Luxury holidays in Peak District
It may be within easy reach of Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield, but you could spend a lifetime exploring its footpaths, caverns and pretty villages such as Tissington or Wirksworth, and there’d still be a ridge you hadn’t scaled or a real ale you hadn’t supped. The White Peak, Dark Peak, Southern Dales and Western Moors aren’t purely about tremendous walking, mountain biking, climbing and caving: Buxton is as elegant and cultured a spa town as any in Europe, and the Chatsworth Estate is a paragon among stately homes. Still, the real soul of the Peak – the untamed National Park – is its natural beauty, both abundant and magnificent.
When to go
Generally speaking, you choose between clouds and crowds: summer brings tourists and daytrippers; autumn and winter mean short days and pot luck with rain or shine. When the rest of Yorkshire and Derbyshire are bathed in sunshine, Snake Pass may be blizzard-whipped.