Guests from all over the world travel to the Peak District for its quintessential English landscapes. And for those who love a design-led hotel with a backstory, The Cavendish in Derbyshire is an appealing choice.
Come rain or shine, Chatsworth’s regal gardens are the centrepiece of England’s oldest National Park, a stately UK home lived in for 17 generations by the earls and dukes of Devonshire. The Cavendish hotel, a nearby bolthole in Baslow is brimming with treasures and trinkets from Chatsworth House, a gentle parkland stroll away.
In a whirlwind redesign of the hotel, interior designer Nicola Harding was tasked with the dream brief to raid Chatsworth’s attics and archives. Highlights include paintings and portraits from the family’s original collection by the likes of Elizabeth Peyton, Nancy Mitford and Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller. Across its 28 rooms, playful patterns and pops of colour recall Chatsworth’s mural-painted stairways and ceilings, with a modern British twist.
Today, you’ll find a design-led but restorative mini-break in the Peak District, filled with brisk country walks through bucolic fields and trips to the local farm shop, followed by homegrown cuisine plucked and sourced within a 10-mile radius.
The Vibe
Warm and inviting. Despite its fashionable renovation, this two-story property has the feel of a big country home, with its stone fireplaces and buzzy communal areas. As such, there’s no main lobby – it’s more of a low-key reception area, with two restaurants and a spectacular 1950s-style lounge-bar that lends itself to cosy winter nights. Artfully arranged coffee table books can be perused at check-in, or in the lounge after a long romp through the countryside. Ceramic pieces by Pippin Drysdale are tucked behind reception, just one of several references to the main house.
The Rooms
There are 28 guestrooms to choose from, outfitted with folksy antique furniture, stone fireplaces and playful punches of colour. The Burlington room is spacious but cosy, with painterly views of the Derbyshire countryside. Two generous reading chairs with squishy cushions are positioned beside the window, where you can enjoy a pot of Earl Grey tea as the rain pitter-patters above. David Mellor cafetières are also provided in place of a regular coffee machine, which tells you a lot about the relaxed pace of life at The Cavendish.
Enjoy your slow brew in one of the fluffy white robes after a long, soothing soak in the bath. Most of what you see in the guestrooms forms some connection to the Devonshire family and the estate. Other items, such as the silky-soft linen fabrics, were made in partnership with local artisans.
The Food + Drink
The Cavendish is every bit an epicurean escape as a design lover’s heaven. Executive Chef Adam Harper rustles up farm-to-table fare sourced within 10 miles of the estate. You can learn all about the hotel’s impressive eco credentials during the Chef’s Table dinner, an immersive culinary experience that takes you behind the scenes of the lab-like kitchen. On arrival, the chefs are busy at work, demonstrating the best way to slice a Beef Wellington. Dinky canapes are served to set the tone, including locally sourced trout from the nearby Ladybower Fisheries.
What follows is a 10-course tasting menu in the 3 AA Rosette Gallery restaurant, starting with Chatsworth beef tartare and ending with an outrageously delicious soufflé. Every dish is a work of art, and not too substantial for a tasting menu, leaving you light on your feet. Beetroot played a starring role on the menu, freshly grown on the estate and in season at the time of serving.
Retreat to the hotel’s bar next door, peppered with black-and-white photographs of the Devonshire family. It’s an intimate space that operates as a lounge as much as a lively bar depending on the time of day, with comfy sofas and atmospheric lighting. Come for a pot of coffee and a quiet read of the classics (think Laurence Sterne and Shakespeare) or sample a range of local gins served in balloon glasses.
The Little Extras
Chatsworth House hosts a roster of events and experiences throughout the year, from art exhibitions to educational garden tours. Delve into the Devonshire family’s literary collection in an upcoming exhibition House of Stories: Tales from the Chatsworth Library, from 21 March to 4 October 2026.
The To-Do List
Chatsworth House
The walk to Chatsworth House from The Cavendish is a scenic 20-minute ramble away, through the vast, open fields. Along the way, you’ll pass roaming sheep and a pond that looks uncannily similar to the Colin Firth lake scene in Pride & Prejudice. It turns out it’s not the same one, but the main house has had its fair share of air time as the fictional residence of Mr Darcy and an appearance in The Duchess.
On a private tour of Chatsworth House, you’ll be treated to an educational journey through the chambers, cloisters and many rooms, each with their own stories from as far back as 1549. Take the Painted Hall, one of the first on the tour, a grand room from the original house covered in allegorical depictions of Julius Caesar and the 1668 revolution.
The décor exudes maximalism and aristocratic opulence at its finest, splayed with loud patterns and a decadent colour palette fit for an Oscar Wilde novel. Through the cloisters, random objects purchased by the sixth Duke adorn the interior. Known for being the “Bachelor Duke” for never marrying, he was also a collector of statues, rocks, obscure sculptures and other accoutrements on his travels around Europe.
The Oak Room next door is an example of his aristocratic dandyism, a remnant of a German monastery that, quite bizarrely, became his designated breakfast room, despite its dark and gloomy interior. Each to their own. Towards the end of the tour of the main house, we were granted rare access to the Devonshire’s private library and study stocked with endless copies of Milton, Cervantes and Chaucer in manuscript form.
After a light lunch at The Stables, Chatsworth’s 105-acre garden is best explored on foot. Meander over to the estate’s vegetable garden lined with pear trees, marrow patches, beetroot stations and mighty Jerusalem artichokes – all sent to Chatsworth’s restaurants, inns, hotels and a nearby farm shop. Visitors are welcome to pick, pluck and taste the produce there and then, mainly to encourage connectivity with the land. Bulging Muscat of Alexandria grapes can be found in the vinery, which are currently being used to make a dessert wine with a local Derbyshire wine producer.
David Mellor Design Museum
The Cavendish is full of David Mellor objects, most notably the designer’s posh stainless steel cutlery from the Paris collection. Royals and lofty establishments from all over the globe have favoured Mellor’s design pieces in the kitchen. You can learn about the evolution of the brand’s methods at the nearby David Mellor Design Museum, a 10-minute drive away from The Cavendish.
A private tour lets you in on the genius behind the curvature of a spoon, or the intricate indentation of a knife. These daily items that we use and take for granted are suddenly viewed in a new light. David Mellor also designed the traffic lights you see all over the UK – a fun fact that, for some reason, is widely unknown. Retreat to the museum’s design-forward café for a sweet treat and be sure to peruse the gift shop on the way out.
Village and Farm shop
A trip to Chatsworth is incomplete without a stop-off at the village farm shop. On the shelves you’ll find an abundance of high-quality produce, sourced straight from the land within a 30-mile radius. Pick up jars of Yorkshire rhubarb jam, oversized Bakewell tarts, tantalising tubs of ginger hot chocolate and a medley of British cheeses.
Walking routes
Derbyshire’s vast, moody moors are a walker’s playground. Follow in the footsteps of the many poets and painters that used the wild beauty of the Peak District as inspiration. You’re bound to spot a herd of cows on the Baslow Edge route, a scenic loop around the towering Eagle Stone formation. It’s extra atmospheric when the fog hovers above the villages below. Look out for a leather-bound folder in your room at The Cavendish for an array of local walking routes.
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