Little Longstone, Peak District
Little Longstone
A small White Peak village with a historic inn, a dramatic railway landscape and footpaths rising towards Longstone Edge.
- Best for
- Railway views, easy trail miles and a pub lunch
- Give it
- A well-planned half day
- Don't miss
- The five-arched Headstone Viaduct
Photo: Anthony Parkes · CC BY-SA 2.0 · cropped
The Fox verdict
Tiny village, outsized walking country
Little Longstone works best as a quiet launch point for Monsal Dale rather than a checklist of village attractions.
Come for the short walk to Monsal Head, choose between the level Monsal Trail and the stiffer climb towards Longstone Edge, then make time for the Packhorse Inn.
Your picks, your pace
Make Little Longstone yours
Choose a mood or build your own list. Your saved stops are an ordering aid, with a direct map route when you are ready.
Local signatures
3 placesLittle Longstone Congregational Chapel
A Grade II 19th-century limestone chapel with gritstone dressings, a porch-and-belfry bay, round-arched windows and a First World War memorial.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 30 minutes for an architectural stop
- Locality
- Little Longstone
- Access
- Regular interior access is not established; check the chapel's official site before travel.
Monsal Trail
An 8.5-mile level, traffic-free former railway route through six tunnels, suited to family walking and cycling as well as buggies and wheelchairs.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 2 hours for a short out-and-back section
- Locality
- between Chee Dale and Bakewell, south of the village
Longstone Edge
A stiffer climb above the village through a limestone and fluorspar landscape shaped by quarrying.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 2 hours 30 minutes for the climb and return
- Locality
- above Little Longstone
Food & drink
1 place
The Packhorse Inn
A travellers' inn dating from 1787, with three open fires, a heated pergola and a monthly seasonal menu built around Derbyshire produce.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes for a meal
- Locality
- Main Street, Little Longstone
- Access
- The inn is very small, so booking is essential.
Walks & outdoors
1 place
Monsal Head
The classic viewpoint over Monsal Dale and Headstone Viaduct, with a café, ice cream stop and pub nearby.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 30 minutes at the viewpoint
- Locality
- Monsal Head, above Monsal Dale
History & heritage
1 place
Headstone Viaduct
A Grade II five-arched stone viaduct, 300 feet long and about 70 feet above the River Wye, now carrying the Monsal Trail.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 45 minutes to see and cross the viaduct
- Locality
- Monsal Dale
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On the map
Little Longstone at a glance
Tap a marker to jump to its guide card.
Three ways to explore Little Longstone
Signature outings
The Monsal Head panorama
Walk about five minutes from the village for the defining view across Monsal Dale to the five-arched viaduct.
A table at the Packhorse
Book ahead for a seasonal Derbyshire meal beside the fires or beneath the heated pergola.
Five arches over the Wye
Walk across the 300-foot Headstone Viaduct, the railway structure that now carries the Monsal Trail.
The village story
Little Longstone Village Guide
A village of packhorse history, spring-fed stonework and one of the Peak District's most argued-over railway views.
An Inn Built for Travellers
The Packhorse Inn started as two miners' cottages and has been serving travellers on the packhorse routes since 1787. It sits on Main Street, and it is very small, which is why booking is essential. It has been voted into Tripadvisor's Top 10 Cosiest Pubs in Britain, and one review is simply titled "Best pub ever."
The kitchen changes its menu monthly with the seasons and specialises in meat and game — wild boar, buffalo and venison turn up on the board, alongside sharing platters and vegetarian options, all built from Derbyshire produce. The pub is tied to the Thornbridge Hall brewery up the road in Bakewell, so three Thornbridge beers are always on, including the award-winning Jaipur pale ale, with Black Sheep a regular and a rotating cider. There are three open fireplaces inside and, out back, a heated pergola for the evenings when the fires aren't enough. Muddy boots, kids and dogs are all welcome, in the pub's own words. It's closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Village Relics and the Monsal View
The village itself is small — 334 people at the last count, up from 103 in 2001. Four conjoined stone troughs stand fed by a spring that emerges where the limestone meets the shale. There are Grade II listed village stocks too, with a house beside them, which is what village justice looks like when it survives long enough to become scenery.
The main event is five minutes away on foot. Monsal Head has a viewpoint, a café, an ice cream stop and the Headstone Viaduct — 300 feet of five-arched stone reaching 70 feet above the River Wye. The railway it carried closed in the late 1960s and reopened in 2011 as the Monsal Trail, an 8.5-mile traffic-free route through six former tunnels between Chee Dale and Bakewell. It's level and buggy-friendly, which makes it rare among Peak District walks.
Railway Outrage, Walking Reward
John Ruskin hated the viaduct. When the railway was blasted through Monsal Dale in 1863 he wrote that "every fool in Buxton can be in Bakewell in half an hour, and every fool in Bakewell at Buxton; which you think a lucrative process of exchange." The line he called an outrage is now the thing most people come to walk.
For a stiffer climb, footpaths rise from Dale Farm campsite on Moor Road up to Longstone Edge, quarried over the years for limestone and fluorspar.
Practicalities and Long Memory
Everyday shopping happens in Bakewell, four miles and ten minutes away by car, which has the banks, the supermarkets and the pudding. There's no station — the nearest mainline services are at Grindleford or Hathersage on the Hope Valley line — and the buses between Bakewell and the Longstones are the limited rural kind, so you'll want the car. The village shop, run by the Casey family for around fifty years, has closed, though a new tea garden has opened at the top of the village.
The Longsdon family have farmed here from the Manor House for 28 generations. Butts Lane is named for the archery butts that used to stand along it, which nobody has practised at for a very long time.
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
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