Bakewell is a small town with two very large attractions on its doorstep, and that shapes a family trip here. Chatsworth, four and a half kilometres away, has a farmyard and one of the best adventure playgrounds in England; Haddon Hall, three kilometres in the other direction, is the castle children imagine when they hear the word. Beyond them, Matlock Bath’s cable car and cavern, Gulliver’s Kingdom and the traffic-free Monsal Trail fill a week without difficulty.
The town itself is compact, riverside and pleasant to potter about in, which makes it a good base rather than a destination in its own right for children.
The house and garden are ticketed and worth it, but for families the Farmyard and Adventure Playground is the main event: farm animals, milking demonstrations, and a large wooden adventure playground in the woods that children have to be extracted from. The garden has the Emperor Fountain, a maze, a rock garden and a cascade you can walk beside. And the park is free — hundreds of acres of Capability Brown parkland with the river running through it, sheep, deer and space to run.
Allow a full day if you are doing the farmyard and playground. Go early in the school holidays; the car parks are large but so are the crowds.
Three kilometres south of Bakewell, this is a genuinely medieval manor house — a courtyard, a great hall, a long gallery, a chapel with wall paintings, and terraced gardens dropping to the Wye. It has stood in for period drama repeatedly, and it looks the part. It is smaller and quieter than Chatsworth and works well with children who are ready to look at something rather than climb on it. Christmas at Haddon, when the hall is dressed and there are stalls in the courtyard, is a fixture for local families.
Gulliver’s Kingdom at Matlock Bath, thirteen kilometres south, is a theme park built for children aged roughly three to thirteen. It started as a model village in 1978 and grew; the rides are gentle, the queues are usually reasonable and it is pitched squarely at younger children rather than teenagers.
Also at Matlock Bath: the Heights of Abraham, reached by cable car over the Derwent gorge, with two show caverns, a playground and a viewpoint at the top. The cable car alone justifies the trip. The Great Masson Cavern and the aquarium and arcades along the riverside make Matlock Bath an unlikely but reliable family day — it is the Peak District’s seaside town, several hundred metres above the sea.
Further north, Speedwell Cavern at Castleton takes you underground by boat along a flooded lead mine, which is exactly as good as it sounds.
The Monsal Trail is the answer to most things. It runs from Bakewell’s old station along the old railway, level and traffic-free, through lit tunnels and across viaducts. Cycle hire is available at the trailheads, and it is one of the few places in the Peak District where a family can ride together without worrying about traffic. See our Monsal Trail guide.
The riverside in Bakewell — the bridge, the weir, the ducks and the Recreation Ground — is a twenty-minute flat walk that small children enjoy.
Lathkill Dale from Over Haddon is shallow, clear and full of things to look at, with stepping stones and a river that vanishes underground in summer.
Stanton Moor and the Nine Ladies stone circle make a short walk with a proper destination.
Chee Dale’s stepping stones are thrilling for confident older children and unsuitable for anyone else — the path runs along the foot of a cliff on stones set in the river.
Our walks guide has the full set.
The Old House Museum in Bakewell is small, cheap and more interesting than children expect — a Tudor house with the workings on show. The show caverns at Matlock Bath and Castleton are the classic Peak District wet-weather answer, on the grounds that it is always raining outside a cave. Eyam Museum, eight kilometres north, tells the story of the village that quarantined itself during the plague of 1665, which older children find genuinely gripping. And Gulliver’s and the Chatsworth farmyard both have indoor elements.
Our wet weather guide covers the rest.
Bakewell is built for day trippers and the food follows. The Bakewell Tart Shop and the Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop on The Square are both institutions and both are the obvious stop with children — see our pudding and tart guide for which is which. Catch 22 and Riverside Fish and Chips cover the chip requirement, and eating them by the Wye is the traditional Bakewell lunch. Pizzuti Kitchen off The Square is small, well liked and open in the evenings later in the week.
Parking. The Recreation Ground car park is the biggest and closest to the river; the old station car park serves the Monsal Trail. Both fill on summer weekends and on Monday, which is market day.
No railway. Bakewell has had no station since 1968. Arrive by car, or by bus from Sheffield, Chesterfield, Derby, Matlock or Buxton — the stops are around The Square and several routes pass Chatsworth.
Market day is Monday, when the town is at its busiest and its most interesting, and the livestock market at the Agricultural Business Centre is a real working market.
Pushchairs. The town centre is flat along the river and steep up to the church. The Monsal Trail is the best pushchair walking in the Peak District.
The Chatsworth day. Arrive at opening, do the farmyard and the adventure playground first while everyone has energy, take lunch at the estate restaurant or bring a picnic into the free park, and spend the afternoon in the garden — the maze, the rock garden, the cascade that children are allowed to walk beside. If the house is going to happen at all it needs to be before the playground, not after.
The trail and town day. Hire bikes at Bakewell’s old station or Hassop and ride the Monsal Trail west through the tunnels as far as the viaduct, turn round, and come back for fish and chips by the river. Finish in the Recreation Ground. Nothing costs much beyond the bike hire and nobody has to climb anything.
Under five: the riverside, the Recreation Ground, the Chatsworth farmyard, the park. Keep it short and near a café.
Five to eleven: the sweet spot here. Gulliver’s Kingdom, the adventure playground, the show caverns, the Monsal Trail by bike, Lathkill Dale’s stepping stones.
Teenagers: Stanage Edge and the climbing, the caverns at Castleton, Chee Dale’s stepping stones, and the trail on proper bikes. Haddon Hall works better with this age group than with younger children.
Two things catch families out here. The first is the stepping stones — at Chee Dale the path genuinely runs along the foot of a cliff on stones set into the river, and they are slippery and impassable when the water is high. They are wonderful for confident older children and completely unsuitable for small ones. The Lathkill Dale stones are much tamer.
The second is quarry and mine ground. Magpie Mine, Black Rocks and the old workings scattered across the White Peak are open, unfenced and full of shafts. They are fascinating and they are not playgrounds; keep children close and stay on the paths.
The riverside, the Recreation Ground, the Old House Museum and the pudding shops. The bigger attractions are all a short drive out.
Yes — the farmyard and adventure playground are the reason to go, more than the house.
A show cavern at Matlock Bath or Castleton, or Eyam Museum for older children.
Yes. It is traffic-free, level and surfaced, with hire available at the trailheads. It is the standard Peak District family bike ride.
Thirteen kilometres south at Matlock Bath, around twenty-five minutes by road.