SETT VALLEY TRAIL
PLAN YOUR VISIT TO THE SETT VALLEY TRAIL
INFORMATION
Location: Hayfield is on the A624 from Chapel-en-le-Frith to Glossop Road. New Mills is on the A6015 off the A6 Buxton to Stockport Road.
Visit: Only a short distance down the steps from the town centre at New Mills is the Torrs Millennium Walkway. The walkway spans the otherwise inaccessible cliff wall above the River Goyt – part on stilts rising from the riverbed and partly cantilevered off the railway retaining wall. It provides the final link in the 225-mile-long Midshires Way. Most definitely, it is well worth making a journey to cross the gorge, as many people already have done.
Refreshments: There are restaurants, pubs and cafes in Hayfield and New Mills combined to suit all tastes.
Hayfield sits peacefully in the narrow valley of the River Sett, surrounded by some of the wildest hills in the Dark Peak. Things were much different in its industrial past, when cotton and paper mills, calico printing and a dye works made it a busy and anything but quiet place. Tourists now come to walk on Kinder Scout and enjoy exploring the lovely village of Hayfield.
THE SETT VALLEY TRAIL
The Sett Valley Trail is two and a half miles in length and used for recreational purposes. It follows the former track of the railway line that linked Hayfield with Manchester as far as New Mills. The route forms part of the Pennine Bridleway National Trail between Hayfield and Birch Vale and is of outstanding natural beauty.
In 1868, the railway came to Hayfield and was soon busy with both passengers and goods, servicing all the mills in the valley. Passenger trains ran regularly to Manchester, and shortly after the First World War. It was quite common for 4000 to 5000 people to use the Sett Valley Line on a summer Sunday to visit the countryside.
Business gradually diminished, and the line closed in 1970. Now it provides a recreational traffic-free route for walkers, cyclists, and horse riders. At the former Hayfield Station, there is a picnic area as well as parking. There is easy access to the trail for wheelchair users at Hayfield. The trail in New Mills has some steep steps and slopes, as does the Torrs Riverside Park at New Mills.
Derbyshire County Council has resurfaced the Sett Valley Trail as part of a scheme designed to improve facilities for users and make the area more attractive to wildlife. An easy access route created through Bluebell Wood at Hayfield, suitable for parents with buggies and wheelchair users, has been designed.
