Mr & Mrs Smith

The Peacock at Rowsley

Peak District, United Kingdom

The Peacock at Rowsley might have once been a dower house of Haddon Hall, one of Derbyshire's finest statelies, but now that there are contemporary black furry rugs next to the grand four-poster and antique wardrobe, and leaded window panes and ancestral portraits in the stairwell, there's no mistaking it's now a great little boutique hotel.

Need to know

• Rooms 16, including six superior doubles and two special rooms.
• Rates Double rooms from $241.04 (£154), excluding tax at 20 per cent.
  The price shown represents the lowest nightly rate for a double room available at this hotel over the next 21 days. Any price conversions from the hotel's local currency (£154) have been conducted using today's exchange rates from xe.com.
• More details Rates include Continental breakfast (cooked breakfast starts at £4.25 a person). A minimum two-night stay is required at weekends.
• Facilities DVD/CD library, free WiFi, massage by arrangement, access to a nearby gym and golf club, fly‑fishing, discounted entry to Chatsworth House (10 per cent off) and Haddon Hall (50 per cent off). In rooms, flatscreen TV, DVD/CD player, open fireplace, Aveda toiletries. Four rooms have a minibar.
• Check-out 11am, but if the hotel is quiet they can be flexible (subject to availability). Earliest check‑in, 2pm.
• Children Discouraged; under‑10s are not welcome at weekends, and an unfenced river means the garden is not child‑friendly. On weekdays, cots (£5) and extra beds (£25) can be provided, and chef will oblige with small portions or dishes ‘with chips’.
• Also Dogs are welcome, for £10 a night.
• Hotel closed Only the restaurant is open on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Food and drink at The Peacock at Rowsley

• Hotel restaurant In the Wye Room, chef Dan Smith turns locally sourced ingredients into fine‑dining feasts with an adventurous Mediterranean undercurrent; pigeon with spinach, puy lentils and a Madeira jus, for example; or fruit minestrone with orange and saffron tagliatelle. There’s a simpler bill of fare in the bar, where you can also order from the restaurant menu if you can’t drag yourself away from the fireside.
• Dress code Comfortable country living.
• Top table In the bar, go for the nook on the right‑hand side as you enter.
• Last orders Lunch, noon–2pm; dinner, 7pm–9pm (8.30pm on Sundays).
• Room service The bar menu is available during kitchen hours, but sandwiches can be rustled up in the afternoon.
• Hotel bar The invitingly olde-worlde bar has bare stone walls, a huge hearth and a weighty, copper-topped counter. You can also order from the restaurant menu here. Staff will keep the beer, wine, cocktails or champagne flowing as long as guests stay up.

The Peacock at Rowsley Rowsley, Matlock, Peak District, DE4 2EB