Hardcastle Crags

The landscape encompasses deep rocky ravines, tumbling streams and oak, beech and pine woods. Halfway up the valley loom the Crags – stacks of millstone grit. The area is famous as the home of the hairy wood ant, which lives here in huge anthills. Waymarked walks lead through the valley and link with footpaths and the Pennine Way. Gibson Mill, a 19th-century former cotton mill at the heart of the property, is now run entirely on sustainable energy. Inside is a café and interpretation about the mill's history and sustainable technology. With no link to the National Grid, generating all its own power and recycling all its own waste, it is the only building of its size in Great Britain to be run this way.Visitors are encouraged to come on foot, by cycle or public transport. Car parking and cycle racks available at Clough Hole car park on Widdop Road and Midgehole car park on Midgehole Road. During busy times limited car parking leads to heavy congestion. There are