The river Lathkill must be one of Derbyshire's smallest rivers, but its interest and beauty easily make it one of the most impressive and a very popular tourist destination in the Peak District National Park. Much of the valley is part of the Derbyshire Dales National Nature Reserve and includes a Scheduled Ancient Monument, designated for its lead mine remains. The upper reach of the river is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a candidate Special Area of Conservation under the European Union Habitats Directive.

The river and its dale can be accessed from several points along its stretch, but it is from the ancient lead mining village of Monyash across a hilly pasture that the top of the Lathkill ravine is reached. A narrow gap between towering walls of limestone where the floor is littered with rocks shattered by winter frosts, leads down into a narrow gully. The way opens out a little and opposite is a low cave under the cliff from which the old watercourse emerges, although in drier times the first springs are lower down.

The bed of the stream is thick with weed down to where Cales Dale comes in from the right. Here the trees begin and the right hand side slopes of the valley are densely wooded, while on the opposite side the white rock is weathered into strange shapes. Soon the course clears and the river flows briskly over a stony bed. The Lathkill now stretches ahead, a fine sheet of water with limestone cliffs on either side. If the deserted upper stretches are wild and abandoned, the lower reaches are friendly and full of tranquil beauty, the haunt of dippers and water voles.