Long Eaton: Trails, West Park and Lace-Making Heritage

Long Eaton brings together walking and cycling trails with glimpses of the park, architecture and lace industry. If you’re looking for a hotel in Long Eaton, it may help to first decide what you want to focus on during your stay: a trail, time in West Park or architectural and local history. These themes offer different starting points for planning your trip. They don’t need to be combined into a single itinerary; choose what suits your occasion.

Walking, cycling and a route through the valley

The Nutbrook Trail is intended for both walkers and cyclists. The Erewash Valley Trail has different features: most of it offers easy, level access, some short sections are steep, and there are stiles in places. The guidance therefore differs: shared use is the key point to note for the Nutbrook Trail, while the Erewash Valley Trail provides more information about access and the nature of the route. This gives you different considerations when choosing a route: the intended user groups for the Nutbrook Trail and the changing trail features of the Erewash Valley Trail.

The Derwent Valley Heritage Way runs from Shardlow to Belper and is 55 miles long in total. In Long Eaton, there is a starting point for a short section of this route. This means two different distances come into play: the length of the entire route and the short section that starts in Long Eaton. So when planning your trip, don’t confuse the local starting point with the full route. This trail has a different focus from the two mentioned above: Long Eaton is the starting point for a section of a longer route, whereas the Nutbrook and Erewash Valley Trails are described primarily in terms of use and access.

West Park and local history

West Park offers open grassy areas, play areas and easy-to-walk paths. These features offer a different focus from the trails: the grassy areas and play areas are just as much a part of the park as its paths. So when planning your trip, you can consider the park as a separate focus alongside walking and cycling.

Among the town’s buildings is The Hall, a Grade II listed Georgian building dating from 1778. Joseph Pickford built it for Henry Howitt. Its date, architectural classification, and the names of its builder and commissioner provide a specific historical context for the house. Bridge Mills, by contrast, is notable for a single industrial feature: a 33-metre-high chimney dating from 1902, with a cast-iron cap. The comparison takes us from an 18th-century Georgian building to an industrial feature of the early 20th century—two different ways of exploring Long Eaton’s architectural history.

Lace-making is also an important part of the town’s history. Long Eaton developed into a centre of the Leavers lace trade in the East Midlands. The town’s lace-making past can therefore be understood both through the regional trade and the importance of production to local history. One church in Long Eaton is of late Norman origin and is considered the town’s oldest building. Together with The Hall and the chimney, it offers three different historical and architectural perspectives: a late Norman church, a Georgian house dating from 1778 and an industrial feature from 1902.

Discover more destinations: Kilburn, Repton, Bamford, Chinley, Grassmoor, Codnor, Duffield, Tansley.

For the broader travel overview: Derbyshire.