WALKING TOUR
Date: Saturday 15 October
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Start/Finish: Derby Train Station foyer
Duration: 7 hours
Distance: 10 km
Difficulty: easy
Surface: paths and pavements
Highlights: UNESCO World Heritage Site, cotton mills, model village, start of industrial revolution, Richard Arkwright.
The route will start at Derby Train Station where we will take the train firstly to Belper, to look at the Grade I listed Strutt’s North Mill (one of the earliest fire-proof buildings in the world) and the millworkers housing erected by the Strutt family before hopping back onto the train up to Cromford, to look at Richard Arkwright's mills, recognised as the world's first mechanised cotton mills, and the pattern for the new factory system, as well as the housing built for his workers (the first industrial housing in the world.) We will then walk along the Cromford Canal to Whatstandwell, taking in Leawood Pumping Station, an Italiante pumphouse built in 1848 to transfer water from the River Derwent to Cromford Canal. From Whatstandwell we will take the train back to Derby Train Station where the tour ends.
Please bring suitable walking shoes, any drinks and snacks. Lunch break will be in Cromford.
Train tickets are not included in the tour price.
Please buy your own train ticket from Derby to Cromford. An Off-Peak Day Return is usually £6.90 and can be used all day on the Derwent Valley line. If your are travelling with other people, you can get a group ticket and save 1/3.
If you are getting to Derby by train, a cheapest option could be an Off-Peak Day Return ticket from your home station to Cromford. Most connections change in Derby Train Station where you can meet us in foyer, without exting the barrier.
If you would like to join us from Nottingham, an Off-Peak Day Return ticket to Cromford is usually £10.90 and we will be on the 9:17 train.
If you need any assistance with your travel to and from Derby, please get in touch.