"Oh to be in Beeley" Beeley by calverley

Beeley is what I imagine most American tourists think rural England is like. It's a tiny, well-kept, sleepy village of stone houses and cottages, with a bridged stream running through it, and surrounded by glorious countryside. It isn't the England that most of us live in, but it is the England most of us get all misty-eyed and patriotic about.

Beeley is such a storybook village to look at, that you can't help coming over all literary when you're there. Is that little old lady Miss Jane Marple? Or should you do an Elizabeth Bennet and declare Derbyshire to be the most beautiful of all counties. I saw Beeley in the hot sunshine in May, and you'd be hard pushed not to agree with her.

Beeley is on the edge of the Chatsworth estate, owned by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. You can stay in the Devonshire Arms in Beeley, which they also own, and very nice it is too.

• Pros:It is the quintessential English village
• Cons:It is the quintessential English village!
• In a nutshell:Play at Darcy & Lizzie Bennet in the Duchy-owned Devonshire Arms