Peak District Honeymoon and Gluten free

At the end of September 2021 I was lucky enough to Marry the love of my life, my soulmate. We said, ‘I Do’ at the stunning Dower House hotel in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire. The wedding breakfast consisted off afternoon tea where mine was gluten free. Our wedding cake was baked by a local professional and was a gluten free fruit cake with a vanilla sponge.

Rolling onto the day after, We traveled from Woodhall Spa the stunning Peak district in the United Kingdom. Originally, we were due to fly to Corfu but with Covid-19 still affecting travel, this trip was moved back to May 2022. Nonetheless, we decided on a staycation honeymoon and 7 nights in Peak district, followed by three nights in Harrogate, Yorkshire.

As I write, the UK is seeing it’s second selfish and utterly ignorant panic buying, a whole different pandemic caused by greed. There is no shortage of fuel yet people are panicking buying petrol due media scaremongering and a petroleum company, misleading.

Thankfully, I had filled my car up the day before this kicked off. However, some planned trips might be affected if we still, cannot fill up (i’m on day three of the honeymoon as I write this part.)

The hotel we have chosen is the called the Izaak Walton Hotel set in the Dovedale. It is actually on the Staffordshire/ Derbyshire border. It is a quaint oldie worldly hotel. The hotel is set in the shadows of Thorpe cloud, a 950ft tall Peak. The hotel is 3 star rating but it is clean, comfortable and the restaurant simply amazing. They cater really well for people who are gluten free and the restaurant has a double AA rosette award.

We are staying bed and breakfast. This allows us the freedom to dine out but have already dined one evening at the hotel. I had a delicious gluten free battered haddock followed by a raspberry gin cheese cake. I will update further down what else I have enjoyed at this wonderful restaurant.

The breakfasts are some of the best I have had and I have stayed in many top chains over the years. The only slight frustration is they do not offer a gluten free sausage but the rest of the fry up was lovely. I have also enjoyed eggs Florentine and scrambled eggs with smoked salmon on toast, as well as Eggs Benedict.

Day one: Matlock Bath and The Heights of Abraham

We spent most of our day at the Heights of Abraham. It is a stunning tourist attraction where you can explore two caverns and enjoy a cable car ride up the peak. The two caverns known as the Great Rutland Cavern and The Great Masson Cavern. Both were formed by lead mining and became attractions in the Victorian period.

There is a cafe and restaurant which both cater well for anyone gluten free. Today we opted to have soup as we had a big meal the night before. I’m also someone who fills themselves up at breakfast, just in case there is limited gluten free choice.

After spending several hours exploring the Heights of Abraham, we took a walk around Matlock Bath. It is known as an inland sea side resort. It is beautiful but you are limited on gluten free choice, out of four fish and chips none catered for gluten free. I did find a good Indian restaurant and a cafe so you wouldn’t starve if you didn’t eat at the Heights of Abraham.

Day Two: Ashbourne and the Tissington trail

I can’t talk too much about eating out in Ashbourne as we mainly explored the shops and didn’t dine out. That said, researching online there is a good choice of restaurants who do cater for gluten free. It is a quaint market town and worth a visit.

The Tissington trail is an old railway line that runs for 13 miles. I first became aware off it through fellow runners in my running club. It is very beautiful and worth a walk, run or cycle. Unfortunately for us, the weather turned badly so only managed a 3 mile out and back walk. We didn’t see any eateries on route so maybe a good time to take a picnic, weather allowing.

Day three: Pooles Cavern and Buxton

We spent the morning exploring Pooles cavern. Unlike the two caverns at the Heights of Abraham, Pooles cavern is a naturally formed cavern and not mined. It is actually the source of the river Wye which runs through most of Derbyshire and beyond. There is a cafe that offered a good choice of gluten free cakes and food.

Buxton is a stunning spa town with lots of dining choices for gluten free folk. We opted to eat back at the hotel that evening so it was just a coffee out. Unfortunately again, the weather was not in our favour.

Day four: A no driving day

The hotel we stayed at is set in a stunning rural location, take a look at the cover photo. There are many walks you can take from the hotel and we followed the popular ‘DoveDale’ trail. After a hearty breakfast of gluten free toast and Smoked salmon with scrambled eggs, we headed along the trail taking in the famous ‘Stepping stones’. The route is 3 miles out and 3 miles back. The turning point is a small hamlet known as Milldale. There is a small take away shop where you can buy snacks and drink.

Dodging showers, we headed back exploring the open caves and taking in the stunning river views set alongside the peaks and beautiful stone formations. At the end of the trail or the start in our case, there is another takeaway offering drinks and ice cream. Sadly the food options were not gluten free.

Our walk did not end here as we then climbed 947ft up peak Thorpe cloud to take in the scenes. The weather had turned again by the time we reached the top but it was still worth the climb.

Some good news, we could get Petrol so our trip on day six and to Harrogate on day seven could go ahead.

Day five: Chatsworth House and Bakewell

Chatsworth house and gardens are simply stunning and worth a visit. There is a choice of cafes and restaurant. We didn’t dine here as we planned to eat out in Bakewell. That said, you will need to go to the main cafe/ restaurant for something gluten free as the small cafe by the greenhouses did not offer a gluten free option.

Like most of us when visiting the beautiful town of Bakewell, we want to sample a ‘Bakewell Pudding’. This is not the same as a ‘Bakewell Tart’. Frustratingly, no one sold a gluten free version. This is a shame as gluten free puff pastry is widely available and easy to make.

We did stop to eat the Original Bakewell Pudding Shop and settled for a gluten free sandwich and drink. We then popped into the local coop and brought some free from snacks back to the hotel.

Day six: Lyme Park Estate

I met me wife through our local running club and enjoy Parkrun. The nearest parkrun to our hotel was Bakewell but it has not restarted since to the pandemic. So we travelled 55 minutes to the Lyme Park estate, completed a tough but stunning parkrun and enjoyed a gluten free bacon roll afterwards.

Lyme Park is National trust owned and they often offer gluten free options. We then toured the house and garden and enjoyed their soup of the day to warm up before having a quiet afternoon at the hotel. As it was our last night before going onto Harrogate, we decided to eat at the hotel restaurant again.

Day seven: Winnats pass and Ladybower reservoir

After checking out, we headed to Harrogate. As it was a nice morning, we decided to take a detour to take in the scenery of Winnats pass and then to visit the famous Derwent Dam at Ladybower reservoir. The dam became famous as it is where the Dambuster squadron trained before flying to Germany in world war two. The walk there was beautiful and there is a take out coffee shop which offers gluten free cakes. They aren’t home made slices, more of a multipack of supermarket free from cakes split up, that said, it is better than nothing and kept us going until we arrived in Harrogate.

We spent three nights in Harroagte but as it is such an amazing place to visit and eat, I’ll create a separate article for it.