Attention Northerners! Things to do in Derbyshire over the new year.

[Mottie]

Chaps, I’m looking for ideas. 10 of us are staying in a house near Matlock over the new year. I’m looking for something for us blokes to do while we're there. We are arriving on 28th Dec and leaving on Jan 3rd. We were planning to do quad biking but the place we were going to (www.wildparkderbyshire.con) is closing on the 28th and opening on the 3rd so we can’t make those dates. Looking for something in between the 29th and the 2nd. Don’t mind driving up to an hour from Matlock area. Any suggestions?

Oh, I know it’s Midlands but it’s oop north to us!

 

[charliegolf]

Lighthouse Resturant in Boylestone near Ashbourne is spectacular if you want posh food of an evening...

 

[Deleted member 18243]

That's a beautiful part of the world. The town of Matlock itself is nothing to write home about, but a couple of miles down the road is Matlock Bath, a spectacular little town in a gorge. Cable cars run across the gorge, taking you to a system of caves. On a Sunday Matlock Bath is a bikers' meeting place. Parking can be difficult mind.

Find your way to Castleton, another spectacular place, with more caves (lots of caves in Derbyshire) and plenty of pubs. One cave, Speedwell, has underground rivers and they take you through on a boat.

Drive from Castleton over Mam Tor (the moving mountain) to Edale. Admire the scenery. Look at the abandoned road, most of which fell into the moving mountain.

Also recommended: Chatsworth House and Haddon Hall, and the towns of Buxton and Bakewell (lots of tarts there.) Ashbourne, mentioned in the previous post, is nice too. Avoid Derby.

Beware that driving around these places involves country lanes and hills, the Peak District has no motorways. The main A6 links most of the above places.

 

[conny]

Been camping around Buxton, Matlock, Ashbourne, Fenny Bentley, Tideswell etc many times over my youth years.
Such a lovely scenic area that when I was seconded to Chesterfield a few years ago I used to take the scenic route back home to Liverpool. Wind my way through a couple of the places mentioned each week and eventually covered 95% of the places we had camped in/near many years previously.

 

[Brigadier]

Give Dennis Skinner a knock. He's from round that way, and is currently at a loose end....

 

[EddieM]

Ye olde Cheshire cheese is worth a visit, beautiful countryside around it, simply stunning.

 

[Mottie]

Thanks all. There’s 10 of us going with 8 dogs between us. Me and the wife have been going to the Peak District twice a year for the last 5 years or so and we have gone before with friends over Christmas. We were up there only in October. This time we’re staying just outside Matlock in a place called Lea. We go for the walks with the dogs - all working cockers. We’ve been to most of the popular places including Chatsworth and Dovedale more than once and happy to go there again and we will do so as a group this time with our dogs but what I’m looking for is something for just us blokes to do. We’ve been clay shooting a few times while up there in the past - just looking for something different this time for us to go off on and leave the women in the house to their yapping for half a day!

 

[EddieM]

Thanks all. There’s 10 of us going with 8 dogs between us. Me and the wife have been going to the Peak District twice a year for the last 5 years or so and we have gone before with friends over Christmas. We were up there only in October. This time we’re staying just outside Matlock in a place called Lea. We go for the walks with the dogs - all working cockers. We’ve been to most of the popular places including Chatsworth and Dovedale more than once and happy to go there again and we will do so as a group this time with our dogs but what I’m looking for is something for just us blokes to do. We’ve been clay shooting a few times while up there in the past - just looking for something different this time for us to go off on and leave the women in the house to their yapping for half a day!

In times gone by I'd have said hire a quad bike, great fun, but sadly it's damaging, so no dice now.

 

[Ian H]

Get Gasbanni to pop up and blow you off in his Honda