A Modern Taste of Wildhive's English Country House

Wildhive Callow Hall puts a fresh spin on the English country house, with woodland cabins, local food, and the Peak District just beyond the door. Fathom contributor Eric Trinidad reports from Derbyshire, blackberry-infused gin cocktail in hand.

It was a rainy autumn afternoon in Derbyshire, putting a damper on what might have been a beautiful sunset in the Peak District. However, things brightened up when there was a knock on the door of my little cabin in the woodlands of Wildhive Callow Hall, a stylish and award-winning rural hotel. I opened it to find two gentlemen holding a wooden crate with “BAR” handwritten on it. I smiled as one of them started preparing a Bramble Royale cocktail — a “dressing drink,” as they called it, intended for me to sip while I dressed for dinner — while the other held an umbrella to prevent them both from getting soaked in the downpour. “This is so much more fun in July,” he quipped in a quintessentially English manner.

About an hour later, refreshed by that concoction of blackberry-infused gin, garden-fresh lemon and herbs, and English sparkling wine, I was whisked away in a golf cart to the main manor house. I dined with colleagues and friends in the Garden Room — Cornish mussels smothered in a thyme and apple cider broth, a succulent roasted guinea fowl breast — as we enjoyed wine-led conversations in the warmth and hospitality of our Wildhive hosts.

Location

Located in Derbyshire, near the historic town of Ashbourne and the southern gateway to Peak District National Park, Wildhive Callow Hall is about a 70-minute drive from Birmingham or Sheffield, or a 90-minute drive from Manchester. It makes for a great long weekend trip from London, too (it’s a three-hour drive), although you could also take a train to one of the closer cities and rent a car from there.

Hotel Style

At the core of the hotel is a Victorian-era manor house that was a private country residence for over a century before it found new life as a hotel in the 1980s. The Wildhive team, which also manages Eshott Hall on the Northumberland coastline, took the reins in 2018 and carefully rethought the space, ultimately designing its interiors in a contemporary, rustic style. It feels classic country yet fresh, with natural elements, clean lines and patterns, and bold but not over-the-top colors. The manor house still retains a residential feel; it’s part of Wildhive’s mission to make guests feel as if they’re house guests rather than patrons of a hotel. Room numbers are discreet as you walk the hallways, and common living spaces with fireplaces are cozy spots for reading or having conversations over a spot of tea.

The manor house is surrounded by 35 acres of manicured gardens, wild pastures, and forested areas where the small two-person cabins, or “Hives,” are located. There are also “Treehouses,” which are not perched on branches but are rather full-on houses under a canopy of trees. 

This Place Is Perfect For

Guests who want a total retreat from city life without skimping on the comforts of home. Those who stay in the Treehouses or Hives will feel immersed in nature without having to rough it.

But Not So Perfect For

People who want a little on-property variety. Sure, the Garden Room can prepare a delicious and memorable meal, but it’s the only restaurant on the premises and can get repetitive if you’re staying for more than a few days. There’s no swimming pool, and it’s not close to nightlife. The closest pubs are a drive or a 20-minute walk away in the town of Ashbourne.

The Rooms

There are fifteen individually designed rooms in the house, grouped into three categories. Cosy Rooms are smaller quarters intended for couples, with a king-size bed and a shower or bath; Lovely Rooms have emperor-size beds, high ceilings, and a shower or bath; and the spacious Fabulous Rooms have prime views of the meadows, a shower, and a freestanding bathtub. All the rooms have complimentary coffee, tea, WiFi, and Smart TVs.

In the backwoods, the Hives have king-size beds, showers, and kitchenettes with a microwave and mini-fridge. Outside each one is a deck for gazing at the stars and roasting marshmallows. Treehouses include two bedrooms and an open-plan kitchen/living space. The wraparound deck outside sports an outdoor bathtub for true forest bathing.

You Can Bring the Kids

Kids are definitely welcome here. In fact, the resort offers a Forest Camp program for children ages 9-12, with crafts and activities in nature. The menu in the Garden Room has kid options, too, including a Children’s Afternoon Tea, and rental bikes are offered in kids’ sizes. Lovely Rooms can accommodate two adults and one child, while the Treehouses are full-on cabins where kids can have their own room.

What’s on Site

Wildhive has transformed the property’s coach house into a wellbeing space with a gym and a studio for yoga classes. In addition to facials and massages, they offer sound, sensory, and light therapy sessions in the courtyard and a “vitality cabin,” as well as thermal therapies including halotherapy, saunas, and cold plunges.

Food + Drink

The Garden Room restaurant is the heart of nourishment at Wildhive Callow Hall, with a rotating menu that integrates the best sustainably sourced local ingredients available each season. Under the helm of Wildhive executive chef David Bukowicki, the kitchen prepares farm-to-table fare for breakfast (with breakfast hamper delivery service to the Hives and Treehouses), lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner, in addition to a late-afternoon snack and a special Sunday lunch. Dishes include Cornish mussels, Scottish scallops, guinea fowl and duck, cuts of Derbyshire lamb and beef, and British cheeses, all accompanied by fresh British produce. There’s also an extensive wine list and a well-stocked bar for all sorts of cocktails. The Wildhive kitchen also offers private dining for meetings and events, whether in the elegant Dovedale Room or out in the backwoods under canopies illuminated by lanterns.

Standout Detail

The accommodations, decor, and food are great, but the absolute standout detail of Wildhive Callow Hall is the exceptionally friendly and genial staff, cordial at every encounter. The dressing drink experience I had says it all: Even in the pouring rain, the service was fabulous and the British humor was bone dry.

What to Do Nearby

The closest town to Wildhive Callow Hall, Ashbourne, is home to several pubs, cafes, and restaurants to mix up your countryside experience beyond time spent on the property. There’s also The Clayrooms, a pottery studio that offers hands-on classes. However, if you’re a bit more active, in the immediate vicinity of Wildhive Callow Hall is the 13-mile Tissington Trail, part of a larger network of cycling trails in Peak District National Park. Bicycles, both traditional and electric-assisted, are available for rent.

Peak District National Park, which sounds like it’s named after mountain summits, is actually named for the former Anglo-Saxon tribe that dwelled there, the Pecsaetan. While much of the Peak District is green meadows and rolling hills, there are, in fact, rugged landscapes like Stanage Edge, a gritstone escarpment within the national park that is popular for hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, rappelling, bouldering, and paragliding. It’s about an hour’s drive north of the hotel.

The Peak District is such quintessential English countryside that it’s been the backdrop for many film and television productions, for stories based in both fantasy and real-life history. About a half-hour drive from the property is Haddon Hall, a manor house that has endured for over nine centuries. It’s not only welcomed tourists in recent years but has also been used in numerous BBC productions, three adaptations of Jane Eyre, as Prince Humperdinck’s castle in The Princess Bride,  and in 2005’s Pride & Prejudice. True fans of the novel and adaptation will also want to check out nearby Chatsworth House, which is believed to have inspired Jane Austen’s Pemberley estate.