Creswell Crags Walk
This walk takes you around this fascinating limestone gorge on the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire border. There's a lovely waterside footpath running along Crags Lake with views of the surrounding caves and cliffs. It's a well surfaced trail taking you up close to the remarkable geological features in the park. There is an excellent visitor centre with a museum detailing the history of the caves and fissures. You can see bones of lynx, beaver and wild pig dating from the last Ice Age 9,500 years ago. There's also some fascinating Cave Art, with engravings and bas-reliefs found on the walls and ceilings of some of the caves as recently as 2013. It's a very important find as it had previously been thought that no British cave art existed.
If you'd like to extend your walk you could pick up the Robin Hood Way which runs through the park. A few miles to the north you will find the lovely Whitwell Wood which has three waymarked walking trails to try.
Just to the east of the crags you will find the lovely Welbeck Estate. Here you can follow the Robin Hood Way between the two pretty lakes and into the adjacent woodland. There's also a large deer park with resident white deer to look out for. You can reach the deer park by heading south east along the Robin Hood Way from the western end of Cresswell Crags.
Postcode
S80 3LH - Please note: Postcode may be approximate for some rural locationsPlease click here for more information
Creswell Crags Ordnance Survey Map 
- view and print off detailed OS map
Creswell Crags Open Street Map 
- view and print off detailed map
Creswell Crags OS Map 
- Mobile GPS OS Map with Location tracking
Creswell Crags Open Street Map 
- Mobile GPS Map with Location tracking
Pubs/Cafes
The on site Crags Edge Café is a good choice for some post walk refreshment. The cafe has a lovely terrace where you can sit outside and enjoy views over the tree canopy and lush natural landscape. They have a great range of meals and snacks and are located on the sunny side of the new museum.
Creswell village is located just to the west of the site. There's lots of good options here including the Black Diamond pub. You can find the friendly pub at 172 Elmton Rd with a postcode of S80 4DY for your sat navs.
Dog Walking
The gorge is a nice place to bring your dog for a walk so you'll probably see other owners on fine day. You are requested to keep them on leads though. The cafe mentioned above is dog friendly on the terrace and will provide water bowls and even doggy frozen yogurt. There are a number of bins dotted around the site.
Further Information and Other Local Ideas
Head a few miles east of Cresswell and you could visit one of the highlights of the area at Clumber Park. The National Trust owned park includes miles of cycling and walking trails with woodland, lakes and gardens to explore. Near Clumber there's also Thoresby Park to visit. There's 1000 acres on the estate which includes woodland, a lake and views of the River Meden which runs through the park. There's also an interesting museum, a Victorian Courtyard and a gallery to see.
Just a few miles south there's Poulter Country Park in Nether Langwith. There's nice waymarked trails, a nature reserve and a fine viewpoint to enjoy here. You could pick up the Archaeological Way to the west of the village at Elmton and then follow it south to reach the park.
For more walking ideas in the area see the Derbyshire Walks page.
Cycle Routes and Walking Routes Nearby
Photos
Cresswell Crags. A shot of the Crags showing the new path laid down recently where there was once a road. The steep cliffs and craggy outcrops provide habitats for mosses, lichens, and ferns, thriving in the shaded, damp environment. Wildflowers such as cowslips, primroses, and wood anemones add seasonal colour to the meadows and woodland edges. The surrounding woodland contains species like ash, hazel, and oak, which provide shelter for a variety of birds and small mammals.
Swans and cygnets at the Crags. There are 5 cygnets visible here. The lake and the Boathouse Cave are to the right of this picture. Wildlife is abundant in the area. Birds such as great tits, nuthatches, and treecreepers are commonly seen in the woods, while swifts and swallows are known to nest in the cliffs. The gorge is also home to bats, including the daubenton’s bat, which roosts in the caves and can be seen foraging over the nearby lake during the evening. Foxes and badgers inhabit the surrounding countryside, and the limestone grasslands attract insects like butterflies and bees in the warmer months.
Robin Hood Cave. Sediments in the floor of the cave have yielded the bones of wolf, bear, lion, horse, reindeer, bison, and hyena; and the stone age tools of the Neanderthals who hunted here.
Creswell Crags and Caves, occupied around 43,000 BC then in a period between 30,000 and 28,000 BC and then again around 10,000 BC. To the left in the distance is the Church Hole Cave, where engravings and bas-reliefs were found on the walls and ceilings, the most northerly cave art finds in Europe. Other early art found in caves in this valley includes a horse head-engraved bone found in Robin Hood's Cave, and a bone engraved with a human figure, recovered from the Pin Hole Cave.
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Dog Hole Cave
Crags Pond. One of several limestone gorges in this area, Creswell Crags is one of the oldest known inhabited places in Britain. There are numerous caves on each side of the valley which were occupied by Neanderthal Man 40,000 years ago. The earliest remains of modern man known in Britain have also been discovered there, dating back 13,000 years to the last Ice Age. In more recent times, Creswell was once part of the Welbeck estate, and the Crags Pond was created by the Duke of Portland as a duck shooting lake.
A fine Saturday afternoon near the Arch. This cave was home to bear, spotted hyaena, woolly rhinoceroses, reindeer and bovids.
Boat House Cave. The lake at the site was created as a boating lake by the Duke of Portland in the 19th century.