Home of the delectable Bakewell pudding, Bakewell is a picture perfect Peak District market town made up of winding cobbled streets and characterful stone houses, providing the perfect destination for eating, relaxing and sight seeing.

Stay with us in Bakewell

Our Bakewell holiday cottages offer a special place to take the weight off your feet and unwind with those you love the most. Our ten holiday cottages at Haddon Grove offer a shared swimming pool, glowing wood burners, outdoor play areas and beautiful grounds. Our three Bakewell Collection cottages are centrally located in this beautiful market town and our three Hassop Collection cottages form part of the historic Hassop Estate, dating back to the 1580’s. 

Surrounded by some of the most stunning countryside in the world, our Bakewell holiday cottages are a haven for walkers, cyclists, fishermen and anyone who loves the outdoors.

Here are just ten wonderful things to do during your stay…

1 Try a Bakewell Pudding

Chris Harris, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The story of the Bakewell Pudding started with a little accident back in 1860, when the mistress of a local inn asked her cook to make a strawberry tart. Instead of stirring the egg mixture into the pastry, she spread it on top of the jam. It was an instant success, and named the Bakewell Pudding. The wife of the town’s candlemaker heard about it, obtained the recipe, and turned it into a business from her cottage. It is now known as The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop. 

2 Visit Chatsworth House

Kev747, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Located less than 15 minutes from Bakewell on the banks of the Derwent River, Chatsworth is one of the most beautiful stately homes in all the land and home to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. You may recognise it as the home of Mr Darcy in the film, Pride & Prejudice! The house is set within an expansive estate with a vast garden, farmland, an adventure playground and extensive moorland over rocky hills. All visitors need to book timed tickets online.

3 Take a walk, or cycle the Monsal Trail

The Victorian Midland Railway Headstone Viaduct, now part of the Monsal Trail cycleway.

The Monsal Trail is a former railway line that is now a traffic free path for cyclists, walkers, joggers and horse riders. It runs for 8.5 miles between Bakewell and Blackwell Mill (near Buxton). On the trail you will go through six eerie tunnels, former stations, limestone cuttings, and witness, of course, stunning Derbyshire countryside views. The Headstone Viaduct is a real highlight, spanning one of the most stunning dales in the Peak District. Hire bikes from Blackwell Mill Cycle Hire or Monsal Trail Cycle Hire - both have electric bikes if you don’t fancy doing all the work yourself.

4 Browse the Bakewell Old House Museum

Elisa.rolle, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Located in the centre of Bakewell, The Old House Museum is an Elizabethan gentleman’s residence that is one of the town’s oldest buildings. First inhabited during the reign of Henry VIII as a tax collector's cottage, it went on to be used to house mill workers during the Industrial revolution. Now a fascinating museum with artefacts donated mostly by locals, it tells the town’s history through room sets which you can wander around for a good hour or so. Timed entrance tickets can be pre-booked on 01629 813642.

5 Have Afternoon Tea at the Lavender Tea Rooms

When you start to get peckish, there are some brilliant places to eat in Bakewell. The Lavender Tea Rooms is a lovely little gem, tucked away in a pretty courtyard, just off the main street. It offers light bites (such as sandwiches and teacakes), as well as Cream Teas and one of the best Afternoon Teas around! All afternoon teas must be booked in advance.

6 Visit All Saints Church

All Saints church in Bakewell is one of the finest medieval parish churches in England, with a history dating back to the Saxon period. Throughout the years, it has been restored, repaired, and expanded. It is home to some very interesting relics, such an impressive stone cross from the 9th century and some ancient stone coffins in the churchyard associating to the local Manners and Vernon families who lived at Haddon Hall. The Vernon Chapel has tombs for figures like Sir Thomas Wendesley, who died at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403.

7 Delve into ancient history at Arbor Low Stone Circle & Gib Hill Barrow (English Heritage)

Darren Flinders (CC BY-ND 2.0) 

Arbor Low is a fascinating Neolithic henge often called the “Stonehenge of the North”. This place has more in common with the stone circle in Avebury and has some 50 large rocks, quarried locally from the limestone of the White Peak. The stones are organised in a rough egg pattern, and are on an elevated oval bank (henge), encircled by a ditch and bank. About 300 metres away is Gib Hill, an enormous Neolithic barrow (burial mound) around 4,500 years old.

8 Explore the industrial past at Magpie Mine (lead mine)

Photo © Ashley Dace - geograph.org.uk/p/2855356 (cc-by-sa/2.0)

About 5km west of Bakewell,, the atmospheric remains of Magpie Mine are probably the best surviving example of a 19th century lead mine in the UK. The last working lead mine in the Derbyshire orefield, Magpie Mine has a fascinating history spanning more than 200 years of bonanzas and failures, of bitter disputes and fights resulting in the “murder” of three miners, and a Widows’ Curse that is said to remain to this day.

9 Take a walk along the River Wye

Take a walk along the pristine River Wye from either left or right of the medieval five arched Bakewell Bridge in the heart of the town. Along the pretty river, you can easily see the Rainbow Trout relaxing in their home as the waters are so perfectly clear! The pathways are well kept and the ducks and swans also keep you company along the way. And if you’re on a romantic retreat make sure you bring along a lock and key for the Bakewell “Love Locks” Bridge further along the river!

10 Thornbridge Brewery

Located within Riverside Business Park, this state-of-the art brewery offer 45 minute experience tours as well as a fantastic range of Thornbridge beers for both take-out and drinking in. They also stock a range of artisianal, locally sourced meat from the Thornbridge Hall estate, from animals fed on the brewery’s spent grains. Bookings are recommended.