Pulling out all the stops, we have been able to open Little Monkeys play centre a couple of weeks early. Entry is being restricted to guests staying on the park for now, until more car parking can be made available. So come and play in the new £1m purpose built centre - just £2.50 per child (which is heavily discounted for those staying on the park) for up to 2 hours of fun.
As the big freeze continues its relentless grip across Britain, the Peak District has enjoyed its own covering of snow and on cold sunny days like today the scenery is superb. All the main routes to both Sandybrook and Darwin Forest are clear and the high insulation in the lodges keeps them cosy. It has to be said that apart from the delightful woodland walks, the most popular place at the parks right now has to be the sauna!
May we also take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy New Year from the Peak District.
The 4/5/6th December sees the Victorian Christmas Weekend taking place in Matlock. This popular series of days out for all the family includes street entertainers, stalls in marques, mulled-wine, Santa’s grotto and switching on of the lights. Throughout December and a must for visitors at this time of year is to see Chatsworth House, resplendent in its Christmas decorations and guaranteed to get everybody in the mood for the festive season. It’s a great time of year to visit the Peak District!
A regular visitor to Darwin Forest, Kenny Wharton from Stockton on Tees, has a particularly keen interest in birds. On his breaks at Darwin Kenny has managed to photograph robin, jay, long tailed tits, blue-tit, great tit and this marvellous example of a nuthatch. A selection of some of his favourite Darwin photos, including snowy scenes, beech landscapes and squirrels can be found on this website http://www.panoramio.com/user/1652645/tags/Darwin%20Forest Thanks for the lovely bird pictures Kenny - we are already looking forward to seeing the results from your next visit!
Welcome to the new website for Pinelodge Holidays. We hope that you will find it attractive, informative and easy to use. The tourist information part should help give you lots of ideas for things to do in the area. We also have a new way of enquiring about availability, to check that your preferred lodge is available before you make a booking. Please do let us have any feedback, good or bad, so that we can try to refine areas which you might have difficulty with.
During early summer residents of some of the prettiest villages in Derbyshire open up their gardens to visitors . Bonsall, Birchover, Parwich, Great Longstone, Fenny Bentley and Winster are amongst those villages hosting open garden days. Many gardens are open in each village, with the opportunity to see some great planting in delightful settings. Refreshments and sometimes live music are laid on too. It’s even a nice chance for a chat with some of the friendly locals! These days make for a great outing - for just a few pounds. A quick search on Google will give you the appropriate dates.
Most of the country seems to have seen quite a bit snow during this week and Darwin Forest is no exception. Earlier this week we took the opportunity to get out and about with a camera. The roads are now clear, but there is still quite a bit of snow cover around - enough to make a lovely big snowman!
To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin (on February 12th), Darwin Forest Country Park is launching a new club for nature detectives Membership includes a Starter Pack with everything needed to get the outdoor learning experience underway. This includes Charles Darwin themed activity cards which cover: how to be an explorer and learn more about flora and fauna; how to spot tracks and work out what creatures are around; how to recognise different types of tree and how to identify and draw birds. Others will be added over time. Items such as bug jars, pond dipping nets, bird books and small microscopes will also be made available in the Woodland Store to help children develop their understanding of the great outdoors.
The ‘tourist information’ section of this website has been totally redesigned to give visitors to the area 10 top ideas of things to do, including great days out, attractions for children, fishing, golfing and even 10 great places to eat out. Website links are provided to a variety of places including Chatsworth House, Haddon Hall, Chesterfield, Buxton, Hardwick Hall, Denby Pottery, bird watching, Heights of Abraham, Go Ape, Alton Towers, Tissington Hall….the list goes on and on. We hope that you will find this resource useful in planning your next holiday in the Peak District.
There is no doubt that the way Easter school holidays have fallen this year, spread over 4 weeks, there will be plenty of accommodation available for everyone. If you are still looking to get away for a few days in the Derbyshire Peak District, we have a couple of 4 and 6 berth lodges available for this coming weekend and into next week. During Easter week, commencing Saturday 22 March, we also have a few lodges available for the 7 days and several more from Easter Monday. With the weather hopefully picking up, Chatsworth House and Gardens, Haddon Hall, Heights of Abraham and Alton Towers are all open for business, making this a great time to fit in a short break to Darwin Forest or Sandybrook Country Park.
