Near the gate of Chatsworth's glorious park and set among the hills, Beeley has wonderful views whichever way we turn.
Sheltered on the east by Beeley Moor, it looks down the Derwent valley to fine wooded slopes rising to Stanton Moor, a panorama all the lovelier when the heather is in bloom.
The village has joys of its own, hidden from those who hurry by to Chatsworth. Its roads go up and down and twist and turn as they take us by houses of old grey stone, by cottage and school and the 17th century grey hall, by a little green with a splendid lime, to an ancient church with sturdy tower close to the gabled vicarage.
There are limes round the churchyard too, and a gnarled yew which was once a massive tree is said to be as old as the oldest part of the church, the Norman doorway within the porch it shelters. With three heads carved on its hood, but with new marble pillars in place of the old shafts, this doorway is all that is left of the Norman church except for a corbel in a corner of the aisle and the font so altered that its ancient character is lost.
There are memorials to the Saviles, and a stone in the baptistry to John Greaves of 1694, the last of the Greaves of Beeley. With these two families the story of the village was linked for five and a half centuries, and their memory clings to a 17th century gabled farmhouse nearly a mile away.
Worth a visit for more than one reason is the Devonshire Arms. The old Inn originated as three separate cottages in 1726, which were converted into an Inn in 1741. During the late 18th century it was a prosperous coaching inn, serving the route between Bakewell and Matlock. These days it is well known for its good food and hospitality.
