The Peak District doesn’t, at first glance, look like an area that has seen much in the way of mass civil disobedience over the last century. Yet, were it not for a collective trespass, this vast area of protected meadows, mountains, crumpled fields and lonely summits, might look very different indeed.
It was a hugely popular day trip destination for the factory workers immersed in the newly created belching, smoking cities of Manchester and Sheffield during the Industrial Revolution. But when the blue-collar employees and their families ventured here by train in their thousand, they were given a hostile reception by the owners of the local grouse hunting moors. It was an organised people’s invasion of the moors and privately owned land in 1932 that prompted the beginning of the lobbying process that culminated in the Peak District being awarded National Park status in 1951; the very first place in the UK to be given this protected moniker.
Hikers, strollers and cyclists need no longer fear the wrath of red-faced land owners, as long as they stick to the paths. Yet, for most of the 70 subsequent years, the standard of hotels in the Peak District remained seemingly protected, albeit in a far less attractive manner.
Bare-bones-basic bed and breakfasts and mediocre ‘country house hotels’ which invariably came with a Corby trouser press in the bedrooms and an absurdly late check-in time from the owners, meant that the Lake District over in Cumbria was, for many, a more attractive option for a romantic weekend amid the world of Beatrix Potter and Wordsworth.
Yet, at long last, the Peak District does seem to have woken up to how far behind it was in the hotel stakes compared to its western rival. Here we round up seven of the best hotels in the Peak District to know about.
Biggin Hall, Buxton
If you’re familiar with the fates of the fictional Brangwen sisters, then this part of the Peak District may feel oddly familiar. For it was just ten minute’s drive from this handsome country manor where a certain DH Lawrence was living (in the hamlet of Middleton-by-Wirksworth to be precise) to pen Women In Love, later turned into a film with Oliver Reed and Glenda Jackson.
There’s not nearly so much emotional turbulence here at Biggin Hall as there is in the novel thankfully; for this is a place to unwind Edwardian style amid the warren of limestone buildings topped with slate. Start with a game of croquet on the lawn before, if the rain sets in, taking to a book or grappling with a board game in the plush library. Rooms are reassuringly traditional without being dowdy, with four poster beds and mullioned windows. Generous touches extend from a self-service cheeseboard at the end of dinner and even an array of sandwiches you can take with you when heading out on a day trip hike along the Tissington Trail.
