The former Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway is now a surfaced track running through the dramatic scenery of the area and very popular with cyclists..
The hamlet derives its name from an old corn mill situated here but demolished in the mid 19th century.
Milldale is famous for the role it plays in "The Complete Angler", the book published by Isaak Walton in 1653.
The River Dove has been a place of pilgrimage for anglers since the middle of the seventeenth century.
It is fishermen who have given the river its present character, with weirs to slow down and oxygenate the water providing a better habitat for trout and grayling.
Caves in the Dove Valley were used as shelters by hunters during the last Ice Age.
Early farmers, about 4,500 - 5,000 years ago, used the caves to bury their dead.
By Roman times the caves were in use again, most probably as shelters for shepherds.
There are popular walks for both the serious and the casual walker - the most frequent trodden being that along the river bank between the car parks at Dovedale and Milldale.
A footpath count in Dovedale on a typical August Sunday notched up 4421 walkers on the Staffordshire bank and 3597 on the Derbyshire bank.
The conservation
value of the Dove Valley was recognised by the National
Trust through its acquisition of the South Peak estate, much of which
lies in Dovedale
and Wolfscote Dale.
Ilam Park is a beautiful estate on the banks
of the River Manifold.
