Buxton Wells Dressing Festival
This event can trace its root back centuries, with pagan rituals believed to the origin of the current activities. The basis of the festival is the art of designing a wooden-framed picture to adorn local wells. The festivities cover a lot more though, as concerts, pet shows, sports competitions, and well dressing demonstrations all ensure that there are activities to keep everyone amused. The Buxton Wells Dressing Festival Carnival Procession is regarded as the biggest single event in the Buxton calendar, with over 20,000 spectators annually gathering to watch the floats and extravagantly dressed participants follow the 2 mile route around town. The festival is usually scheduled is to last a week but can vary, so it is worth checking this year’s schedule before planning your trip.

Annual Buxton Festival
The fine Buxton Opera House is home to this wide-ranging and ever-changing festival. The largest festival of it’s type in England, this is a chance to see everything from English language opera to book readings to magicians. Held in mid-July, this world famous event regularly attracts over 35,000 visitors. Running parallel to the festival is the Festival Fringe, where many artists from outside the mainstream event get their chance to delight the public. The festival and the fringe are both seen as being excellent warm-ups by artists planning to appear in Edinburgh Festival the following month, something which helps to assure a large number and high variety of participants.

Markets
Being a market town you will find regular chances to browse round some interesting stalls. Every Tuesday and Saturday of the year there is a market outside the Town Hall, near the site which is marked by what remains of the market cross. The Pavilion Gardens also hosts a monthly Farmers Market, while the annual Continental Market brings an international flavour to the market activities in town.

A village has been on the site of Castleton since at least 1086, when it was mentioned in the Domesday Book. The settlement was linked to Peveril Castle which overlooks the town.

Peveril Castle gets its name from William Peverel who was granted Royal Manors of the Peak shortly after the Norman Conquest. It is suggested that he may have been the illegitimate son of William I. The castle was constructed to overlook the Hope Valley and Cave Dale, protecting the valleys. The castle was of traditional construction, with a central square keep and curtain walls.

Full article about the history of Castleton.

Bakewell is a small town thought to have been founded in Anglo Saxon times. It’s name derives from the phrase ‘Badeca’s Well’

During Anglo Saxon times, Bakwell was part of the Anglian kingdom of Mercia.  By Norman times the town gained a great level of importance, with the town itself, and its church being mentioned in the Domesday Book.

In 1254 Bakewell became a trading center and a market was established in the town. It was at this period the famous five-arched bridge over the River Wye was built and it remains as one of the few surviving remnants of this time.

During the 17th Century, Bakewell bacame a spa town following the discovery if a chalybeate spring and the building of a bath house in 1697.

Today, Bakewell is a popular tourist destination, and has gained fame as being the only town in The Peak District National Park.