Dovedale

Thorpe Cloud is an isolated limestone hill (a reef knoll) lying between the villages of Thorpe and Ilam on the Derbyshire/Staffordshire border at the southern end of Dovedale. It is a popular hill amongst the many day-trippers who visit the area, and provides a fine viewpoint north up the dale and south across the Midland plain. Like much of the dale, including Bunster Hill on the opposite bank, it is in the ownership of the National Trust, and is part of their South Peak Estate. These Dovedale properties were acquired by the Trust in 1934. A double sunset can sometimes be seen against Thorpe Cloud from the top of nearby Lin Dale, as captured on film by the photographer Chris Doherty. The occurrence is visible in good weather on and around the summer solstice and perhaps beyond, when the sun sets on the summit of the hill, partially reappears from its steep northern slope and sets for a second and final time shortly afterwards.Thorpe Cloud and Dovedale were used as locations in the 2010 film of Robin Hood, starring Russell Crowe. Thorpe Cloud can be clearly made out in several scenes towards the end of the film. Thorpe Cloud also has a rifle range which local and national shooting clubs use.

The River Manifold is a river in Staffordshire, England. It is a tributary of the River Dove (which also flows through the Peak District, forming the boundary between Derbyshire and Staffordshire). The Manifold rises at Flash Head just south of Buxton near Axe Edge, at the northern edge of the White Peak, known for its limestone beds. It continues for 12 miles (19 km) before it joins the Dove. For part of its course, it runs underground (except when in spate), from Wetton Mill to Ilam. During this section it is joined by its major tributary, the River Hamps. Villages on the river include Longnor, Hulme End and Ilam. Its name may come from Anglo-Saxon manig-fald = "many folds", referring to its meanders.

Thorpe is a village and civil parish in the English county of Derbyshire; it is on the Derbyshire/Staffordshire border, on the east bank of the River Dove, about four miles north of Ashbourne. The population of the civil parish as at the 2011 census was 183.Thorpe is at the southern end of the Peak District National Park almost at the foot of Thorpe Cloud, and is used by some visitors as a base for exploring Dovedale and the Manifold Valley. The Limestone Way long-distance bridleway passes through Thorpe, as does the Peak District Boundary Walk.The Dovedale Dash, a 4¾ mile cross-country running race held annually each November, was first organised here in 1953. It formerly had a railway station, Thorpe Cloud railway station, served by the LNWR Ashbourne to Buxton branch line, which linked with the Cromford and High Peak Railway at Parsley Hay. This former trackbed now forms the long distance Tissington Trail cycle and footpath trail.

Thorpe Cloud railway station was opened in 1899 between the villages of Thorpe and Fenny Bentley in Derbyshire, south east of Buxton.

Ilam ( ) is a village in the Staffordshire Peak District of England, lying on the River Manifold. The population of the civil parish as taken at the 2011 census was 402.

Newton Grange is a civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of central Derbyshire. For administrative purposes it shares a parish council with the neighbouring parish of Eaton and Alsop. When the parish council was instituted in its present form in 1974, the parish contained eight farms (one of which gives the parish its name) and four dwellings. The western boundary of the parish is the River Dove, including the eastern side of part of Dovedale.The A515 road between Buxton and Ashbourne, and the Tissington Trail, a cycleway and footpath following a former railway between the same two towns, run north–south through the parish. The tree-covered bowl barrow of Moat Low, a scheduled monument, is a prominent hilltop landmark to the west of the main road.

Ilam Park is a 158-acre (0.64 km2) country park situated in Ilam, on both banks of the River Manifold five miles (8 km) north west of Ashbourne, England, and in the ownership of the National Trust. The property is managed as part of the Trust's White Peak Estate. (Ashbourne, the 'post town', is in Derbyshire and thus so is Ilam's postal address, but the Park, and Ilam, are in Staffordshire the county boundary being the River Dove). The property consists of Ilam Hall and remnants of its gardens, an ancient semi-natural woodland — Hinkley Wood — designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), noted for its small-leaved and large-leaved limes and their hybrids.

The White Peak Estate (previously known as the South Peak Estate) of the National Trust comprises several land holdings in the Southern Peak District, now referred to as Ilam Park, Dovedale and the White Peak in National Trust publications although administered from the "White Peak Estate Office". The holdings, totaling some 3,600 acres (1,500 ha), are managed from the estate office in Ilam and comprise: Ilam Park, including Ilam Hall which is let to the Youth Hostel Association (YHA) Dovedale from Thorpe Cloud to Wolfscote Dale and Biggin Dale Wetton Hill and Wetton Mill Ossam's Hill Hamps Valley Woodlands (and Beeston Tor) Grindon Moor Ecton Land at Monyash Alsop Moor Stanton Moor Edge Ravenstor YHA Taddington Wood High Weeldon Winster Market House (the National Trust's first property in the Peak District, 1906)Dovedale itself was acquired in 1934, and a string of acquisitions followed until 1938; Wolfscote Dale was acquired in 1948.

The Ashbourne line was a 33+1⁄2 mi (53.9 km) railway from Buxton via Ashbourne to Uttoxeter. It was built by the London and North Western Railway using a section of the Cromford and High Peak Railway (C&HPR) and it joined the North Staffordshire Railway at Ashbourne, proceeding to Uttoxeter with a junction onto the main line at Rocester.

Blore with Swinscoe is a civil parish north-west of Ashbourne, in the Staffordshire Moorlands district of Staffordshire, England, on the edge of the Peak District National Park. According to the 2001 census, it had a population of 123, apparently declining to less than 100 according to the 2011 census. The parish includes Blore and Swinscoe.

Okeover Hall is a privately owned Grade II* listed country house in Okeover, Staffordshire, England. It is the family seat of the Okeover family, who have been in residence since the reign of William Rufus. The house lies close to the border between Staffordshire and Derbyshire, which lies on the far side of the small River Dove. The Hall is not open to the public. The house and manor church (14th century, restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott) were pillaged by the Jacobite forces as they marched south to Swarkstone Bridge in 1745. In 1745–47, Leak Okeover had the old hall enlarged to Palladian designs by a London carpenter and joiner, Joseph Sanderson, a cousin of John Sanderson, the architect. The house is a testament to the high level of education and competence that might be elicited from a well-trained Georgian craftsman. The Georgian east wing is the oldest part of the house dating from 1745 to 1746. A north wing was demolished in the early 19th century. The south and west wings were rebuilt 1953–60 to a sensitive Neo-Georgian design by Marshall Sisson. Stables at right angles to the house form a separate nine-bay range with a central pediment on Doric pilasters over three rusticated arches and are separately listed as Grade II. A feature of the house is the Grade II* wrought iron inner gateway (1756) with armorial overthrow, by master smith Benjamin Yates, a pupil of Robert Bakewell, and the outer gates, also Grade II*, by Bakewell himself. In 1887, the Hon. Maud Okeover married Sir Andrew Barclay Walker, a successful brewer of Gateacre, Liverpool (see Walker-Okeover baronets), who in 1884 had purchased Osmaston Manor in nearby Derbyshire. His son, Sir Peter Walker, the 2nd Baronet, married Ethel Okeover in 1899. Sir Ian Walker, the 3rd Baronet, inherited Okeover in 1956 and assumed the name of Walker-Okeover, demolished Osmaston Manor in 1964, and moved the family seat back to Okeover. The estate is currently owned by Sir Andrew Walker-Okeover, 5th Baronet. Several members of the family have served as High Sheriff of Staffordshire and of Derbyshire.

Alsop en le Dale railway station was opened in 1899 near Alsop en le Dale and Alstonefield, villages in Derbyshire southeast of Buxton. It was on the Ashbourne Line built by the LNWR as a branch from the Cromford and High Peak Railway (which ran from Whaley Bridge to Cromford) at Parsley Hay. At some time it was known as "Alsop en le Dale for Alstonefield."