The river rises as two main streams to the north of Huthwaite, above the 200-foot (61 m) contour,[1] on the coal measures that run along the western edge of Nottinghamshire.

[2] Both are crossed by dismantled railway lines, before they unite and flow in a north-easterly direction to the north of Stanton Hill and Skegby.

After crossings by two more redundant railways, the river is joined by a stream which flows from the Car Ponds on the edge of the Hardwick Hall estate.

The county boundary between Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire follows the course of the stream, and continues along the river as it passes to the south of Pleasley and under the A617 road.

Next the river passes through Pleasley Vale, where the water has cut through the underlying limestone escarpment to form a deep, narrow valley, much of which is wooded.

[1] After passing under the Robin Hood Line, which runs from Worksop to Nottingham, the county border leaves the river, which continues in a north-easterly direction.

Beyond the B6407 Sookholme Road bridge, it is joined by The Bottoms, which rises in Mansfield Woodhouse and flows northwards to the junction.

[1] The difference in height between the lake and the river below it at the eastern end was sufficient for Earl Manvers, the owner of Thoresby Hall, to install two water turbines in 1941.

The Robin Hood Way, a long-distance footpath, crosses soon afterwards, and a weir creates two channels again, the south one deemed to be the Maun and the north one the Meden.

The engineered river channel made it a good site for further development, and a consortium of businessmen from Nottingham and drapers from Mansfield leased the vale and Pleasley Park in 1782, in order to construct water-powered cotton mills.

William Hollins lived at Pleasley Vale, and oversaw the expansion of the community, with the construction of more houses for the workers, the provision of public facilities including a school, wash house, and a cooperative society, and attention to leisure activities by the establishing of a Mechanics Institute, a library and a cricket club.

It has a small bell turret at its western end, and a number of its features mimic thirteenth and fourteenth century styles.

Bolsover District Council bought the mill buildings in 1992, using compulsory purchase powers, and they have been revitalised, to be used for light industry and offices.

Like most rivers in the UK, the chemical status changed from good to fail in 2019, due to the presence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) and mercury compounds, neither of which had previously been included in the assessment.