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Abney
Abney is a delightful small hamlet of cottages and farms located above the Hope Valley in the Peak District. Abney can be found on many popular Peak District Walking routes thanks to it's wonderful landscape. The settlement was also mentioned in the Doomsday book (referred to as Habenai) as the home of the infamous 'Peveril of the Peak', William Peveril. Nearby is Offerton Moor, decorated in wonderful heathers and rich in a wide variety of wildlife, along with Shatton Edge, Bretton Clough and Eyam Moor all within walking distance to give a wonderful days walking. For a rewarding walk take a footpath on the outskirts of Abney village that leads up to Smelting Hill and gives access to the moor which has the most impressive display of purples when the heathers are in flower. The area is packed with local wildlife and it is sometimes possible to see marlins, harriers and hawks scouring the area for their prey.
From Smelting Hill you are treated to wondrous views down onto the Hope Valley and across to the summits of the Win Hill and Lose Hill with Kinder and Bleaklow in the distance away to the north. Over to the east there are views over The Surprise and Longshaw Lodge, and if the weather is clear you should even be able to make out the air ventilation shaft for Totley tunnel away on the horizon.
Abney Clough is just a mile from the centre of the village and is perfect for a woodland walk that is peppered with crossing peaty streams. Here, at Stoke Ford, is a crossing over the Highlow Brook which is the perfect site for a picnic or rest stop for those on a high energy walk through the area. Here the name of the brook changes to Bretton Brook, upstream to its source. This area is known for fantastic woodlands and rough pasture with larch, spruce and pine that are actually quite young since this part of Abney was in fact cultivated and farmed to some extent a couple of centuries ago. Offerton Hall is a local attraction just outside Abney; it is a beautiful example of a Derbyshire manor house with spectacular traditional architecture. The current building dates from 1658, although a structure has stood on this site as far back as the 12th century. It is a wonderful example of a north Derbyshire manor house with twin projecting gables and mullioned windows. The soot-blackened chimney stack is said to have a massive girth of forty feet. Highlow Hall is also found on the nearby road to Hathersage, which is a beautiful Elizabethan manor that was once owned by the Eyam family and is supposedly haunted by at least 4 ghosts! Highlow Hall is not vast in size, but boasts an impressive battlemented façade and two-storey porch, giving Highlow has a most romantic appearance.
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