Six of the best walks in Sheffield ramblers’ paradise

Stockbridge Walkers are Welcome has played a big role in attracting new visitors to explore the area on foot, by highlighting all it has to offer.

The group, whose website features downloadable instructions for around 50 walks in and around the town, has just won a Duke of York's Community Initiative Award.

This latest success comes after it finished second last year in the Ramblers charity's search for Britain's Best Walking Neighbourhood.

The group's secretary Dave Pickersgill said he hoped the Duke's award would help attract even more visitors to this swathe of the Upper Don Valley nestled beside the Peak District in Sheffield's northern fringes.

He added that the growing hordes of walkers already enjoying the region's winning combination of industrial history and natural beauty had proved a boon for businesses, especially the area's pubs and cafés.

"This website by a walking group in an unfashionable part of Sheffield is getting over 20,000 hits a year, which is pretty good," he said.

"The awareness of walks here has definitely increased over the last decade and it's great that this award recognises the group's role in that.

"Derbyshire is becoming saturated, especially at weekends, and people are starting to look further afield.

"They're finding the Don Valley has everything Derbyshire has to offer, with its hills, lakes, moorland and amazing views. We like to think of it as the gateway to the Pennines.

"Stockbridge has always been good for walking, it's just that more people are now realising that."

Here are six of the best walks in the area, as chosen by Mr Pickersgill.

– Green Moor (M1): An undulating walk to Green Moor and the Trans Pennine Trail (5/6 miles)

– Broomhead Moor (M5): From a stone circle to the top of Broomhead Moor and back, by Dukes Road and Wigtwizzle (5.8 miles)

– Fox Valley (M16): Starting in Deepcar, this walk of contrasts takes you through woods, close to the River Don and then up to Green Moor, along  Hunshelf Bank and back through Fox Valley (7 miles)

– Three Reservoirs (M21): Take in Underbank, Midhope and Langsett reservoirs, starting at Underbank (8 miles)

– Wentworth Follies (A6): A walk through the Wentworth Woodhouse estate starting from Elsecar Heritage Centre (7.5 miles)

– Le tour à pied (L5): This linear walk runs roughly parallel to the route taken by the Tour de France riders in 2014. It picks up the route at Langsett, passes through Midhopestones, ascends to both Barnside and Broomhead Moors and skirts the Canyards before leaving the route at High Bradfield (14.5 miles)

Full details of these walking routes and many more are available at www.stocksbridge-walkers.co.uk.