn more about the history of Blue John<\/figcaption><\/figure><p>The oldest of the show caves is\u00a0Peak Cavern, directly beneath Peveril Castle, which is said to have the largest cave entrance in Britain. It recently reverted to its somewhat ruder ancient name of the Devil\u2019s Arse.\u00a0Treak Cliff Cavern, on the now-closed road towards Mam Tor, probably has the finest formations of stalactites and stalagmites, flowstones and illuminated pools.\u00a0<\/p><p>Blue John Cavern, beneath the shifting, landslipped east face of the \u2018Shivering Mountain\u2019 of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.countryfile.com\/go-outdoors\/walks\/walk-mam-tor-derbyshire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mam Tor<\/a>, takes its name from the veins of the unique mineral which is sold as ornaments and jewellery in the town\u2019s many trinket shops.\u00a0<\/p><p>Speedwell Cavern, uniquely reached by boat via an underground canal, is at the foot of the\u00a0Winnats Pass, a spectacular dry limestone gorge which, since the collapse of the Mam Tor road, carries the main road from Chapel-en-le-Frith into Castleton.<\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"689\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/02\/YHA-Castleton-e351085.jpg\" alt=\"Rural hostel\" class=\"wp-image-109207\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">YHA Castleton is an affordable place to stay for anyone visiting Castleton\/Credit: David Hallam-Jones Geograph<\/figcaption><\/figure><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><h2>Castleton walks<\/h2><p>The short, stepped and paved walk up from the National Park\u2019s Mam Nick car park to the 1,696-ft summit of\u00a0Mam Tor, just outside Castleton, takes you through the ramparts of one of the largest and highest Iron Age hillforts in the Pennines. Your reward is one of the finest views in the Peak.<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.countryfile.com\/go-outdoors\/walks\/walk-mam-tor-derbyshire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mam Tor walk<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.countryfile.com\/go-outdoors\/walks\/walk-castleton-derbyshire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Castleton walk<\/a><\/li><\/ul> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Discover one of the quaintest villages in Britain with our visitor’s guide to Castleton, which includes the best caves to visit, places to eat, drink and stay, and where to walk. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":31795,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/castleton-guide-pubs-things-to-do-and-how-to-visit-the-mysterious-caves-of-blue-john-cavern.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/castleton-guide-pubs-things-to-do-and-how-to-visit-the-mysterious-caves-of-blue-john-cavern-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/castleton-guide-pubs-things-to-do-and-how-to-visit-the-mysterious-caves-of-blue-john-cavern-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/castleton-guide-pubs-things-to-do-and-how-to-visit-the-mysterious-caves-of-blue-john-cavern-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/castleton-guide-pubs-things-to-do-and-how-to-visit-the-mysterious-caves-of-blue-john-cavern-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/castleton-guide-pubs-things-to-do-and-how-to-visit-the-mysterious-caves-of-blue-john-cavern-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/castleton-guide-pubs-things-to-do-and-how-to-visit-the-mysterious-caves-of-blue-john-cavern-2048x1366.jpg",2048,1366,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Discover one of the quaintest villages in Britain with our visitor's guide to Castleton, which includes the best caves to visit, places to eat, drink and stay, and where to walk.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/31794"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}