Longshaw Estate and Padley Gorge Walk

We love a good excuse to test one of our walks, and the fact that our little boy was on school half term was always going to be a great reason to get outside and enjoy some of our adventures in the Peak District.

Here is how we got on with our family walk at the Longshaw Estate and Padley Gorge.

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Longshaw Estate and Padley Gorge

The brief here was simple. His little 5 year old legs couldn’t walk too far, but the boy loves fun, so we wanted a relatively short walk that was full of adventure.

After scanning through the walks on the Derbyshire Walks App, we decided that the Longshaw Estate and Padley Gorge walk was a perfect route for us. It packs in the lovely nature, scenery, woodlands and lakes of the National Trust estate itself and then also takes you on an action-packed jaunt along a section of the wonderful Padley Gorge Trail.

First, we used the app to load the car directions directly to the big car park at the National Trust Longshaw Estate. The car park was easy to find, there was plenty of space and there was a small fee to park there for the day (£5 when we went). There is an information cabin at the car park with leaflets and maps and we bought a cool little wooden magnifying glass from the super friendly and helpful staff members there. Then, we opened up the route map on the Derbyshire Walks App (it’s the ‘Longshaw Estate’ walk on the app) and used it to start our walking adventure around Longshaw Estate and Padley Gorge.

The Longshaw Estate route map has the circular route marked on it and there is a dot and arrow on the map that shows you real time where you are on the route as you walk. It’s very easy to follow and almost impossible to get lost!

So, heading clockwise, the first section of the walk took us along a track through the Longshaw Estate, with some wonderful views and surrounded by some magnificent scenery.

This section of the walk took us a while as we stopped to take photos at almost every turn, and the little man stopped to examine every plant, bug, thistle, fungus, tree root and rock that he came across with his new magnifying glass.

Then, the route took us into some beautiful woodland for a while before emerging out to a sparkling lake that was teeming with wildlife. After a leisurely period of time feeding the ducks, we then continued our adventure through more of the beautiful Longshaw Estate woodland that was filled with twisted trees and wonderful colours.

So far so good we thought, but the best was yet to come. As we then emerged from the woodland, we came to a very welcome ice cream van, and then ate our ice creams while enjoying the expansive views of the undulating moorlands ahead of us, that were carpeted with the purple colours of heather and backdropped by the majestic Higger Tor.

Twisting it’s way through this glorious landscapes of the Longshaw Estate, like a slithering snake, was the wonderful Burbage Brook which is a slow-moving and ankle-deep shallow river that was littered with large rocks and stepping stones all along it’s length as far as we could see.

Our little man’s eyes glowed with wonder as he realised how much fun he was going to have here and boy, it didn’t disappoint him.

We said it took us a while getting him through the earlier section, but that was nothing compared to trying to get him through this Padley Gorge section of the walk. His trousers were rolled up and his shoes were discarded before we could say ‘be careful!’ and he was in the brook splashing around and jumping across the thousands of stepping stones and rocks for what seemed like hours.

Padley Gorge and the Burbage Brook is nature’s playground at it’s best and he was in his element. We did finally get him to continue with the walk however, and the last stretch of walking took us further along the twisted banks of the brook and then back up the hill through some more glorious ancient woodland before culminating in a visit to the National Trust cafe for some well earned tea and warm sausage rolls.

So to summarise, this is a short and beautiful walk, but if you have youngsters with you then you can expect to spend many hours enjoying the wonderful landscapes that the Longshaw Estate and Padley Gorge has to offer.

Get the Derbyshire Walks App with over 200 wonderful walking routes in and around Derbyshire and the Peak District by searching for ‘Derbyshire Walks’ on your App Store or visiting https://www.localwalks.co.uk/derbyshire-walks