Darwin Lake - a 12-cottage community - offers luxury home-from-homes. Step inside to find immaculate decor, modern kitchens, en-suites, shower/wetrooms, even (in mine) an ironing room. I felt I was in an upmarket bachelor pad - kingsize beds, soft lighting, soft beige and brown paint, brown leather headboards, brown leather dining chairs. The place welcomes visitors from every part of the country, even from as far as Australia. It's popular with everyone, from friends seeking a weekend away to families needing accommodation. It`s perfect for group gatherings; although completely self-contained, two of the houses are thoughtfully sited cheek-by-jowl and can be booked together to provide enough space for eight people. Fantastic for a Christmas getaway.

Other accommodation can sleep from four to six or seven guests. Fill one up and you have a posh weekend retreat costing about the same as a B and B. Go as a singleton or as a couple and you've got tons of room; you could use a different bathroom for just about every night of your stay.

The magnificence of Darwin Lake's accommodation is matched by the doorstep scenery. Peep out the back and you can walk straight into the lush green hills; drive, walk or cycle out of the front gates and you`re almost in Matlock.

Shop there, admire the views, then move on down the snaking road to Matlock Bath. There, tuck into Derbyshire's finest fish and chips along the strip of eateries fronting the Derwent river, and pay homage to the region's industrial past at the stout and splendid Arkwright's Masson mill, now a discount shopping mall. Matlock Bath has an aquarium, a hologram centre, even a petrifying well. Gaze upwards and alpine-style cable cars whisk visitors up the Heights of Abraham to Gulliver's (mini-sized) Kingdom, a children`s theme park.

Travel a little further and you can go mining at Castleton for Blue John, the unique fluorspar found only in eight places in the world. Head towards Derby and there`s the world-renowned Denby pottery factory to enjoy; turn the other way and discover the market town of Chesterfield, with its parish church and famous crooked spire (the story goes that the Devil perched on it). Everywhere you find yourself in history - Eyam, that gallant little village whose townsfolk deliberately isolated themselves and perished during the Great Plague rather than spread the infection... wells decorated with huge pictures of biblical scenes made from flower petals... Bakewell, where the mouth-watering puddings are still baked to the original recipe.

Surrounded by those superlative hills and dales, isn`t it time you wiped the grime of city living from your lungs, took in great gulps of fresh, sweet air and headed for the hills? The hills of Derbyshire.

Read the full review on the Bromley Times website click here

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