I partially spoke about the wonderful press trip that I took with the Joules and DFS collaboration in my post on Tuesday. So today, I thought I’d talk about where we stayed and the area in greater detail.
Just as the sun was setting, my train pulled in to the local train station near Matlock, and the hotel was waiting with a car to sweep as all away to our rooms in the Peak Edge Hotel. The hotel was located quite rurally and sat just at the edge of Derbyshire’s Peak District. As it was already dark when we arrived, I couldn’t see much, but I could tell that the views were going to be stunning.
I vowed that I would get up early, around sunrise, to have a quick explore around and a light walk through the edge of the countryside.
Stay
The hotel was quite cosy – with only 26 rooms – and all of them had stunning views of the countryside. I think they are frequently booked out for weddings, so we were really lucky to nab a night! The rooms were huge and the beds were temptingly comfortable; massive, thick and fluffy. But best of all, were the large bathtubs in every room. I’m such a sucker for a good bath, and ours at home is by no means comfortable or romantic, so though I thoroughly enjoyed dinner with the whole group, in the back of my mind I was ticking down the minutes till I could go back to my room and slink into the tub with a book.
We stayed at the hotel for dinner (and breakfast), eating at the attached Red Lion Bar & Bistro. The restaurant definitely had the atmosphere of a country pub, with darkened lighting and huge open fireplaces. The bar was extremely generous with their pouring of a gin and tonic, so that coupled with the warmth of the fire lulled me straight into relaxation mood.
Eat
I started my meal with the chilled heritage tomato broth (£6), a gazpacho-like dish that allowed the confit plum tomatoes to be the star of the show. I’m somewhat of a tomato glutton, and I loved this dish. My only complaint about it was that there wasn’t very much of it! We moved onto our mains where I had wild mushroom ravioli (£13) with wild mushrooms, sun-blushed tomatoes and summer truffle. It was extremely rich but the ravioli itself was obviously hand-made and perfectly filled. Here I had the opposite problem from the starter – I found that because the pasta was so heavy and buttery, I couldn’t finish the massive, albeit delicious, helping that I’d been given. Sadly, I was a tad disappointed by dessert, I opted for the chocolate sphere filled with chocolate mousse. I’m not sure what exactly I was tasting but I found the mousse to be a bit cheesy tasting and slightly off-putting.
Breakfast the next morning was lovely, with far too many options to chose from and I found myself drawn back to the Continental buffet time and time again.
Most of all, it piqued my interest to explore the Derbyshire Peak District more. Our schedules for this press trip were extremely packed, plus we arrived when it was already dark, but I’d love to return and have a great walk through the countryside. Plus Bakewell (home of the famous tart) isn’t very far away from Matlock, so you know I have to return for that reason alone!
Rooms at the Peak Edge Hotel start at £95.
Have you explored this part of the UK before?
***I was a guest of Joules and DFS, and my stay and meals were covered as part of the press trip.***
