Wildhive Callow Hall
Hall of the wild
Peak District panorama
Wildhive Callow Hall, a Victorian Gothic manor set amid blustery wildness at the tippy-toe of the Peak District National Park, is a joy. It has treehouses from which you could badger-watch as you bathe on your deck and an Isabella Worsley makeover has brought colour and pattern to rooms. There’s serious outdoorsiness to be had, but when you return, you’ll be greeted with best of British fare, green-goddess views and many cosy nooks to curl up in.
Facilities
Rooms
28, including 11 Hives and two Treehouses.
Checkout
11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.
More Details
Rates don’t include breakfast.
Also
The hotel has made efforts to become accessible, adding ramps in public areas and specially adapting a room (number 16) with bathroom grab rails, lower sinks and wider doors.
Fitness Center
Free Internet Access
Laundry
Pet Friendly
On-Site Restaurant
Room Service
Spa
At the Hotel
Wellness centre and sauna; fitness studio; gardens; woodland; orchards; free-to-hire Dutch, trail and children’s bikes (electric and mountain bikes available for a fee); map room; charged laundry service; Hunter wellies to borrow; free WiFi. In rooms: TV with Chromecast, Roberts Radio, hair straightener, Nespresso coffee machine, tea-making kit, bathrobes, free bottled water, 100 Acres bath products.
Our Favourite Rooms
Well, do you want to lord it up in the manor? Or go a little wild? We can’t deny the lure of the Hives and Treehouses (who doesn’t love a treehouse?), which are set amid the ancient woodland. The Hives are the more intimate choice for couples, with a bedroom, kitchenette and a deck cushioned in boughs. The Treehouses have two bedrooms and would suit a family, but they’re romantic too, the copper bath tub on the deck makes badger-spotting all the more amorous. And, these are no survivalist cabins – no, designer Isabella Worsley (formerly of the Kit Kemp group) has taken the helm to make them stylish as can be. And, she’s done fine work in the main house too, mixing patterns, putting up Melissa White wallpapers, adding colour and comfortable padded pieces, cosy throws and bold-hued rugs. The Fabulous Rooms are certainly that, not just in style, but due to the roll-top bath tub under stone mullion windows and an emperor-size bed we’ll worship any day.
Spa
Set aside from the hall, the stone Coach House is a serene wellness centre for botanical massages with fragrant 100 Acres products, mani-pedis, face masks made of house-gathered honey and scrubs using the comb, and some downtime in the sauna. Or it’s where you chill out during sound therapy or scream ‘stop overtaking me’ at your partner as you compete in the interactive room where bikes are set up for races. There may not be a pool, but the fitness studio has Technogym equipment (weights, bikes, rowing machines), and there’s a space for yoga (lessons are charged). Practitioner Gavin can also lead you on a forest-bathing foray.
Packing Tips
Boots made for walking and walking and walking…
Also
Fittingly, the Wildhive group have included an apiary in the grounds, and bees from the hive have indeed been busy, pollinating a wide tranche of the countryside, including the hotel orchards.
Children
Kids are welcome in the hotel – there’s a dedicated menu in the restaurant and some rooms can fit an extra bed or cot (for an extra charge). However, for a family stay that’ll win you brownie points, book one of the Treehouses, which hold up to five.
Gallery
Food & Drink
Top Table
Outdoorsy sorts should request a fairy-lit woodland meal or picnicking by Bentley Brook. Or entertain indoors in the elegant private Dovedale room, displaying handpainted Melissa White wallpaper depicting the surrounds.
Dress Code
Not an eyebrow will be raised at a pair of wellies or wind-battered North Face jacket. But, despite its name, the Garden Room isn’t the place for soil smudges and grassy knees.
Hotel Restaurant
A sunblush-tomato-stuffed Wellington that oozes Somerset brie when you poke it, Packington pork chops drowned in cider jus and spread with Bramley compote, fat bubble-and-squeak cakes dunked in tamarind ketchup – and this is just for lunch at the Garden Room restaurant which offers the kind of firmly rooted, farm-found, heftily portioned rustic fare that’ll have you contentedly loosening your belt. Although maybe buckle that for now, because the glass-walled dining space (built with eyes on view worshipping) is an elegant space with trees in planters and blue-green hues. Dinner changes with the very visible seasons here, but each monthly menu cherry-picks British produce to pair with homegrown vegetables, fruit and herbs, which go into chutneys, pestos, jams, sauces and more. So, you might have soya-glazed Cornish octopus resting on a salad of samphire strawberries and pickled chilli; venison from Calke Abbey served with poached blackberries, a slab of smoked bacon and Scottish girolles; or a lemon parfait paired with house honey, roasted whisky-glazed peaches and gingerbread from Ahsbourne. Whether it’s freshly baked sourdough from Loaf bakery in Crich village, creamy Daltons Dairy ice cream, charcuterie from the Pig Paddock and Belted Galloway steaks from Peaks Pasture Farm, this is cookery that truly brings the countryside to your plate. And, don’t miss the afternoon tea where dainty finger sandwiches meet fist-sized scones and other treats – we recommend bulking up the already generous offering with the Derbyshire sharing plate, which lays out local charcuterie, cheese and bread, and a couple glasses of Pol Roger.
Hotel Bar
There’s a bar area in the Garden Room, with sofas overlooking the grounds, and then there’s the Library Snug, which is as cosy as it sounds. The Bees’ Knees is the signature spirit, gin flavoured with honey, raspberry and lime (but changeable with the seasons), but the hotel is also one of a handful that have Pol Roger as their pouring champagne too. Of mixologist Munroe’s concoctions, we like the earthy sensorial immersion of the Woodland Martini, with Derbyshire Shining Cliff gin, Douglas fir vodka, charred sage syrup and woodland bitters. And abstainers are no afterthought here, with just as imaginative drinks: tropical punch, lavender lemonade, a strawberry and mint cooler.
Last Orders
Breakfast is from 8am to 10.30am, lunch is from 12 noon to 2pm, afternoon tea from 2.30pm to 4.30pm, and dinner from 6pm to 9pm.
Room Service
While the Hives and Treehouses are a little too far removed for room service; for those staying in the main house, it's only available on request during service hours.
Planes
The closest travel hubs are Manchester and Birmingham airports, just over an hour’s drive away. Or land at Leeds Bradford, about a two-hour drive away. Transfers can be arranged (from £50 to £100 one-way). If you’re making the drive from London, Heathrow, Luton and Stansted, they’re all about a two-and-a-half-hour journey away.
Trains
Derby train station is just a 30-minute drive away and is very well-connected, with a direct link to London St Pancras and Sheffield for starting points further north.
Automobiles
When you’re not using your legs, a car will come in handy for hopping from stately home to village. There’s a free-to-use car park a short walk from the main building, and charging points for electric cars.
Worth Getting Out of Bed For
It’s time to go walkies… No seriously, there’s a lot of walking to be done in the Peak District National Park and the surrounding countryside. So much so that the hotel has a dedicated ‘map room’, which launches many adventures (don’t worry, along-the-way pubs are pointed out too), and for more guidance staff recommend the Komoot App. The grounds themselves – 35 acres of gardens, woodland and wild meadows – call to romantic roamers too, and if you have any questions along the way, the keepers are friendly to chat to. They’re home to deer, badgers, rabbits and many bird species; the kitchen gardens are ripe for scrumping (it’s allowed), and lawns are set for genteel croquet matches. Beyond, you could skip over the Dovedale stepping stones, clamber over Thorpe Cloud Hill and Dovedale Valley’s notorious Dragon’s Back, gently amble by the Dove River (it allegedly inspired Handel to compose the Messiah, so you never know…), or get those calf muscles pumping across the limestone dales and purple-patched high moorland of the national park. Perhaps walking Limestone Way (a 46-mile swathe of the Trans-Pennine trail, which stretches all the way to the Turkish border), or the Boundary Walk, which goes all the way around (it’s 188 miles has been apportioned into manageable walks for novices). And the Mam Tour Walk offers iconic views. If that sounds exhausting, or your legs can’t carry you fast enough, the hotel has bikes to borrow for free (and e-bikes and mountain bikes for a charge); again, there are routes galore to follow, all revealing more of the park’s natural splendour, but we like the Tissington Trail, a gentle 13-mile pedal, which passes the Tissington Hall Estate – a manor born for afternoon-tea stops, and ends at Parsley Hay, a dark-sky reserve which sparkles after dark. However, poor Tissington Hall can’t compete with the stupendously grand Chatsworth House, home to the Devonshires for 16 generations. In the grounds, there’s an arboretum, fountains, sculptures, a farm and playground, and within, amid marble flooring, run-riot frescoes and gilding galore, are the many precious artefacts of the Devonshire Collection (dazzling jewels, old masters, rare books, curios). On a smaller scale, the area’s villages are story-book settings of duck ponds, tearooms, small churches and dinky shops. Ashbourne, in the Derbyshire Dales is famous for its more than 200 listed buildings, and seems like a delightfully sleepy place, until Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, when a game of football played to mediaeval rules (i.e. riotous) careens through the streets. Or you could try rock climbing, abseiling, caving or yoga, and the hotel also offers mixology classes, pottery-making at local studio, priority-access golf at Ashbourne Club and a seasonally changing programme of events such as floristry and Pol Roger dinners for those who look at a rock face and say: ‘no’.
Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt
This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .
