Castleton Caves Castleton is famed for its four show caves, once all lead mines, each offering a different experience to the visitors. Peak Cavern has the largest entrance in Europe at 40ft high and 100ft wide, and is large enough for cottages and even an inn to have be built inside.                              offers a boat ride underground through half a mile of passages to the end, with views down the ‘Bottomless Pit'.                             has two distinctly different series of caves. The first half is full of minerals and fossils including the local fluorspar unique to the area, called Blue John. As you walk through the cave, veins of the stone are visible and the cave contains the largest known single piece of Blue John in The Pillar. The second half of the cave is completely different, resembling a fairytale world of stalactites and stalagmites.                          opposite Mam Tor, is the deepest of the caves and also contains Blue John stone, but its real beauty is in the vastness of the cave system.

 

                      or Poole's Hole is a 2 million year old natural limestone cave on the edge of Buxton. The name derives from an outlaw, John Poole, who reputedly used the cave as a lair and a base to rob travellers in the fifteenth century. Archeological explorations have suggested that the cave was occupied from the Bronze Age. Neoloithic and Roman remans have been found in the caves, and these are displayed in the visitor centre at the cave entrance. As for the caves themselves, they show some quite remarkable limestone deposits reminiscent of mushrooms, and some much larger calcite deposits that glitter like ice in the low light. 

 

Cave exploration With lots of great caves and mines in Derbyshire and the Peak District, there is the flexibility to choose a cave or mine system that will suit individual group needs. Your cave leader will guide you through the easy but extensive underground system, exploring the many passages along the way, building interest and confidence. Discover the tranquillity of the silence and darkness, that can be found only a few feet below ground! Gaze in wonder and amazement at the stalagmites, stalactites, deep caverns, and other stunning rock formations formed millions of years ago!