Staying At Darwin Forest Country Park Derbyshire

Staying At Darwin Forest Country Park Derbyshire

We were very fortunate to be offered a long weekend stay at the Darwin Forest Country Park Derbyshire, as arranged by Visit Peak District & Derbyshire to help promote their new website www.thelandtoforgettime.co.uk

Not wanting to miss a second of walking in the Peak District National Park we set off from Sandgate, Kent, at 5.15am and headed straight up to Dovedale, a walkers paradise I have heard so much about before but have never been to.

We arrived just before the car park opened and after our walk we headed into Matlock for a well earned coffee and cake before checking in at the Darwin Forest Country Park at 4pm.

Check in was simple and straightforward, and we were given an easy to follow map of the park with useful information about the area, where to go and what to do.

Darwin Forest Country Park Lodge

Our lodge was immaculate – extremely clean, very well equipped and clear instructions on how to use everything, where to find everything and stocked with all the essentials required for a luxurious stay.

Darwin Forest Country Park – Lodge Living Area

Darwin Forest Country Park – Lodge Bedroom

Darwin Forest Country Park is perfect for families, couples or singles and is so quiet you could almost hear a pine needle drop from the pinetum next door!

The lodges are well spaced apart and being located in a country park gives you the real experience of being part of the great outdoors.

Darwin Forest is right on the doorstep of an abundance of local attractions and all of the walks we went on were less than 30 minutes away by car.

Matlock is the near town for shopping, and has a large Sainsbury’s, but Sheffield and Derby are also just a short drive away. Bakewell, Ashbourne, Hartington and Castleton are also well worth a visit.

In the park itself is a well equipped health and fitness centre with a pool suitable for swimmers, with dedicated lanes, families and even a pool for toddlers and babies. Absolutely perfect for helping wind down after a hard day’s walking.

For children there’s a play centre, explorer’s cafe, mini golf, adventure playground, activity den and soft play area. For the adults there’s tennis, mountain bike hire and a bar!

There’s a woodland walk within the park grounds and a larger Forest Trail just next door.

Darwin Forest Country Park Forest Trail

It’s a circular walk around the pinetum which takes about 30 minutes to complete at just over a mile and we managed to squeeze it in just before we checked out on our last day.

Darwin Forest Country Park Pinetum

All in all we had a terrific stay and we had such an amazing time we would definitely come back and stay for longer. Even though we covered 25 miles of walks we only really scratched the surface of the Peak District National Park and in the summer, with clear blue skies and a little sunshine you wouldn’t want to ever leave!

During our stay we started with a 7 mile walk in Dovedale, a 9 mile hike across the moors from Elam to Abney and a scenic 8 mile walk from Bakewell to Chatsworth, as well as the 1 mile walk around the Forest Trail at Darwin Forest itself.