The Peacock at Rowsley

Owned by Lord and Lady Manners of Haddon Hall, this stylish hotel on the banks of the River Derwent is set in the beautiful Peak District National Park. Ideally situated on the A6 between Matlock and Bakewell, it also makes for a convenient base to explore 1,000-acre Chatsworth House nearby. Dating from 1652 and originally a manor house, the family-run Peacock at Rowsley is part of the Haddon Hall Estate and it has been a hotel since the 1830s. Combining contemporary design with original period and antique features, there’s a comfortable bar and intimate dining room with traditional oil portraits on dark plum and lime green walls. Chunky, unclothed tables and crisp linen napkins add to quite a formal setting for the inventive modern British menus. These change seasonally, and are creative and technically nimble, the multi-layered dishes making excellent use of produce from the kitchen gardens as well as locally reared organic meats from nearby estates. At dinner, the à la carte might offer starters of spinach and pumpkin agnolotti, smoked pumpkin velouté, sage and pinenuts or Jersey Royal potatoes, Dorset snail, smoked beef and bacon ragoût, seaweed and parsley. An English asparagus salad, almond, lemon, seaweed and herbs makes a good vegetarian alternative. Mains could take in an accurately cooked Derbyshire lamb, grains, spring cabbage, artichoke, ewes' curd and pine nuts, or Goosnargh duck, beetroot, cabbage, pommes Anna and blackberry vinegar. For vegetarians, goats’ cheese and shallot agnolotti, spring vegetables and lightly smoked broth with onion bread and herb butter is a delightful option. When it comes to dessert you might choose coconut cheesecake parfait, rum baba, tapioca, pineapple and yuzu sorbet or maybe plump for pistachio soufflé, dark chocolate sorbet. The concise wine list is well chosen, with a good selection by the glass.

Awards, accolades & Welcome Schemes

3 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence