Getting Oriented

Manchester lies at the heart of a tangle of motorways in the northwest of England, about a half hour across the Pennines from Yorkshire. It's 70 miles from the southern edge of the Lake District. The city spreads west toward the coast and the mouth of the River Mersey and Liverpool. To see any great natural beauty, you must head east to the Peak District, a national park less than an hour's drive southeast of Manchester. It’s also where you’ll find two of the grandest and best-preserved historic homes in all of Britain: Chatsworth and Haddon Hall.

• Manchester. England's second city and the main setting of the Industrial Revolution.
• Liverpool. A waterfront city famous for its maritime history and as the birthplace of the Beatles.
• Buxton. A good base for the Peak District, Britain's first national park.
• Bakewell. The commerical hub of the Peak District.
• Matlock. A former spa town now known for its beautiful setting.
• Castleton. Famed for its Peak District geology.
• Edale. A popular hiking center.
• Stoke-on-Trent. The center of Britain's ceramics industry.