I picked the Stanton Moor walk for two reasons. The Cork Stone and the heather. Neither disappointed, but they weren’t all this walk had to offer. Despite being a short easy stroll, it also visits a bronze age stone circle and has some wonderful views over the surrounding countryside.
Although pretty at any time of year, it’s late July to early September when this walk becomes a real showstopper. Bright purple heather blankets huge swathes of the moor and the result is so beautiful that I lost count of the amount of times I had to stop to take a photo.
On top of that, it’s popular with locals, but doesn’t get much attention from tourists, and we barely saw another soul on the track.
Here’s everything you need to know about visiting Stanton Moor.
The Stanton Moor circular walk
The stats
Distance: 1.6 mile (2.6km) circuit
Elevation gain: 40m
Difficulty: Easy
There are various trails you can take that encompass Stanton Moor, and our version is a short easy loop on well maintained paths.
It’s a flat walk, which is mainly on a dirt path or sandy trails. The only difficult bit is trying to climb the Cork Stone!
Heading to the Cork Stone
From the parking area (details below) you’ll head up the path and through the gate. Keep straight and after 150m from where you parked, you’ll arrive at the Cork Stone.
This huge chunk of weathered sandstone stands alone in the moor, making it very striking. It’s unsurprising that people can’t resist trying to climb it, myself included!
Now, I have to admit that seeing that it has both footholds and metal rungs, I was feeling pretty confident I’d be standing at the top in no time.
Rather embarrassingly this wasn’t the case. In fact, I didn’t make it to the top at all! It’s a lot harder to climb than it looks. The footholds are worn relatively smooth by lots of boots over the years and the metal rungs start mid way up the rock. It’s also nearly vertical.
I know many people climb it no problem, but it disappointingly left me beaten! Still, it was good fun to give it a go and quite a novel feature along the walk.
I would say, just be careful if you climb it, as it is higher than it looks in photos and even though you wouldn’t fall far, it definitely isn’t a soft landing!
Onto the Nine Ladies Stone Circle
Continuing the walk, you head straight on from the Cork Stone and are quickly into open moorland. For us it was a world of purple, which was just stunning.
It was occasionally interspersed with some bright yellow gorse for contrast, and the whole scene was gorgeous. You’d often see little sheep heads poking out from the sea of purple, which added a bit of comedy value.
The paths through the moor are flat and for the most part, sandy. It’s not the kind of deep sand that’s hard to walk on though.
The views out to the countryside and the little village of Stanton Lees are very pretty, although we didn’t have the clearest of skies.
After you’ve been walking for just over 500m (from the parking area), you’ll reach a junction and take a right.
The walk then continues on a flat easy path on the open moors until you reach a patch of woodland at the 1.2km mark. This is where you’ll find the Nine Ladies Stone Circle.
The Nine Ladies Stone Circle
The stone circle is thought to be built around 4000 years ago, as a centrepiece for ceremonies and rituals.
You can walk right the way up to, and around the stones, which are remarkably well preserved.
However, my favourite thing about visiting was the fact it is clearly still used as a ceremonial site today! I walked up to the centre of the circle thinking that someone had left litter behind.
I was delighted to see it was actually a variety of petals and whole roses! It made me smile to think that 4,000 years on people were still carrying out their own rituals here.
Just to the left of the Nine Ladies Stone Circle, you’ll see the King Stone, whose purpose is unknown. The walk continues past the King Stone.
Roughly 400m later, at the fork, you’ll head left. The walk is back on the open moors and passes several deep depressions, which are the result of old excavations.
Once you are just over 2km into the walk you’ll see a path on the left. This leads to the trig point, which is located 100m away.
It’s not a must see because there’s no particular view, but for us it was surrounded by heather which was very pretty.
From the trig you can take a right and you’ll quickly rejoin the main path.
Once on the main path you head left and it’s just 300m back to the Cork Stone and a further 150m to where you left your car.
Parking for the Stanton Moor Walk
There isn’t exactly a car park for Stanton Moor, but there are several parking spaces at the lay by right by the trail head. You’ll find it on Birchover Road, postcode DE4 2LQ.
Parking is free and time is not limited. There are no facilities in the area, so please carry all rubbish out with you. Note that no camping or fires are allowed on the moor.
You’ll find the parking area 35 minutes (19 miles) from Buxton, 15 minutes (6 miles) from Bakewell, 30 minutes (14 miles) from Ashbourne and 35 minutes (18 miles) from Sheffield.
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