The village is close to the border with Derbyshire, on the B5470 road from Whaley Bridge to Macclesfield in the valley of the Todd Brook, a tributary of the River Goyt.

It is a Grade II* listed building, described by English Heritage as "the last example of a mill where water-powered and steam machinery were used together and survive intact".

[5] Kettleshulme was the home of 19th-century record-breaker Amos Broadhurst, whose beard grew to a length of seven feet.

To the north are the Bowstones, an early Christian stone sculpture,[7] and nearby Lyme Park.

From the Bowstones, it is possible on a clear day to see up to thirty miles in all directions, including, to the west, the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank, at one time the world's largest radio telescope, to the north-west, the city of Manchester and its airport and to the east, the rest of the High Peak including Kinder Scout, the Derbyshire's highest point, and Windgather Rocks.