Bakewell

The five-arched bridge over the Wye has been there since the 1200s, and the riverside walk from it is where half the town ends up on a sunny afternoon. Monday is market day, with the livestock market at the Agricultural Business Centre across the river.

The Monsal Trail starts just outside town on the old railway line, and runs north through tunnels and over viaducts. Haddon Hall is a couple of miles south and Chatsworth a few miles north-east. And yes, there are several shops that will tell you theirs is the original Bakewell pudding.

Stone houses and cottages in the old centre, terraces along the roads out, then 20th-century homes climbing the hillsides either side of the valley. Detached homes make up the biggest share of sales.

Buxton Road and the streets close to the centre are where smaller homes come up most often. Castle Drive and Baslow Road are where larger houses sell, and the prices show it.

Bakewell is inside the National Park, so planning goes through the Peak District National Park Authority, whose offices are in the town. Some homes carry a local occupancy restriction that limits who can buy them, and Derbyshire Dales charges extra council tax on second homes.

There's no railway station. The nearest are Matlock, Chesterfield, and Grindleford or Hathersage on the Hope Valley line. Lady Manners School, the town's secondary, draws pupils from across the area.

The Wye does flood in places. The Environment Agency runs flood warning areas in Bakewell and Ashford-in-the-Water, so check the long-term flood risk for any home near the river.