Description
The Charles Cotton Hotel is located in the picturesque village of Hartington in the heart of Peak District National Park.
It changed ownership late 2006 and in 2010 Alan Shanks and Judy Dyer bought into the hotel, lovingly restoring it back to its former glory. A local artist has worked her magic and painted some amazing local scenes throughout the bar/restaurant including something very amusing in the posh new ladies loo...
The guest rooms offer all the facilities one would expect of a classic coaching inn and are ideally suited for anyone wanting to explore the Peak Park. We have a converted stable block particularly for walkers and dogs and boast a beautiful suite for those romantic nights away… We are also pleased to welcome families with 2 family rooms ideal for folks visiting Alton Towers.
In the summer months, one can enjoy a drink or meal alfresco and sit and watch the world go by overlooking the busy market place or relax in our quiet rear beer garden and watch the sun go down whilst sipping a glass of pimms or two.
In the winter, our cosy bar with its open fire serves a changing selection of real guest ales including the local Hartington beers brewed in the village by Whim Ales. The bar is open daily from noon to midnight.
Restaurants and bars are open all year round serving breakfast, morning coffee and cakes, light bites, throughout the day, or menu du jour at lunch time. We offer traditional afternoon tea and a la carte dinner in the evening prepared by our expert team of chefs until 9 p.m. Recently we were voted one of the 5 best restaurants Derbyshire...
Most Fridays and Saturdays there is live entertainment with a variety of different talent and it’s becoming The Place to go...
As Judy & Alan Quote. “There is always a reason to Visit the Charles Cotton”..
Because we’re 100% Cotton ….. See you there..
The Charles Cotton Hotel welcomes walkers, their boots, maps and tales of blisters.
Walking in The Peak District, courtesy of Peak Walking we can bring you a beautiful 7 mile walk right from the hotel .
Terrain: Paths along limestone dales and green lanes between fields. Steady climb through Biggin Dale. Length: Seven miles
Time: About three hours
Map: OS Outdoor Leisure sheet 24, White Peak
From the public toilets in Hartington (on the Hulme End road) and join the well-made footpath through a gate to the left of them after a short distance this crosses a track and enters fields. Follow the way marked path through the fields until wooded.
Walk through this short dale which, along with the others on this walk, is owned by the National Trust. The mixed woodland is being regenerated and is home to a good bird population. trout can be seen in the clear waters of the river Dove, this being a favourite place for fly-fishing: the building to the right at the beginning of the dale is Charles Cotton's Fishing House. Water birds also take advantage of the river, which you cross twice, once by a wooden bridge and then by a narrow concrete-and-wood affair near a large tree. After the second crossing, walk through an often-wet meadow to enter Wolfscote Dale. This dale is very different - wide and open as opposed to Beresford Dale's rather claustrophobic air. The dale sides are carpeted by sheep-cropped turf, supporting a variety of plant life, punctuated with scree-runs. Sheep are essential to keep the dale in its current condition as without their constant cropping of the vegetation it would quickly be colonised by hawthorn scrub and would eventually become woodland.
The path through here was constructed a few years ago, despite some opposition from those who felt it intruded on the landscape. They did have a point but, as in so many other places, the valley floor had turned into a sea of mud under pressure of visitors and something had to be done.
Follow the dale for a little over a mile, then turn left into Biggin Dale at a point where the main path crosses a little causeway. This dale climbs gradually and you'll leave any crowds behind at this point. The lower reaches show what happens when these dales are not grazed sufficiently - hawthorn and gorse scrub has colonised much of the left-hand side although some of this is now being removed. Between the scrub, cowslips bloom profusely in spring.
Biggin Dale is dry for most of the year but in wet winters it acquires a stream. The source of this is near the top of the dale and can be spectacular on frosty mornings. The water, which bubbles up from underground, is slightly warmer than the air and steams on contact with it, giving the area the look of a hot volcanic spring!
The path through the dale is easy to follow, passing through a rather ruinous gate at one point. The upper reaches, accessed through a second gate, are a National Nature Reserve. This is an important piece of limestone upland so please keep to the path alongside the wall in order to avoid disturbance to the reserve.
Keep the wall on your left until it ends and the dale swings sharp right. At this point turn left by a finger-post (marked to Hartington) to pass through a gate. Walk through several fields, ignoring the bridleway to Hartington which leaves to the left after a few hundred metres. Eventually, after passing a rather incongruous sewage works, you emerge onto a road. Turn left and after a hundred or so yards/metres, take a left fork by some buildings onto a track.
Follow the walled lane straight ahead between fields, ignoring branches to left and right at one point. A good height is reached and there are fine views both ahead and behind. After a mile or so, the track leads you onto a minor road. Turn left and follow the road downhill back to Hartington.
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