The Peacock at Rowsley

Our Inspector's view

Set in the beautiful Peak District National Park, and ideally situated on the A6 between Matlock and Bakewell, The Peacock at Rowsley is part of the Haddon Hall Estate. Originally a manor house, built in 1652, The Peacock has been a hotel since the 1830s and combines stylish contemporary design with original period and antique features. Interiors are comfortable, with plenty of polished wood and stone walls, period features, an inviting bar and an intimate dining room. Here you’ll find traditional portraits in oil and walls in dark plum and lime green for a slightly contemporary twist on the country-house look, with chunky, unclothed tables, crisp linen napkins, and quite a formal atmosphere, the 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 local pork, wild garlic, onion, morels, turnip and mashed potato. 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 baked crème fraîche custard, rhubarb, sorrel, olive oil and doughnuts. The concise wine list is well chosen, with a good selection by the glass.

Awards, accolades and Welcome Schemes

3 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence