An accessible and dog-friendly break in the Peak District

After a short visit to the Peak District while being confined to the UK back at the height of the Covid-pandemic in 2020, I was always hoping to return and see more at some point so when my elderly parents wanted a getaway with me and the family dog Lily over winter half term week, I was excited to find a cheap deal at a Darwin Escapes site at the southern end of the park.

Lily settles into our lodge and enjoys her complimentary toy

Having taken 2 short breaks at other Darwin Escapes resorts before, we were becoming quite a fan of their spacious lodges on sites where ‘quiet’ and ‘secluded’ is their selling point and our lodge on their Rivendale Lodge Retreat site just north of Ashbourne did not disappoint.

With my dad being unable to walk long distances due to a variety of ongoing health problems and an anxious large rescue dog in tow, I had spent a bit of time looking up possible places to visit where we could take short walks on paved or easily accessible paths but at the same time, not be spending too much time in the obvious tourist sites where Lily would spend her time barking at anyone who happened to walk past and encroach on her space!

With it being just a short journey of just under 2 hours from where we were in South Birmingham to the holiday park, we made it most of the way there without stopping, deciding to call in at the large Ashbourne Park to give Lily a long walk before continuing the short drive from the town to Rivendale in time for check in. Upon entering our lodge, Lily was pleased to find she had been left complimentary dog treats and a tug rope toy to keep her entertained during her stay!

On our first full day in the region, we decided to venture out of the National Park boundaries slightly upon the recommendation of a friend who had suggested Carsington Water as the perfect place for both my parents and Lily to take a walk.

View along the High Peak Trail near Minninglow

Pulling up on the large car park, we were unsure at first if it would be a bit busy for Lily’s liking but decided to head away from the visitors’ centre area and followed the path that ran alongside the reservoir. For the most part, the path was separated in two with a side for walkers and a side for cyclists. There weren’t too many cyclists out but when we did see any, there was plenty of room to move Lily to the side and let them pass. The path was an easy one for my dad to walk along, often flat and with just a few gradual inclines and declines on the section we walked along and few tripping hazards and there were pretty views across the water along the way. After an enjoyable, leisurely walk for 15 minutes or so, we turned around and retraced our steps back to the car park before finding a quiet bench to sit on overlooking the reservoir to sit and eat our picnic lunch.

Walking a section of the High Peak Trail

After lunch, we walked Lily along to Stones Island, a peninsula that juts out into the reservoir in front of the visitor centre. While this was a busier section of the park, there was still plenty of room to keep Lily away from other people and dogs.

We drove back via Matlock Bath so we could pick up some shopping from a nearby supermarket but as it seemed very busy in Matlock Bath itself, decided not to make a stop in what is a very touristy town. Instead, after our quick shop, we continued our drive through the Derbyshire Dales and spotting a National Park car park on google maps, decided to pull in there and see what we’d find.

The car park was at Minninglow and gave access to the High Peak Trail, one of many former train tracks in the Peak District that has since been turned into a walking and biking trail. Having cycled the Monsal Trail on my last visit to the Peak District, I was worried that this would be as busy but with this being a less well-known track than the Monsal Trail – plus it not being the middle of August! – there were very few cars parked on the free car park and very few people about.

With two directions to possibly go in, we randomly took the path in the direction of Parsley Hay. After a short stretch through woodland, the wide, flat path opened out to views across field and farmland. We walked for about 15-20 minutes in the late afternoon sunshine before turning back and heading back to the car park, my parents and Lily now tiring and in need of a rest. It was just a short drive back to our lodge from here and we spent the evening relaxing in our peaceful surroundings.

The next day, my parents were keen to visit the town of Bakewell to pick up some sweet treats. Knowing it was likely to be busy, we drove in before the midday rush and after a little bark in the car park, Lily managed a walk around town with us without getting too bothered by the passersby and other dogs out for a walk.

After picking up some cakes, we wandered down a back alleyway which lead to the riverside and took a walk up to the historic Bakewell Bridge and then, crossing the road, down to Brookside, a path running along side a narrow offshoot of the River Wye.

From Bakewell, we drove north towards Padley Gorge. Here, we parked for free in a layby on the B6521 and went through a gate down a few manageable steps to a public footpath which runs alongside Burbage Brook. Following the path to the left, we soon left the moorland we’d started in and went through a gate into woodland, still following alongside the brook.

The woodland trail alongside Padley Gorge

There were a few walkers, families and dogs out for a walk about but it wasn’t too busy and despite having to look for a few roots or stones sticking up, the path was mainly manageable for my parents. After a while, the path became steeper and narrower and we decided to turn back.

After a cup of tea and snack back at the car, we crossed the B-road to the gate on the other side which lead in to the Longshaw Estate, a National Trust site with meadow and woodland walks. We followed the path past the Granby Discovery Barn and up to a small lake then through woodland and out into open meadows before turning back and retracing our steps back to the car again.

Views from the trails at the Longshaw Estate

With it still being only early afternoon, we decided to make one more stop on our way back to the holiday park – in the historic town of Eyam, often referred to as the ‘plague village’. During the and outbreak of Black Death in 1665-6, villagers here decided to isolate and cut themselves off from the rest of the World in order to try and stop further spread of the plague.

Above, Pavillion Gardens, Buxton, and below, Sepentine Walk

Many villagers died of the black death here while some survived, finding themselves to be naturally immune. Some descendants of these survivors still live in Eyam today! There’s a small museum in the town near the free car park but, having Lily with us, we didn’t visit. Instead, we took a walk around the town and found it to be really interesting and worth a stop with a multitude of information about the town and the black death on placards around the town.

After successful visits with Lily to both Bakewell and Eyam the previous day, on our last full day in the Peak District, my parents decided they’d like to visit the town of Buxton where they’d been on a weekend away many years earlier. Parking up at the Pavillion Gardens car park, we wondered into the picturesque – but very busy – park. With Lily getting agitated by everything going on around her, we exited the main park and crossed the road to a quieter section known as the Serpentine Walk where a path followed the river before crossing a bridge and looping back on itself. We then crossed the road again back in to the Pavillion Gardens, taking a quieter route along the back paths of the park to reach Buxton Town Centre. After a short walk through the town – picking up some more sweet treats for later – we returned past the Pavillion building to the car park.

Above, and below, beautiful views at Goyt Valley

I had had in mind today that since we were visiting Buxton, we would go to Buxton Country Park for the afternoon, part of which I had been to on my last visit to the Peak District. But having seen how busy Buxton and the Pavillion Gardens were, I was having second thoughts so once back at the car, I had a quick look on google maps to see if there were any National Park car parks not too far away.

I spotted one marked on the map as Goyt Valley car park and not too far from there, could see Errwood Reservoir on the map. A quick google revealed both to be listed as good for walking dogs so I made a hasty decision to head that way instead of to the country park.

And I’m so glad I did! The short drive to Goyt Valley took us over steep hills to reveal sweeping valley views and we found the free Goyt Valley car park at the foot of one of the hills with plenty of parking space. From the car park, we took one of the paths leading past a small lake. The path ran alongside the valley below offering beautiful views across the peak district made even prettier under the blue skies and sunshine.

We walked for about half an hour meeting just a few passers by along the way before returning to the car and driving on to the reservoirs we had seen in the distance.

Arriving at the car park for Errwood Reservoir, I was surprised that there didn’t seem to be a path running alongside the reservoir so instead we took a path up a hill which lead to Errs Wood at the top. We took a short walk through a shady path alongside a stream in the wood but as it started to descend, we decided to turn back as my parents were tiring and unsure they’d make it back up again.

Returning to the top of the hill at the edge of the wood, we enjoyed the views over the reservoir below before returning to the car and driving back to our lodge.

Above, and below, walking a short section of the Tissington Trail.

The next morning, we had to check out of our lodge by 10am but not wanting to return home just yet, we decided to pull into the Tissington Trail car park at Ashby de la Zouche right next to the holiday park. The Tissington Trail is yet another of the Peak District’s former train tracks that is now a cycling and hiking trail and similar to the High Peak and Monsal Trails therefore offers a wide and mainly flat path through the Peak District. With Lily apparently tired from her week away and pulling to go back to the car, we walked just a short distance of the trail heading north bound. Like the High Peak Trail, I found the trail to be a lot quieter than the Monsal Trail – we bumped into just a couple of cyclists and one other dog being walked along the way.

As we reached the car, the weather started to change and rain was in the air but I had one more stop I wanted to make before we returned home – Dovedale. This was another recommendation from a friend. Another National Trust site, I knew it would be busy and I was right but with the rain, many people were returning to their cars and we found enough space along the path to keep Lily calm and away from too many people.

The path at Dovedale followed a river running through a glacier carved valley and there were really pretty views on the short walk to a set of Stepping Stones at the far end.

To continue the walk any further, we had to cross the stepping stones but we thought better of it with my parents being wary of getting across and me having visions of Lily ending up wading across the river rather than sticking to walking across the stones but despite this, it was an enjoyable short walk to finish off our trip.

I felt like I’d seen a lot more of the Peak District than I had on my last visit. It was great to have seen different places and taken different walks and especially nice to have found places walks that were manageable for my parents and that Lily could enjoy with us!

A short break in the Peak District

Deciding to spend 2 weeks on a road trip around some of the UK’s National Parks, none of which I’d spent any time in before, we kicked off our trip with 3 nights in the Peak District National Park.

To keep costs down, we had chose to stay in a chain budget hotel in the Derbyshire town of Chesterfield, right on the edge of the park and no more than 40 minutes drive from any of the areas on our ‘to see’ list.

As we made our way to the hotel midweek in the middle of August, it was an uncomfortably hot day with thunderstorms predicted for the evening and rain forecast for the next 3 days. Not exactly the perfect weather for a visit to a place where we planned to spend the majority of our time outside walking! We briefly entered the Derbyshire Dales part of the park that afternoon with a stop in the town of Matlock.

Looking down from a viewpoint on a walk towards High Tor.

Having spent a week planning our trip, we had discussed the possibility of visiting Matlock Bath’s Heights of Abraham attraction, a cable car ride up a cliff side with panoramic views and a range of attractions on offer from the top but as it was our travel day, we were unsure on what time, or even if, we’d make it on time for a stop in the area and, of course, with Covid-restrictions in place, any activities had to be booked in advance. As we left that morning, ride slots were still available for that afternoon but, making good time, we checked again as we nearer the area to find they had now all sold out. We realised that spontaneity on visiting attractions this trip was out of the question and we were going to have to book well in advance for anything else like this we wanted to do on this trip.

Instead of the cable car ride, we spent some time wandering into Matlock town and through it’s pretty park then back along the river detouring up a steep path towards High Tor to a view point before wandering into the neighbouring Matlock Bath, where we found a very touristy High Street lined with arcades, fish and chip shops and random money-grabbing attractions. In an attempt to avoid the busy footpaths, we crossed over to Derwent Gardens, a riverside park, and took a stroll along the river before returning to our car and continuing our drive to our Chesterfield hotel which would be our base for the next 3 nights.

Officially entering the Peak District National Park

For our first full day in the Peak District, we had booked an early slot to visit the recently reopened Chatsworth House and gardens near Bakewell. As we drove into the park we spotted a millstone boundary marker and seeing as it is a bit of a tradition on our US National Park trips to get a photo with the park entrance signs, we decided to pull over and do the same here!

Chatsworth House and, below, inside the house

Organisation at Chatsworth House was well done. We were careful to arrive just before our ticketed time slot and after parking, we had our mobile tickets scanned and were shown to an area where sinks with hot running water had been installed and asked to go up in our social groups to thoroughly wash our hands then put our face coverings on before being allowed into the house.

Only a few tickets were available for each time slot to cut down the number of people in the house at one time and a one way system was in operation around the property and we were asked to distance from the other groups that we were not attending with. This mainly worked except for times when groups in front stopped for an extended period to look at something or ask questions of the staff. If the corridors or rooms we were in were narrow at this point, it meant you were unable to overtake and had to wait for the groups in front to move on before you could get any further causing some queues to advance to the next room.

Water features in the extensive gardens at Chatsworth House

After looking around the house, we went for a walk around the impressive gardens. On a nice day, it would be possible to spend the day just in the gardens at Chatsworth alone but although we hadn’t had the thunder and rain storms which had been forecast, there was the occasional drizzle and the threat of rain in the air so after wandering down to the fountains and through the rock garden we decided to call our visit a day and move on.

Bakewell Bridge and, below, some of the many Bakewell bakeries on offer in the town

Since it was only a few miles away, we decided to head to the town of Bakewell next. We found that the signposts to the car parks around the town would disappear before we actually found the car park we were aiming for and ended up at a large, but seemingly very out of town parking area in a field. After parking up and paying for a couple of hours’ stay, we found there we weren’t on the outskirts after all and there was actually a shortcut into the centre over a bridge across the river. While the town had attempted to encourage visitors to socially distance with roadside parking areas now being use as coned off pavement extensions, we still found the town to be way too busy for our liking. We visited the National Park Centre there to pick up some souvenirs but unfortunately, the few park exhibitions there were cordoned off due to Covid restrictions so the centre was operating as little more than a gift shop. From here we made our way to the famous Bakewell Pudding shop and glanced through the window at the baked goodies on offer. The puddings themselves didn’t look particularly appetising and the cakes on offer seemed alittle overpriced so we moved on to find another bakery eventually settling on the Bakewell tart shop where we got a very generous portion of Bakewell tart for a more reasonable price.

We finished our visit to the town with a walk along the river to see the historic Bakewell Bridge before returning to the car and driving on to the town of Buxton.

Buxton was much quieter. We parked at the Pavilion Gardens and walked past the Buxton Pavilion into the lower part of the town where we visited the old Pump Room which now doubles as a visitor centre. While mainly just a gift store now, part of the building has been left as it would have been in Victorian times and information boards give an insight into the spa town’s past. Just outside is the historic St Anne’s Well from which you can fill your water bottle with natural spring water.

Part of the original Pump Room at the Buxton Visitors Centre

We picked up a leaflet outlining the Buxton Heritage Trail from the visitor centre which contained a town map pointing out the highlights. Many of the places mentioned were around the visitor centre area so it didn’t take long to walk to some of these. We finished our visit with a walk through the beautiful Pavilion Gardens before driving to the nearby Buxton Country Park for a late afternoon walk up to Soloman’s Temple.

Hiking in the Peak District – walking to Soloman’s Temple and, below, Soloman’s Temple and the view from the top

Rather than using the main car park, we parked at a smaller car park at the back of the park from which it was an easy hike to the rotunda on top of a hill. It was possible to climb a few stairs to the top of the building from which there were 360 degree views across the Peak District. The country park was a really great place to walk and get out in the open after spending time in the busy towns.

With the weather forecast now showing sunny spells rather than the originally forecast rain, we decided to spend the next day cycling the Monsal Trail, a former rail line now converted into a space for walking and cycling stretching from Bakewell to Wye Valley. Bikes can be hired from either end so we drove to the old Hassop Station near Bakewell and parked up for the day, arriving around 10am so there’d still be plenty of bikes to rent.

Map of the Monsal Trail at Hassop Station

Cycling towards Wye Valley, the track was at a very slight, almost unnoticeable incline. It was just under 8 miles to the end of the trail and we’d been provided with maps showing the villages lying just off the trail should we want to visit them as well as the position of the Monsal Viaduct and the four tunnels along the route (which were great fun cycling through!!) so we could track our progress along the way. We chose not to leave the trail to venture into these villages at any point but there was a cafe at the old Millers Dale station directly on the trail which we stopped at for a well lunch. Once at the end of the trail, we turned around and cycled back the other way.

Instead of returning our bikes as soon as we got back to Hassop station, we continued on to Bakewell to ensure we had fully completed the trail. It was a short downhill ride from the old station at Bakewell into the town centre and we headed straight to a cafe we had seen the day before to get well-deserved ice creams. Exhausted, we wheeled our bikes back up the hill to Bakewell station again and picked the trail back up to ride the mile back in the other direction to Hassop and finally return our bikes.

Although it is possible to complete the whole trail in under 2 hours, we took our time on the outbound cycle, stopping regularly to enjoy the views and read the information signs dotted along the trail and managed to make a day out of the activity, not returning our bikes until 3.30pm – more than 5 hours after we hired them. A really fun day out!

The next day, we’d be leaving the Peak District National Park for our next stop in the Yorkshire Dales National Park but we had one more activity planned that morning before heading off. Having spent most of our time in the south of the park we drove a bit further north instead to the Hope Valley region where we planned to walk up Mam Tor, a large hill in the High Peak area of the park. It was a Saturday and as we drove to the National Trust owned car park, we found cars already parked all along the roads around the area wherever they could fit. It was only 10am but the site was extremely busy and the car park was very tight, made worse again by people parking where they shouldn’t and not just in the marked bays. Luckily as we struggled to manoeuvre our way out of one section of the car park, someone parked there left and we managed to grab their space. Our National Trust membership gave us free paring here.

Mam Tor now in the distance as we make our way back along the circular walking route

We followed the circular walking route from the National Trust’s website for our walk but many people were just walking to the peak of Mam Tor then returning back down the way they came. The instructions for the walk were easy to follow and the walk wasn’t too difficult at all with the steps up to the peak of Mam Tor not being too steep. The worst part was descending along a narrow, overgrown, sandy trail down the side of the hill towards the woods.

Evidence of a landslide walking back from Mam Tor

Once back down on the ground, the last part of the trail back up hill to the car park seemed to go on forever, especially as we seemed to complete the trail up to that point pretty quickly, but there were plenty of places to stop for a breather under the pretense of taking in the scenery!

And with that it was time to say goodbye to the Peak District. It had been a fun few days and we felt we had fit a lot in but as always, there was plenty more on our list of possible things to do which we hadn’t got around to such as walking in The Roaches near Leek or touring some of the many caverns in the area. I guess I’ll just have to go back someday!

Watch my vlog of my trip here:

Find out what I got up to at the next National Park on my road trip, the Yorkshire Dales, here.

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