There are a range of trades and professions among its residents some working near to their homes as farmers, craftsmen or traders while others work farther afield, in bigger conurbations or even abroad, yet to all of them Alstonefield provides companionship and the sense of community which comes from knowing and cooperating with people who have pride in their neighbours, their homes and their village.

It is in the area known as the 'White Peak' because the predominant stone is limestone which is laden with fossils, particularly those of crinoids or sea lilies, demonstrating that it was previously under the Ocean.

The fields are a rich, verdant green and the countryside is rolling between the spectacular valleys of the rivers of the Dove, the haunt of trout and a magnet to fishermen, perpetually flowing between the steep slopes of Wolfscote Dale and Dovedale with their dramatic rocky outcrops to the East and the, frequently dry, Manifold Valley to the West, both of which dip down abruptly. The outcrops in Dovedale have romantic names; Dovedale Castle, Lover's leap, the Twelve Apostles, Lion's Head rock and Tissington Spires while the natural caves are known as Pickering cave and the Dove holes. Wolfscote Dale is more open than Dovedale and the smaller rocky outcrops of the Peaseland Rocks look brighter in the sunshine.

The Manifold valley, which is just beyond the parish boundary, loses its river in dry weather and becomes a rocky bed. It has the prominent escarpment of Beeston Tor and the largest local cave, Thor's cave in an escarpment which dominates the valley.

The main part of the village is around the colourful village green with the "George" and the spreading trees. It is within easy distance of St.Peter's Church and the old Hall, but it stretches along the Rakes; a name given to old Lead mining sites, which occupies the ridgeway between the two valleys.

The village of Alstonefield includes the hamlets of Hope, Stanshope and Milldale to the South, while it extends North up to the hamlet of Hulme End.

The hamlet of Hope has a pond which has never been known to dry and was the site of England's first co-operative cheese factory. Twenty farmers started the Alstonefield Dairy Association in 1874 and began producing Derby cheese until transport improved and bigger dairies emerged which took the trade away.

Hopedale is a dry valley which runs from the hamlet of Hope to Dovedale, joining Dovedale at Milldale where Viator's bridge, known to Isaac Walton, crosses the river to Derbyshire. The steeper side of the dale faces South and the path from Dale Bottom to Alstonefield Village is known as Sunnybank.

  The prominent barrow known as Steep Low is just to the West of the village and is famous because it is one of the last places in England where a gibbet was used for execution.

The fields, roads and the buildings are both demarcated and linked by dry stone walling, on which lichen and moss grow so that at a distance they look a pale grey, but when viewed close to they have variegated colours, yellows, greys, browns, black and white.
In the evening, when bathed in the light of the setting sun, they glow pink and then orange before they darken as the sun sets.

At sunrise and sunset, when human activities are less, the sheep and cows can be heard across the dales, calling to one another. Human voices also carry particularly well, although not well enough to enable the casual listener to hear conversations.

As there are towns far to the west creating distant dust, and the predominant stone to the west is sandstone, the sunsets are particularly spectacular.