A wooded valley above Matlock where Bentley Brook steps down through the ruins of old water-powered mills
Lumsdale is a steep, wooded gorge just above Matlock where Bentley Brook drops through a string of small waterfalls. For a couple of hundred years the water here drove mills, and the ruined stone buildings, ponds and leats (the channels that carried water to the wheels) still stand among the trees and ferns. A path runs up the valley past the falls and the old workings; the ruins are fragile, so keep to the marked route. The Arkwright Society, which also restored Cromford Mill a few miles south, looks after the site. It makes a short, atmospheric walk close to the tourist strip at Matlock Bath, on the eastern edge of the Peak District.
