Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Travel
With everything from theme parks to stately homes set in stunning natural beauty, the Peak District is pure perfection
Aweek before our spring trip to the Peak District, the forecast was for snow. Surely some mistake, we thought. But no, pulling back the curtains after our first night at our rented luxury farm house on the outskirts of the National Park there was a sprinkling of the white stuff.
But as the saying goes: “If you don’t like the weather, wait 10 minutes”. And before we’d finished breakfast the sun came out to melt off the unseasonal flurry.
From our base in Bradnop, near Leek, in Staffordshire, we discovered the region’s attractions are as varied as the weather.
From the adrenaline-fuelled theme park Alton Towers, to the genteel spa town of Buxton and elegant stately home Chatsworth House, there really is something for everyone.
Those looking for natureinspired highs can stride out across the 555 sq miles of
England’s first National Park.
STEAM
Streams and dry stone walls criss-cross its hills and vales with picturesque villages dotted in between.
We spent a week at Gorsthead Mill Farm, found on the Sykes Cottages website.
It’s down an unmarked road which passed under a railway bridge, on which you might spot a steam train.
The modernised stone house is set in 2.3 acres of undisturbed tranquillity. It has two bathrooms and five bedrooms to sleep 12, including one room with bunks.
There’s a huge renovated kitchen and farmhouse table and a cosy living room, complete with wood burning stove.
Extra accommodation with a sofa bed, kitchenette and bathroom is available above the double garage across the courtyard. Which made it the perfect size for my family of four, my parents and my sister, her husband and two children.
Our boys, Leo, seven and Monty, five, loved exploring the garden and the shallow gurgling river at the bottom of the garden.
They had hours of fun building dams, hunting for bugs and cooing over the spring lambs in nearby fields.
Gorsthead Mill Farm is perfectly positioned just outside the south of the National Park. It’s a 20-minute drive from Alton Towers and 40 minutes each from either Buxton or Matlock. Our first day’s sightseeing began with a wonderful drive through the heart of the Peak District. Our destination was the Heights of Abraham hilltop park in the spa town of Matlock, in neighbouring Derbyshire, which has been attracting day-trippers for hundreds of years.
In the old days they had to walk up the steep slopes but now you can take a dramatic ride in the cable car which lifts you 557ft over the gorge cut out by the River Derwent.
At the top there is a cafe with fine views of the valley, a fossil exhibition and a play park. But the highlight is a getting to explore the lead mines dating from 1556.
The half-hour tour of the shafts and caverns (171 steps!) takes you hundreds of feet underground. You can still see pick marks on the rock faces in parts.
The attraction is a fine place to get your bearings as the information boards are full of interesting nuggets – such as how the Derwent Reservoir was used by the real-life