Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sudbury Hall & the National Trust Museum of Childhood
HISTORIC
SITE/MUSEUM The impressive 17th-century country home of the Lords Vernon
boasts gorgeous plasterwork, wood carvings, and classical story-based murals, with
the Great Staircase and Long Gallery particularly worthy of admiration. But it's also
well worth visiting for its museum on childhood in days gone by, featurng interactive
displays and the chance for kids to play at being Victorian chimney sweeps, school-
children and the like, plus a woodland adventure play space.
Sudbury, 14 miles west of Derby.
&
01283/585305.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk. Admission hall £7.45
adults, £3.80 children 5-18. Hall open mid-Feb-Oct Wed-Sun 1-5pm. See website for times and prices
for museum and grounds.
Where to Eat
Café @ The Green Pavilion
INTERNATIONAL Buxton's best cafe,
adjunct to a florist's shop and winner of a regional “Food Heroes” award for its com-
mitment to using top local produce, is a welcoming spot for Engish breakfast; morn-
ing coffee and cakes; light lunches including sandwiches, salads, Derbyshire
oatcakes, homity (open vegetable) pie, falafel, and New York style meatballs; and
afternoon tea. The oudoor tables are great for people-watching in warmer weather.
The cafe is tiny, so you may have to wait for a table, but all food can be ordered to
take out—perhaps to make up a picnic in the nearby Pavilion Gardens (p. 536). Both
the cafe and the flower shop sell homemade jams, preserves, and chutneys.
4 Terrace Rd., Buxton.
&
01298/77480.
www.greenpavilion.co.uk. Reservations not accepted. MC, V.
Main courses £4-£7.50. Mon-Sat 7:30am-5:30pm, Sun 9am-5pm.
Devonshire Arms at Beeley
TRADITIONAL BRITISH/INTERNATIONAL
Part of the Chatsworth Estate, this village inn combines historic charm in the original
part of the building, with its open fire and low beams, with a contemporary brasserie
area with floor-to-ceiling windows affording views over the brook and square. Local
produce is the order of the day, whether you eat from the breakfast menu (try fried
Derbyshire oatcakes with dry cured bacon and sage Derby cheese, or Bakewell Pud-
ding Shop muffin with black pudding, sausage, and fried eggs); the snack menu
(noon-6pm), of which the highlight is curried belly-pork burger with crispy bacon,
Irish porters, and skinny chips; the afternoon tea menu; or the main lunch and dinner
menu, which includes daily-changing “market dishes.” Some dishes are highly ambi-
tious in conception (sometimes too much so), with Asian flavors prominent—for
example, Cornish squid and Scottish mussel sausage with smoked treacle bacon, red
chili, apples, and lemongrass.
The eight
rooms
(£134-£197 double), designed by the Duchess of Devonshire,
with fabrics prepared by the seamstresses at Chatsworth, were slated for a refurbish
as we went to press.
Devonshire Square, Beeley.
&
01756/718111
. www.devonshirebeeley.co.uk. Reservations recom-
mended (dinner). AE, MC, DC, V. Main courses £6.95-£18. Daily 7:30-10am (breakfast to non-guests by
prior arrangement only) and noon-9:30pm.
The Peacock at Rowsley
MODERN EUROPEAN This little haven of
country-house chic was recently bought and refurbished by Lord Manners of Haddon
Hall (p. 537), who lured the head chef back from working with Tom Aikens in London
to oversee the smart, award-winning restaurant with its focus on local produce. The
evening fine-dining menu includes the likes of fried duck liver with Yorkshire rhubarb,
ginger, and macadamia nuts; and roast rib-eye of Derbyshire beef with three-grain
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