Small but very informative with lots of interactive things to do. Including dressing up and puzzles. I love that we can come back as many times as we want in the next 12 months, that was a lovely surprise.

A day out by X17 to Wirksworth. Lovely birthday lunch and then a little stroll. Amazed to see such a lovely complex in place after waiting for many years. The lift was useful for creaky oldies. Many interesting and quirky items on display. The staff were charming and helpful. A lovely café with interesting decor. Acoustic ceiling tiles? Nice cake and hot drinks.

If you like history it's very interesting to learn more about the lead mining industry and the various famous people that came from the there. There local bank eventually grew to become Lloyd's bank. Nice little cafe for drinks and cake.

Really interesting museum with lots of information about minerals mined in the surrounding area and the people and characters in the book Adam Bede. Lovely gift shop and cafe. Great for presents and delicious food.

Called in on our way back from Cromford Mill. It's only a small museum, which will take around 30 minutes to look round, but it's worth calling in. It explains about the lead mining industry in the area and what happened in the aftermath. We picked up a walking tour leaflet and wandered over to the church,which is definitely worth a visit, as it's absolutely beautiful. The history within those walls is incredible. In fact, the whole village is worth a wander to look at at the old buildings (which are everywhere).

We went into the cafe attached to the Heritage Centre - Websters; clean, comfortable, nice staff - for tea. About the only place open in Wirksworth on a Sunday afternoon but a good find. Pretty part of town, too.

We actually went to Webster cafe which is part of the Heritage Centre and we were pleasantly surprised the cakes were amazing especially consider i choose a gluten free and my wife a vegan chocolate cake, neither if us follow any specific diet.

Great breakfasts, good quality, very nice coffee, and better value than most. We'll be back!

Just done a Woodturning course here today. What a great introduction to Woodturning and a fantastic day with something lovely to take home afterwards. I learnt a lot and the trainers were very helpful and friendly. I would love to come again and can thoroughly recommend The Derbyshire Dales Woodcraft club. Many thanks.

Enter into a display area of local themed goods and gifts, plus local history information. Staff are friendly and well able to answer questions about the town history and that of the surrounding area of Derbyshire. Passing on deeper into the Heritage centre the visitor will find a pleasant seating area indoors and outdoors where refreshment are served. Whilst there is so much to see and do in this town, a visit to this heritage centre is well worth while.

Lots of interesting things to see a d a Lovely coffee shop

The staff were really lovely and helpful. It's only a small museum but packed with lots of interesting history. I'd love to go child free so I can read everything as only caught snippets while our 2yr old explored. She enjoyed it though. Got a lot of interactive bits and bobs to occupy kids and there is a cafe.

Lovely place to visit for half a day out. Lots of walking around though, uphill and downhill, so brace yourself for that! The cave tour was pretty good too. Good cafe with a great view and clean toilets everywhere. Two play areas (that I'm aware of) for the kids. Cable car ride was shorter than expected but eh, definitely worth a visit if you're driving from closeby.

We visited this place as a family. My mother was on her electric scooter. This place was accessible but a lot of the routes were way too steep. Her scooter went out of control twice. The cable car ride was short and we got to the other side pretty quickly. We also visited the historic caves which was included in this excursion. Anyone with a mobility or heart condition are not recommended to visit these caves. This excursion involved 175 steps. It was nice and cool in the caves. The other end was a nice view point where we took loads of pics. From kids point of view their were slides, swings and a puppet show. We also visited the high street nearby where we had fish and chips as brunch. Even though we visited this place on a Monday their was no parking whatsoever. We ended up parking on the high street which took 20 minutes to find.

Overall, it was a pleasant day out for families with young children. People in push chairs, wheelchairs, and the elderly who are unable to walk for long distances for any reason may struggle. Not enough parking space, slightly overpriced, long lines everywhere, and not as exciting as the marketing and interactive map suggest. Positives: The cable car and scenery were fantastic. The kids' two play areas was enjoyable.The restaurant staff and other employees were incredibly helpful and nice. One of the serving lady assisted us in clearing our wet picnic bag and offered us a bin liner. The walks are hilly, but I adore walking, so I had a good time. Big shout out to tour guy who made the tour of the cavern worth the trip with his jokes as there’s not a lot to see down there. Negatives: The parking was full and countless cars doing laps for a space, having to rely on public car parks in town, meeting the cable car time slot can be challenging. After waiting in queue for the cable car we reached the top. Whilst it may look very big on the map, it isn’t that huge and the 2 caverns are the major activity apart from the play areas and the Tower. The caverns were mediocre at best. Food were expensive as expected, Make sure you take a picnic.Worst queue of all was for the ice cream.

Nice place to spend some family time. Great views. I spent there 2 hours with family and to be honest we were in rush to catch piece of everything. We've seen caverns and Tower. We took a minute to stop at long view point. There are 2 playgrounds which my daughter enjoyed but sadly we haven't enough time to stop for longer. There is few restaurants. Last cable car run is just before 5 pm. Dogs are allowed everywhere apart from caverns.

Although it was a new experience for my family, however, I must mention the tickets are way too much more expensive than what you gonna get or they are offering. The cable car ride lasted a few minutes only, which was extremely disappointing. There's not much thing to do except the cave visit. Huge problem with the parking. Will never recommend any of my friends to go there as it is not worth paying that much money for nothing.

Great day out. Can spend hours there as lots to do. Cable cars give good views of the valley. There’s a free tour of the caves and various view points. There’s cafes and ice creme stands as well as a little gift shop.

Cable car ride gives a great view over Matlock bath. Cavern tours are very informative . Robert Walker (Aka Frank) was our tour guide on the Great Rutland cavern tour very welcoming, He makes the tour fun and educational for both the parents and children. My daughter chose this as a birthday morning out, and we are all glad she did. Great family memories. Will be visiting again, no doubt.

Really enjoyed our visit. Views are amazing from the Cable Car and the Heights of Abraham. Something for everyone here. There are lots of hilly paths so be aware if you're less mobile. Family members went into the Caves and really enjoyed it.

We enjoyed our visit - four children and four adults. There's a good variety of things to see and do. There's not many days out that give you an opportunity to fly 120 feet above the ground and then go 120 feet under the ground!

Good for kids and adults alike. Enjoyed the exhibitions - very informative. This may sound obvious but don't go in the caves if you're not comfortable with enclosed spaces (although the caves look huge on the website, there are narrow dark corridors with low ceilings and the group sizes are large).

Great family outing when visiting Matlock Bath. Expect to pay £20/person with children under 7 for free. The fee will get give you access to the cable car, two tours of the caves and a play area for children. The walk down to the first cave is tough with buggy and people with wheelchairs really battled with the steep hike. The guides were very knowledgeable and the views were just breath-taking. We spend 3 hours on top and got caught in "traffic" so we had to wait about 20 minutes in a queue to get in a cable car, around 4pm. I think the last access was 4:30.

We spent a good few hours here when visiting the local area. The heights are dog friendly, they even gave him some treats once we arrived at the top - he was very pleased! The staff are really knowledgeable giving a great overview of the site and it's history. There is a Cave tour too, this part isn't dog friendly but there is a lovely walk that meets up with the end of the tour so I did this whilst my husband did the tour. The views from the top were absolutely beautiful! 🌲🌳🌿

Overall a fantastic place to visit. Scenic views from the top of the mountains. Well maintained place with walking trails and fresh mountain air A good place to spend time with kids and family. There is a cable car ride which take you to the summit. Quite an enjoyable experience.

Lovely place for a day trip. Best time to visit is during the week. Light refreshments and icecream are available on site. Cable lift experience was comfortable . tickets prices are high though

A fantastic day out learning about this area and its history! We had Andi for our first cavern tour and she was absolutely amazing! She gave us a brief history and geology info on the limestone and when the cavern were being mined. Mr. Benjamin Bryan was another delight! He gave us a short tour and was great in character!! The walk around was pleasant with plenty of information on boards and online along the way! The cable car to and from the park was great too! Our dog loved the day and she was made very welcome!! Don’t forgot to look beyond the park and into Derbyshire! The views are breathtaking!!

Amazing!! I think we booked ticket for about 10am. Stayed until about 2:30pm. Its a whole day of fun. 2 amazing cave tours: props to Sophie! A nice mineral/rock shop and amazing views. Not really for people with low mobility, but there are some areas to chill, and there's a video tour of the caves in a building for people who cant go in. The food in the cafe was amazing too! Great nachos, I got the pulled pork burger, and my partner had fish & chips. Highly rated. Book tickets in advance and check to see if your hotel offers discounts in partnership.

A surprisingly wonderful day out. Weather was cloudy but about 7 degrees with no wind so was a lovely day. We got there around 10.30 with little queues around, the cable car was very quick - too quick? - but great fun with the kids. The staff were beyond excellent with a fantastic little Easter egg crown hunt - fabulous actors. Live music playing. Cave tour was a good bonus but not necessarily my highlight, although pleasant and tour guide is clearly passionate about what he does. It’s a great day out with the kids, cafe food was good, scenery was beautiful. And if I had a dog / was not with the kids, would have loved to have gone for some longer walks down the more muddy paths. We ended up walking back down to the cable car which was a little too steep for my liking but the views were magical. Would most definately go again. But go early! I imagine it gets very busy on the good weather days.

Slightly overpriced £28.50 for an adult which is quite pricey but you do get the caves included. The trip up is beautiful and it’s a must do. Lovely experience and lots to do once at the top

Going whilst most children are at school makes this a great day out. Easy to wander about and no queues for the attractions/tours. Very interesting learning experience. Well worth a visit.

An absolute must to experience this wonderful attraction. On our visit on the 3rd of March’24 was a brilliant family day out. The cable car ride, cave experience, kids parks, cafes,gift shops and fantastic views! Great for all ages and not just children. An appreciation for all staff who were working on this particular day making it extra special 👏. A special mention for Kaleb and ‘Bill’😆 who were just exceptional when we did the cave’s experience. Great to see such enthusiasm and love for the job they do! Later I even spotted Kaleb doing a spot of bin emptying as well as him doing the cave tours…now that’s dedication for you and taking pride in the place you work. Clearly a very well run business and an owner who looks after there work force. Should be a blueprint on how a a great place should be managed. If you look after your staff they will look after your customers…quite right✅. Other organisations take note. One last mention, if you have time to head down onto North Parade along the main road through Matlock Bath, certainly worth it. We parked at the train station car park which was ideal for both the heights of Abraham and Matlock Bath. £6 all day parking and and around 5 minute walks👌

So amazing, fantastic palace. Nice views. Coffee shops on the top of the hill. Caves tour. Cables car take you up high 🫣🫣😁😁

Driven/walked past the cable car so many times but had never taken the trip up. Was a great day out and would highly recommend. The cave tours were entertaining and educational. Some interesting exhibitions and great views, once the mist had lifted.

Very Interesting place to visit. The museum is reasonably priced and definitely worth a visit if you like your history. The cave tour is good but don't expect wonders. The cave is o ly around 250 yds long but still very much worth a visit

During our stay we visited the Museum and had a chance to visit the mine. The Musem was great, full of knowledge and many examples of ore, rocks and minerals. But the highlight of this trip was Chris and the mine tour, out of all the mines we visited this one was the best, Chris has a real passion for what he does and it shows on his tours, the knowledge he shared was great and we did not feel rushed and had time to take photos and ask questions. Very educational tour.

A brilliant place to visit. Has a lot of interactive displays suitable for both adults and children. The museum covers nearly all aspects of ancient and modern mining in the area, whilst also having global ore and mineral displays. A brilliant value for money- especially if you get a museum ticket+ mine tour at once. Note that there are no toilets available on site, but there are public toilets that cost 20 pence 650m down the road. The mine tour is a brilliant way to learn more about mining in Derbyshire. The tour guide we had today was fantastic, able to answer all of our questions and more! They offer hard hats for safety, and small children (not babies) can still go as they have hats sized for little heads. For those concerned about safety- after the mine closed operations and became a tourist attraction 40 years ago, there have been no movements in the caves walls or ceilings. I would like to say a special thank you to the staff who were very friendly today who were wonderful to talk to and offer a wealth of information to learn from!!

Really interesting and lots to see. With some interactive exhibits and and interesting facts was a really fun hour walking around. Not overpriced and the gift shop had plenty of gems and rocks that were actually very competitively priced. Solid ☆☆☆☆☆

We only stopped because it was raining but we are very happy we did. Great value for money at £11.50 each for over 60s. This included the excellently designed and presented museum along with a great guided tour of the mine that is across the road. It does involve some stooping as you walk in the shafts and walking boots recommended. The guide was very informative and had a nice delivery and knowledge. I highly recommend this as a place to stop. The cafe across the road the 196 coffee lounge was very good.

This was a real treasure to find! We popped into the museum on the off chance and what a good time we had!! The museum itself is great for adults and children with lots of child friendly activities, including tunnels to explore! We also went into the old mine and it was excellent. Our tour guide was outstanding, loads of knowledge, patiently answered everyone’s questions and had a great sense of humour. Wear good shoes as it was a bit wet and sloppy inside the mine! We even got to pan for gold at the end which my oldest child loved. The mine is quite accessible for those who need walking aids, but not for wheelchairs and pushchairs as there are some steps. A really great experience for the whole family!

A very interesting and informative museum, combined with a super exciting trip down an old mine. A genuinely great way to share a couple of hours with gran, grandad and our 11 year old son. The tour of the mine on an otherwise rainy and grey day, was fantastic!

My partner & I visited the museum and temple mine yesterday. The museum was absolutely amazing. So informative and very interactive. We were able to go through little tunnels and ladders located within the museum which allowed us to see what work life was like as a miner. It was by far the best museum we have visited till date. There was this lovely lady behind the counter, who was so helpful and so welcoming. We also had a mine tour by Chris. Chris is so knowledgeable and the tour he took us on was absolutely amazing. Chris himself made the whole experience brilliant. After the tour we were given the opportunity to sieve and take home what we found. We will definitely be visiting soon again. Hopefully in the summer! A massive thank you to Chris, the lovely lady in the museum & the community keeping it all alive. Michael & Anita x

Fantastic museum, the collection of minerals is great as well the interactive parts. My kids really enjoyed the visit. Also I highly recommend Temple Mine tour, it’s worth taking.

Very interesting place with loads of informative exhibits. The outside is quite small but huge on the inside. Did the mine tour as well, which was quite an experience and well worth doing with a very experienced guide.Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Visited the museum and Temple Mine with the kids and had a really good time. Was expecting a rather dry museum about mining and consequent whining from the children while we waited for the mine-tour, but I was very pleasantly surprised. The museum has a good number of interactive exhibits but also has a number of 'hidden' mine passages built into the walls. The kids absolutely _loved_ these and kept vanishing into one hole only to reappear elsewhere in the museum. The tour of Temple Mine was really well done. The mine is fairly small (or at least the bits accessible on the tour) but our guide was entertaining and knowledgeable and really brought the place to life. You also get to pan for 'gems' at the end of the tour (nothing valuable, but plenty of iron pyrite which glistens and fascinates the kids - you get to take away anything you find in a (provided) Ziploc bag). The museum and mine far exceeded my expectations and made for a really good couple of hours out.

A really good historic museum. We went down the mine which was very interesting and Chris our tour guide was very knowledgeable and accommodating to both young and old customers. Would recommend a visit

My son enjoyed crawling through the sample mineshafts in the museum, daughter not so much! Informative place, and lots of rocks on show. We also did the temple mine tour led by Tony who was a font of knowledge and entertaining.

Chris guided us and our crew through the Temple Mine Tour which was an excellent experience. Going through the history and geology of the region, and bringing it home with the Temple Mine itself, which started as a limestone quarry, turned to a lead vein that turned into Fluorspar and potentially ending at gold. Educational, fun and great for everyone from the kids to the professional geologist!

A wonderful museum and tour of the mine. We didn't prepare enough time for the museum which had so many artifacts and information. We will return again for sure. There are tunnels throughout for children to clamber through which is a great idea. Interactive exhibits. We went on the tour with Chris who was very good. He listened to the children and answered as many questions as he could. The mine was interesting to see and lots to learn about. Ending with some panning which again was a great idea for the children. This will be a memorable visit for anyone who visits. And very good value for money. I really recommend a visit here.

Fantastic museum which I remember vaguely as a child so took my own children to visit during the Easter holidays. The museum itself is set up really well with so much information and several activity sheets for children to do. I had one finding canaries and the other finding mice which they thoroughly enjoyed. However the activity sheets were trumped when they discovered the mining tunnels throughout the museum that they could climb through and investigate. We absolutely loved our visit and would highly recommend a visit for anyone interested in the history of mining as well as Derbyshire. We were lucky enough to be able to book onto a mine tour later in the day which was so informative. The tour guide was a young guy with an obvious passion for the mine and had so many interesting facts for children and adults alike. The mine tour was then followed by an opportunity for the children to pan for ‘gold’ which they really enjoyed and were able to take some ‘gold’ home. I would recommend booking the mine tour early as we visited midweek on a rainy day when Matlock wasn’t busy at all and managed to just get spaces on the 2pm tour (I think they run 2-3 a day for approximately 20ish people). Overall we all had a fantastic time, the staff were so lovely and brilliant at talking to the kids as well as being so knowledgable for the adults too. I would highly recommend and will visit again (not tomorrow however which is what my 6yo has asked to do).

The museum features a lot of artefacts from mining history. There are plenty of interactive experiences (for kids). Highlight is the visit to the mine - 1h + 30min experience sieving through minerals worth booking in advance or arrive at opening time. The staff is deeply knowledgeable and helpful.

A lovely little railway. Each ticket gets you 2 train rides. The first and longer ride goes from the train shed to Middleton and back along a line running through a tree lined cutting. On this journey, we had a young lad as guard on the train named Benjamin, who really knew his stuff. Gave us a great chat about the railway and its history. Very interesting. All the staff/volunteers were very friendly and funny and made the visit great. The second ride was much shorter and just went into the nearby quarry. There was a geologist who told us about about the rocks and fossils found in the quarry which was very interesting.

An engaging day out with train rides and interesting talks about local history and geology including fossils. The volunteers were very welcoming.

Great visit to this lovely little railway. A longer journey than expected and really impressed by the enthusiasm of the staff, especially the youngsters part way up the track with their WiFi controlled model trains. Hope to come back when the weather's better.

Fantastic afternoon visit. Our 3 yr old loved it. All the volunteers were very kind and friendly. I was shocked to see the 1 star review they had, but after a little digging, I found that whoever posted it generally doesn't like anything. I would 100% recommend this, and we will be back.

Absolutely lovely. Volunteers cheery, helpful happy & knowledgeable. Benjamin was a very happy young man who had lots of information. Highly recommend

Fantastic little railway run by dedicated volunteers. They have two lines and rides one is short that takes you down to the quarry area where they give you a talk on the geology and history, the second that is a longer line but has recently been affected by a rock fall so only half the line is open, normally it takes you up to the village where you can grab a drink before heading back. They have a number of battery powered tractor units sourced from a number of local places mines and cement works...lovingly restored by the volunteers. They also have one diesel power unit famous as it is the smallest ever built and operated by British rail. The railway is now an 18" narrow gauge originally the line was normal gauge. The site has only recently reopened after covid and the clearing of a rock fall, vegetation and more loose rock by specialised geologist's followed by safety inspections, they still have a lot of work to mesh the rock faces to maintain safety which will not be cheap. The rides are free but they do ask for a donation, considering the work these volunteers do and the cost they have coming they deserve a good donation to keep it open. Check the opening times as they vary and some of the published times like on Google are incorrect the day we visited it was 10:30.

Little railway with a very interesting past. Two train rides, one about a kilometre, the other much shorter but with a talk and demonstration about the history of the local area focusing around 350 million years ago..! Strongly recommended for budding geologists as the talk was both interesting and informative.

Nice walk around, friendly people and a lovely Easter event on for the children. We loved it. Nice view from the cafe terrace on a nice sunny day and a children's play area to keep them entertained

Well, would you ever believe it? How can you possibly make 'stones' so interesting? To answer that question you need to visit the National Stone Centre. Amazing how a common, everyday item can be fashioned in different ways and how the formation of those stones provides totally different features and working mediums. The dry stone walls, seen alongside country roads and separating fields on the Geo trail are eye-opening and something that you would never notice without seeing them side-by-side as they are at the Centre. Well worth a visit.

Brilliant place to kill 3 hours. So much variety of things to see and so different to any other walk. Kids loved the geo trail and seeing all the fossils. Will likely go back again at some point. Would be a great little diversion from the high peak trail. One of the highlights for the adults was learning about all the different types of dry stone wall and ending up at the bottom of the quarry.

Nice cafe with lovely scones and large pot of tea - next time we'll go for the breakfast which looks good, and prices very reasonable. Small exhibition and shop in the Centre, and there are great views over the valley from the grounds, where there are examples of different dry stone walling techniques, types of stone, and views of old quarries.

The millennium (dry stone) wall is very impressive with very good information boards on each one. Cafe is also very nice.

Really enjoyed our visit here, especially following the Geo trail and the Milenium wall

Really great place for everyone,adventure Park,great food and drink in the cafe and loads of information on the area including these hyena sculptures made out dung,sticks and feathers from old duvets,who would have believed hyenas roamed Derbyshire once!? Great place to stop at if you've hired a bike from Middleton Top.

Wow what a wonderful place for the whole family! We visited during the Easter holidays and it wasn't too busy at all. There were Easter activities for the children laid out on tables such as colouring, and my children were kindly given chocolate eggs by the staff! A beautiful setting for the large indoor/outdoor cafe with tasty home made cakes and quality coffee (Lots of lunch options too). There is something for every age- comfy sofas, boxes of toys for younger children to keep them amused if its raining, and a decent outside playground if its not! They have a 'panning for gold' activity which my children loved- for just £3! There were Microscopes and various things of interest on display to look at inside too. The gift shop is very reasonably priced, with lots to look at, and a large selection of crystals/gemstones. Outside, there is a short geo trail to follow which is very well maintained, with information boards. At the end, all three of my children ( aged 5, 15, 19) enjoyed the hands on activity where they attempted to build a wall with the rocks placed on the grass for this purpose. Our visit lasted 4 hours and we didn't even have a chance to enjoy the walk around the centre! Last, but certainly not least- the staff were very attentive, friendly and kind hearted... One lovely lady in particular! She went over and above interacting with my 5 year old and gave him a lot of her time. He already wants to go back! Thank you for a memorable day to all at the national stone centre :)

Used to visit about 10 years ago with my son. The gift shop could do with a little more space as the cafe is huge! The exhibition was closed when we visited. Toilets clean and friendly staff

An informative and interesting site along with an interactive indoor area. Super for families and young kids, the walk outside can take as little or long as you like. A lovely stone gift shop and cafe too.

Wheelchair user - I brought my freewheel but didn’t get far even with some help. Small crystal shop is great. The cafe look nice, busy - sign of good food. Could do with a little more accessibility info on website - shop & cafe is fairly accessible but would need a all-terrain power chair to access the site itself but probably not all tracks would be accessible.

I took a trip down to the National Stone Center on the 20.08.2023, during the 100th Anniversary of the Institute Of Quarrying. All the staff were very friendly and the site is accessible with many areas being on gentle slopes. Some areas have tight uphill paths but the major vistas can be easily accessed. Around the location there are plenty of information points detailing the history, relevance, and utility of the various structures found through out the area. Improvements are being considered for the site so it may look a little different than what is pictured. With this in mind the site boasts various scenic locations with stunning views that any nature lover would enjoy. The coffee was about £3.

The walk was really interesting, definitely recommend buying the geotrail leaflet. Cafe slight let down, food is good but 1hr wait for food.

An educational experience in geology, set in the Derbyshire Dales with exhibits of drystone walls of different styles from around the British Isles.

Had a wonderful brunch here, with poached eggs, mushrooms, and toast. The coffee was excellent 😋 My girlfriend had the cheese scone which was absolutely delicious. Absolutely wonderful food, cooked on site, and with high skill. Would definitely recommend for anyone walking along the High Peak trail, to stop off, enjoy the scenery, and get something to eat at their cafe. Because everything from the kitchen is made to order, at busy times the wait might be slightly longer. I didn't mind waiting for my food, but if it's busy and you're in a rush, then you might just want to order one of their cakes and coffee, rather than from their cooked menu.