A Guide to Jane Austen's Peak District

This corner of England has been romanticised long before Jane Austen used the Derbyshire hills as the backdrop of Pemberly in Pride and Prejudice well over 200 years ago. The stately homes here are things to be marvelled at, and the geography creates stunning tors to hike. Add in small country lanes, pastures full of sheep, and quaint villages and it all adds up to the perfect countryside escape.

Jane Austen, although well travelled, never visited what is now The Peak District, but she would have known all about it, and would have knowledge of the stately homes dotted across the country (most still in use from the originally families that built them).

To use Darbyshire as the backdrop for Mr. Darcy’s Pemberly is a beautiful choice to show how different town and country are. Jane uses this more remote countryside to show how at ease Mr. Darcy away from society.

Jane Austen is a master of using locations to set the tone of a scene. It is easy to imagine an Elizabeth Bennet declaring ‘Oh what are men compared to rocks and mountains’ while standing atop a tor overlooking a scenic view.

The many adaptations of Pride and Prejudice into movies have shown off the beautiful countryside of the Peaks, using some of the stately homes such as Chatsworth and Lyme House as filming locations for Pemberly. Walking around villages, we can image what the fictional Lampton was like.

Spending a few days in the Peak District is traipsing in the steps of Elizabeth Bennett is a wonderful way to connect the dots between a beloved classic novel and the sweeping beauty of the english countryside. Finding solace in nature was as normal for Jane Austen’s leading ladies as it is for us today. There is a reverence of being away from the hustle of a town, or company. The wildness of being surrounded by rocks and hills- especially if you are with close friends or your favourite people.

The countryside of Austen’s time is the same as our time today,
we walk the tor’s on the same routes used for centuries, we see the same rock formations- the lines between past and present can easily become blurred and it is easy to see how this landscape inspired, revived, and refreshed ones soul.