Travelling around the Hope Valley has always been a challenge & usually involved rudimentary tracks or just paths to individual farms. Even by the late seventeenth century most of the roads were impassable because of snow in the winter & in spring they were subject to flooding as the snow melted. Transport was by horse & packhorse & was often easier on the high dry ground than on the lower mires & bogs of the Hope Valley. Agriculture has been crucial for the area for many centuries. As well as arable farming Yorkshire drovers brought their cattle to this area every May & kept them in the hills north of Castleton for the summer. Other industries included lead mining corn milling lime burning cotton weaving needle making candle making & rope & twine making. Liam Clarke takes an affectionate look at this unique part of the British Isles.