National Park Centre - Bakewell

• Get information and advice on the national park, plus maps, local guides and walking books.
• Browse the retail area, which stocks local arts and crafts, maps and guide books, gifts and clothing.
• Head up to the mezzanine gallery, where touchscreen displays interpret the national park and a photography gallery shows work by local photographers and artists.
• Ask the staff for route and bus advice, which is what most people rate highest about the place.

Plenty of information points are functional boxes. This one is a genuinely atmospheric historic building in the middle of a busy market town, laid out as an open, easy-access space, with a small gallery upstairs that gives you a reason to linger for ten or fifteen minutes rather than just grabbing a leaflet and leaving.

• Accessibility: the centre is fully accessible, and the upstairs photography gallery is reached by a floor lift.
• Toilets: there are none inside the centre. The public toilets are on Granby Road, next to Boots, a short walk away.
• Parking: there is a pay-and-display car park adjacent at The Market Place, with other town-operated car parks nearby. The adjacent car park is chargeable, and spaces are shared with everyone else visiting Bakewell.

It is compact, and essentially an information and retail stop with a small gallery attached, so half an hour is generous for most people. There are no toilets inside, and no trail beginning at the door, which means you will be walking on into town or driving out to your chosen route. If you already know the Peak District well and have your own maps, you can skip it without missing much.

The setting does a lot of the work too. The centre occupies Bakewell's Old Market Hall, a 17th-century stone building on Bridge Street, and the old roof timbers and open interior are worth a look up even if you only came in for a postcard.