[2] The dale includes two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and areas designated as Open Access Land in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.

[3][4] Lathkill Dale is known for its range of wildflower species (including orchids and the rare Jacob's ladder), butterflies, ancient woodland and the presence of birds of prey, dippers, woodpeckers and water voles.

[5] In 1653 the poet and angler Charles Cotton wrote of the ‘Lathkin’:[6] it is by many degrees, the purest and most transparent stream that I ever saw, either at home or abroad, and breeds, it is said, the reddest and best Trouts in England.The medieval sheepwash bridge Conksbury Bridge now carries the road from Bakewell to Youlgreave.

The nearby deserted medieval settlement at Conksbury was recorded in the Domesday Book (1086 AD) as Cranchesberie.

[8] Parsons Tor limestone crag is named after Reverend Robert Lomas of Monyash who fell to his death there, while riding his horse when drunk as he returned late at night from Bakewell in 1776.

[9] Towards the top end of the valley Ricklow Quarry used to produce crinoidal limestone (rich in fossils 350 million years old), which looks like marble when polished and was popular with the Victorians.