Cheap Self Catering in Derbyshire

The hilly county of Derbyshire is occupied mainly by the Pennine Hills and Peak District National Park. The River Trent crosses the county in the south and the Grand Junction Canal crosses the southernmost part of the county on its way to the Mersey River.

The Peak District area is sprinkled with pretty villages, limestone caves, historic sights and beautiful scenery. There are many good walking and cycling tracks in the area including the southern end of the Pennine Way.

Stone Age people are known to have inhabited limestone caves at Creswell Crags, and several early Bronze Age burial chambers carved into the limestone rock have been identified in the north east of the county.

Derbyshire was settled by the Danish Angles in the 6th century. After the Norman Conquest a large part of the county was granted to William Peverel but later passed to the Crown.

Largely rural until the 18th century, Derbyshire played an important part in the Industrial Revolution, when textile mills producing silk and cotton became the largest local employers. The production of porcelain began in Derby in the middle of the 18th century, and the area produced figures, fine tableware and ornamental wares known as Royal Crown Derby.