Parking
Start at Fairholmes Car Park / Upper Derwent Visitor Centre, just north of the A57 Snake Pass road. The café kiosk and visitor toilets are at the trailhead.
Overview
About Derwent Dam Green Route
Why go
- The dam and memorial come early; Hagg Side adds a real climb and open views.
Heads up
- A steep woodland ascent makes it more than a reservoir stroll.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Peak District map
Full mapElevation202–370 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
5 active Peak District alerts
- ClosureA54 Cat and Fiddle road closureThe A54 Macclesfield Main Road (Cat and Fiddle) is fully closed to all traffic from 27 July through 30 October 2026 during phase 1 improvement works.Official details
- ClosureHooks Carr (Stanage Popular) car park closureHooks Carr (Stanage Popular) car park will be partially or fully closed from 6 October for four weeks.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Peak District Tour Guide
Your drive to Derwent Dam Green Route, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Peak District National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Derwent Dam from Fairholmes0:00 / 0:35
“You're coming up on Fairholmes, the starting point for a short walk to Derwent Dam. Its twin stone towers make the wall look almost like a castle, and from below you get a sense of its scale.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Peak District Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Alport Castles from Fairholmes
- The Village That Built the Dams
- The Spire Above Ladybower
- The Snake on the Sign
- 298 audio storiesacross Peak District’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Red Deer, Red Fox, Eurasian Otter, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 88 trails, 76 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Derwent Dam Green Route
A longer Fairholmes loopDerwent Dam Green Route is a 3.
Derwent Dam Green Route is a 3.7-mile (6 km) circuit from Fairholmes, past the dam, up through Hagg Side woods to the ridge, then back beside the reservoir. Allow about two hours; the loop climbs roughly 525 feet (160 m). It is a good step up from the short dam visit if you want a hill section and wide water views.
Up through Hagg SideThe dam comes early, so you can see its twin towers and the Dambusters memorial before the…
The dam comes early, so you can see its twin towers and the Dambusters memorial before the steep wooded climb begins. The route winds up and around Hagg Side; on a clear day, the ridge opens across the valley and reservoirs. From there it drops back toward the water and returns to Fairholmes. Underfoot changes from surfaced paths to compacted track, dirt and grass, with uneven ground on the woodland climb.
Before you set outRAF 617 Squadron practiced its bouncing-bomb runs at Derwent ahead of the 1943 Ruhr raid.
RAF 617 Squadron practiced its bouncing-bomb runs at Derwent ahead of the 1943 Ruhr raid. For a photo, frame both towers with the reservoir and wooded hillside; Hagg Side gives the wider valley view. Fairholmes has a café kiosk and toilets open during daylight hours. If you mainly want the dam, the separate red loop is about one mile and much shorter.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Peak District
248 sightingsRed DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
36 sightingsRed FoxMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
15 sightingsEurasian OtterMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
51 sightingsPeregrine FalconMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
47 sightingsEuropean Fallow DeerMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
54 sightingsWestern Roe DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Peak District. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
