Peter Dale is a short dry crag-sided valley near

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, in the

Peak District The Peak District is an Highland, upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It is subdivi ...

of England. There is a farmland plateau on either side. The northern end of the valley leads into Hay Dale at Dale Head and the foot of the valley leads into Monk's Dale. Hay Dale and Monk's Dale are both part of the Derbyshire Dales National Nature Reserve managed by

Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...

. The Carboniferous limestone rocks of all these dales were formed 350 million years ago from the shells and sediments of a tropical sea. The landscape was then sculpted by the ice sheets from the last

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

20,000 years ago. The walking along the flat valley floor is easy except for a couple of short rock-strewn sections. The

Limestone Way The Limestone Way is a waymarked long-distance Rights of way in England and Wales, footpath in Derbyshire, England. It runs for through the White Peak of the Peak District National Park, from Castleton, Derbyshire, Castleton south to Rocester ...

long-distance footpath runs along the length of the gentle valley floor. The Peak District Boundary Walk trail passes the northern end of the valley. The Pennine Bridleway runs across the southern end and then parallel to the dale about 1km to the east (through the hamlet of Wheston). Where the Limestone Way crosses the A623 road (about 1 km north of Hay Dale), the route of the old Batham Gate

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

runs east–west. Peter Dale's limestone cliffs are well-suited to rock climbing, with 25 graded routes on Main Crag.{{Cite web, url=http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crag.php?id=997, title=Peter Dale, website=www.ukclimbing.com, language=en, access-date=2020-04-07 Access into Peter Dale from the south can be made from the hamlet of Wormhill along the Pennine Bridleway. From the north there is a footpath from the village of Peak Forest (on the A623 road) through Dam Dale and Hay Dale.

References

Valleys of the Peak District Valleys of Derbyshire Peak District Derbyshire Dales