[2] The valley was cut by the River Dove and runs for just over 3 miles (5 km) between Milldale in the north and a wooded ravine, near Thorpe Cloud and Bunster Hill, in the south.

There is evidence from Reynard's Cave of Bronze Age activity, and artifacts found there are displayed at Buxton Museum and Art Gallery.

[citation needed] In July 2014 it was announced that a hoard of Late Iron Age and Roman coins has been discovered in Reynard's Kitchen Cave.

National Trust archaeologist Rachael Hall said: "The coins would suggest a serious amount of wealth and power of the individual who owned them.

[14] Charles Cotton's Fishing House, the inspiration for Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler,[15] stands in the woods by the river.

Dovedale became a National Nature Reserve in 2006 in recognition that it is "one of England's finest wildlife sites" with diverse plant life and interesting rock formations.

[17] The National Trust became embroiled in controversy in 2010, when in conjunction with Derbyshire County Council it oversaw the renovation of Dovedale's iconic stepping stones.

Milldale is a village of stone cottages at the northern end of Dovedale and the main access point to the dale from the north.

The most southerly named formation, Dovedale Castle, is a short distance along the river from the stepping stones at Thorpe Cloud.

A footpath count on a Sunday in August 1990 recorded 4,421 walkers on the Staffordshire side of the river and 3,597 on the Derbyshire bank.

[25] Charles Cotton's Fishing House, the inspiration for Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler, stands in the woods by the River Dove.

[26] The last wrote of Dovedale to the poet Thomas Moore, "I can assure you there are things in Derbyshire as noble as Greece or Switzerland.

"[27] Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy talk about her travels in Derbyshire, including Dove Dale, after they meet unexpectedly at Pemberley in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

The stepping stones across the river figure prominently in Jorge Grau's 1974 film The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue.

[29] The Ridley Scott film Robin Hood also used Dovedale as a location, and it can be clearly seen in several scenes towards the end of the movie.