Bamford Edge Walk | 6 Miles | The Wandering Wildflower

This 6 mile Bamford Edge walk starts from Heatherdene and heads up onto the beautiful Bamford Edge, with sweeping views across Ladybower Reservoir and Win Hill, before dropping back down past Bamford Mills and returning along the Bamford Touch Stone Trail.

A view of Win Hill with Ladybower Reservoir Plugholes below, taken from Bamford Edge

The Bamford Touch Stone Trail

This trail is a collection of sculptures which illustrate Air, Water, Earth and Fire, and a central touchstone combines all four elements. There is a Celtic symbol on each touchstone to commemorate the millennium. For more information on how the stones were created, you can visit Bamford Village website.

Where is Bamford Edge?

Situated on the moors to the north of the pretty village of Bamford, Bamford Edge is in Derbyshire and has spectacular views over the Hope Valley.

Bamford Edge Walk from Heatherdene

Our walk started from Heatherdene car park and headed up through Priddock Wood to the top of Bamford Edge. We turned right to walk along the Edge itself and from here you get stunning views over Ladybower and across to Win Hill – you can even see the Ladybower plugholes! We had all the weathers on this walk – lovely spring sunshine, horrible rain and super nasty hailstones which felt like needles against your face. The photos are all from the same day!

We walked for about 1.5km along the top and then started to drop down to the stile adjoining New Road. We had planned to go down Bamford Clough, possibly the steepest road in the Peak District with a 35% gradient, but it was closed so we had to detour along New Road for about 1km before picking up a footpath over a stile, next to the driveway for a house called The Veg!

The footpath heads south over the fields and behind the houses on Ashopton Road, then along Greenhead Park to meet the main road in Bamford. We walked along the pavement a short distance and then walked down a track called The Hollows towards Bamford Mill. There are a few sign posts for the Touch Stone Trail.

Bamford Mill

Bamford Mill was a water-powered cotton spinning mill built in the 1780s. The mill was destroyed by fire in October 1791 and rebuilt as a 13-bay mill. The mill complex expanded as the cotton industry boomed, becoming industrialised with the addition of a 60 horse power steam engine by 1857 and modern steam engine machinery installed in 1907. The mill remained in use as a textile mill until 1965 when it was used for the manufacture of electric furnaces. The site closed at the end of the 20th Century and the mill was converted into residential use but still retains the engine house, horizontal engine, rope race and drives. The boiler house and chimney were demolished and the engine can no longer be operated under steam.

We crossed the weir over the River Derwent, built to provide water power to the mill, using the stepping stones (which are a bit dodgy in one spot so extra care is needed!) and headed over the fields to Thornhill Carr. The footpath leads onto the Thornhill Trail which is a traffic-free trail running along a disused railway line between Ladybower Dam and Bamford station. This railway line was used to bring in stone for the construction of the Derwent Dams from Bolehill Quarry.

We followed this trail for about 1.5 miles, passing the sculptures of the Touch Stone Trail and the Thornhill Carrs Sculpture Trail, which is another sculpture trail highlighting some creatures which are “missing” from the area due to habitat loss or persecution including pine marten, red squirrel, wild boar and osprey.

The trail leads to the dam at Ladybower Reservoir where the two giant “plugholes” are, and we were lucky that they were overflowing. It’s quite mesmerising to watch! We then followed the path over the dam wall and crossed the road, heading back up to Heatherdene via the monument to those who built the reservoirs and dams.

Ladybower Reservoir plugholes in full flow, with Bamford Edge in the background

This is a great Bamford Edge walk for older kids who can manage a steep climb, and for younger kids you could reverse the route and just head along the Thornhill Carrs Sculpture Trail. There is the Yorkshire Bridge Inn nearby for some pub grub too, and a short drive away is the Fairholmes Visitor Centre with cafe kiosk for a snack or quick lunch.