We booked quite a while ago to stay at the Peak Edge hotel for our wedding anniversary, which is Valentine’s Day. We booked Saturday 13th February for one night.
On arrival, the first thing you see from the road is the Red Lion pub and the hotel sits to it’s rear. There is plenty of parking available and they appeared to be installing a footpath to the far side of the car park as there were some building materials there and a timber outline for a footpath. There was a wedding taking place the day we arrived but it was still very quiet, which was lovely to escape from the hustle and bustle of city life. The hotel is situated in the southern point of the peak district in Derbyshire and is out of the way from nearby Chesterfield, down a country lane away from the main road. It was easy enough to find and when you are close it is signposted well. As you can see from the pictures the hotel is set in hills and countryside, which compliments the hotel with it’s natural and rustic theme, also incorporating the element of luxury that you expect from a 4 star hotel.
The reception area of the hotel is very well decorated with feature wallpaper, crushed velvet sofas and very spacious lobby area. I saw in the reception area that they offer health and beauty services on site also. The lady that checked us in was very courteous and professional at all times, she showed us to our room and gave us our key card and a welcome letter and a comments sheet for us to complete on departing.
The room was clean, well arranged and decorated in neutral colours with pictures hanging on the wall on one side. The room was well equipped with a ‘king size’ bed, which we were disappointed to find was actually two single beds pushed together and made up as a king sized bed. I can only assume that this room can be made up as a twin room by separating the beds. When you pay for a superior room at a 4 star hotel you do expect the bed you have booked. There was also a small tear in the sheet but I only mention that because I am a fussy cow and the tiniest thing irritate me, and you don’t expect 4 star hotels to have holes in their sheets. The mattress(es) were really firm and rather uncomfortable which was disappointing.
There were two chairs and a small table at the end of the bed, facing the large television on the wall. Also as you can see in the pictures there was a dressing table with lamp and a mirror on the wall, provided in the room were tea and coffee making facilities, bottled local spring water and glasses and mugs. The water was really lovely, I do think that water bottled in glass is nicer than plastic but this was particularly nice.
The bathroom was lovely, it was spacious and had a level access shower and a free standing bath tub. The lighting in the bathroom wasn’t great but was plenty light enough to see. My only complaint really with the bathroom is that one of the hooks on the back of the door had been removed, leaving an hole that hadn’t been repaired. Things like this really bug me as it is a quick fix but looks unsightly when left undone. Outside the bathroom in the walkway to the main room was space to hang clothes and coats, the dressing gowns were hung there on our arrival. There was also an iron and ironing board and a safe for our use.
The view from our room was really lovely, the shape of the hotel is an L so you are never looking directly into anyone else’s room or them into yours, which is always a bonus. This pretty little lake was the view outside our room but realistically all the room seemed to face it so I’m not sure that the views between the double rooms, the superior and the suites would necessarily be any different.
On the website there is a huge, beautiful square pond/pool with a large water feature in, but that isn’t actually at the hotel, I have no idea where it is but it is absolutely not the same place, which was disappointing as one of the things that attracted me to the hotel was the grounds, which we were slightly disappointed with if I am honest, it was our intention to have a walk around the grounds after breakfast but we quickly discovered that you can walk out to the pond/lake but there is nowhere else to go, there is a gate to the right that appears to lead to farm land. So walking across this little bridge and back around was our walk of the grounds.
Now, we hadn’t made a reservation at the Red Lion Bar & Bistro for dinner the night before and so went elsewhere to eat but we had breakfast with our room so ate there in the morning. It was lovely inside, rustic and true to it’s surroundings. We instantly regretted not booking and eating there the evening before, it was so charming. We were greeted quickly and shown to a table, the young lady that seated us checked that we were happy with the table and fetched us some hot filtered coffee straight away.
Little details like this make me happy, proper sugar cubes, milk served in a cute little milk bottle, and the sauces in little jars. I had never before seen ketchup and brown sauce served in glass jars, and to be honest bottles on the table would have ruined it I think.
The continental breakfast table had what you would expect to find, cereals, toast, fresh fruits, yogurts, jams and preserves. They did have gluten free bread available at request, as well as a choice of white or brown loaves. A selection of pastries were also available. I am actually quite fussy so I don’t tend to eat much from that table, I had some toast and fruit while the husband had some pastries also.
We had a full English breakfast, the food was served quickly and was ruddy lovely, the sausages we think were hand made and high quality. It actually made a nice change seeing an English breakfast served nicely as opposed to like a fry up for a builder. The husband was impressed and that is saying something as I have never met such a fussy git when it comes to a cooked breakfast. That is actually his breakfast pictured, I salute you if you noticed the key ingredient that is missing. Bacon. I think I have the only cooked breakfast loving man that does not like bacon.
In summary, we would possibly return to the Peak Edge Hotel, I wouldn’t pay for a superior room again though as my reasons for choosing that room was for the better views but really I think that all views would be similar. I would definitely book a table for an evening meal in the Red Lion Pub & Bistro as I imagine that would be really lovely if the breakfast is anything to go by, also the husband claims that he would return just for the breakfast.
The Scenic Route to Sanity 
Looks lovely, so picturesque x
LikeLike