Bonsall nestles in a deep dale and is as quiet and peaceful a place as you could imagine. The village is actually in three parts, with a main village and the nearby hamlets of Upper Town and Slaley.

The moor above Bonsall is pock-marked with the remains of lead-mines and the village once housed a community of lead-miners and weavers so it mainly comprises rows of small limestone cottages strung out along the sides of the dale in which the village tries to hide.