Hartington, situated in the Dove Valley in the Peak District National Park, was an important market centre in the Middle Ages, having been granted a market charter in 1203. Today the ever-popular village boasts lovely tea rooms, a cheese shop, old curiosity shops, traditional pubs and a splendid market square where the stone-carved village pump, once an important source of water for the villagers, still stands on the green. The local bars stock local ales brewed at the Leatherbritches Brewery in Fenny Bentley and Whim Ales in Hartington itself. The former Hartington railway station, about a mile and half from the village itself, is now a picnic area and the converted track is known as the Tissington Trail, popular with both walkers and cyclists. Hartington is also a good starting point for walking along Beresford Dale, a beautiful place with its curiously formed cliffs and rocks. Chatsworth House and Haddon Hall are both within a 20 minute drive, and Alton Towers is within easy reach.
