A HOME AWAY FROM HOME IN THE PEAK DISTRICT WITH SYKES COTTAGES

Ever just look around you and think, “I need a break?!”

Well, my life was starting to get like that and truth be told, I really needed a change of scenery to overcome this sense of what felt like impending doom. With deadlines, tiredness and lots of commitments, I was starting to run on very-nearly empty. I decided was enough was enough and I needed an escape plan, PRONTO.

You see, I always seem to get like this when I know I have time off work coming up so this getaway was something to try keep that anxious feeling at bay.

I started scrolling online for UK destinations that we could get to easily for a short, weekend break. (Trying to tally up two very different annual leave calendars can be so blumming difficult!)

We narrowed it down to roughly an hour and half’s car journey when we found the perfect home away from in the Peak District with Sykes Cottages.

Check out all the cool things you can do in the Peak District

It was dark when we arrived so it was hard to see exactly what was around us as we creeped up the steep hill to our cottage in the (what we would discover) picture-perfect village.

We booked the cutest, two-bedroom cottage that fulfilled my very strict “countryside chic” requirement. If you’re going to spend a weekend in the country, you sure do need to do it right. We had a whistle-stop tour of the cottage, which was incredibly roomy for a 2-bed property, before we headed down to the local, The Old Bowling Green for a swift pint before settling in for the night.

The pub was every inch the village pub you would come to expect. The smell of the home cooked food wafted through as we sipped on two San Miguel’s – we were very much looking forward to eating there the following night.

As we took a deep breath before attempting to walk back up the mammoth hill in front of us back to our home for the weekend, we took in the cute, limestone houses with lead windows and tiny lights flickering in front rooms with fires roaring away. So, we decided that that was exactly what we were going to do when we got back for an hour or two.

As James got the fire going I grabbed us both a Hop House 13 beer from our weekend supply of goodies and we sat down to watch the Last Leg before heading up to our bright and airy bedroom, you know, the one with those windows.

The bed was quite hard, but incredibly comfy. Complete with white, high cotton thread count covers we slowly slipped in to a dream, ahead of our next day of exploring.

We woke up full of beans from a good nights sleep, and it was the light peaking through the curtains that helped too. Armed with a cup of tea each and a bacon sandwich, we watched the morning sun over the top of Winster out of the most wonderful windows. That particular spot was my favourite place in the whole house and had I not been so eager to explore the area I think I would have quite happily stayed in that very spot all weekend.

Whilst sipping our tea we browsed Tripadvisor for things to do in the area and asked for suggestions from my lovely friends on the internet. In the end, we decided to head towards Bakewell and then see where the road took us.

After we showered and got dressed, we hit the road. Our first stop was Bakewell, it was your typical market village. It was heaving though, which meant trying to get in to a little café for a spot of lunch or even a just a coffee proved difficult. Instead we headed to the Farmers Market to have a little wander round, then to the duck pond to watch the world go by (they even have their very own Love Lock bridge!)

I’ll be honest, Bakewell didn’t blow me away. Maybe had it been a little quieter and we could have found ourselves in a cosy corner in a little coffee shop, then I may have thought otherwise. We spent about an hour there before heading off in the car again to the next spot.

It seemed that the Peak District was very busy that particular weekend we were there. Because the next village we wanted to explore, the car parks were full and there was nowhere to park. At this point I was pretty peckish!

So we drove on and came to Mam Tor which was the most incredible peak, it was so dramatic as we drove through the mountain, raising high above us at both sides. I was so busy filming the drive up and looking around in absolute awe that I didn’t manage to get any photos, I could honestly kick myself (however you can go watch the video on my Instagram page!)

Instead we kept driving to find a little pub to grab some lunch, but it didn’t seem luck was on our side.

We eventually came across Monsal Head (by chance) which is looking down on to the famous, Monsal Trail Walk. The view was just incredible, and there were various people sipping lagers on the benches from the teeny tiny pub across the road.

We decided to shelter from the gale force winds that were out to play, we grabbed a pint each and stood in front of the fire in the small pub (once again there was no space to sit down and grab a bite to eat!)

There was no option other than to get back in the car and drive back to the cottage and have a little picnic of our own in the cosy, fire lit living room whilst we watched the rugby in the afternoon (and I may have just had a little snooze in front of the fire before we went out for dinner!)

We grabbed some chilli chutney from the local shop to go with cheese and crackers, olives and salmon roulade we had brought with us. I do love a good homemade picnic!

But by going back to the cottage a little earlier than expected, it gave us chance to appreciate the place that we were calling home for the weekend!

Once we had watched the rugby (and England failed miserably much to the hubs dismay) we went upstairs to get ready for our trip down to the local pub once more.

The brisk walk down was what we needed after spending a whole afternoon in front of the roaring fire. We were welcomed again with open arms at 8pm, the pub was so busy, with locals to other holidaymakers too. The menu was jam-packed, we had a good look through it whilst drinking (another) beer. I settled on garlic mushrooms and Mr C had the cheesy jalapeno, we both decided to have the steak pie with chips and boy was it nom-a-licious. We decided to get a bottle of red wine to glug it all down with, and it’s safe to say I was feeling a little tipsy by the time we reached pudding. But, we both decided to go wild and I had a chocolate sundae and James went for the sticky toffee pudding (which was apparently delicious but very sweet!) After we paid the bill – which came to £70, we wandered back up to the cottage in a boozy haze.

Our fire was still going by the time we got back so we popped the tv on (and popped my top button on my jeans undone – I have zero shame!) and we both fell asleep in front of the TV. We woke up in a daze just before midnight and we made our way back up to bed, to sleep our red wine heads off.

I woke up early again, with the light streaming in. A 7am wake up call isn’t so bad when you’re greeted with a gorgeous morning view. And, luckily neither us had a headache.

We had to get packed and ready to go, check out time was a swift 10am leave, so we packed our bits before getting in the shower and having one last little look around the village we had stayed in. (I mean a place with its very own poster of “Doors of Winster” screams Instagram to me.)

We had an amazing slow and steady weekend in the Peak District courtesy of Sykes Cottages and I wouldn’t hesitate to book another weekend here or somewhere else in the UK. It was exactly what the doctor ordered and I came back feeling really refreshed after the change of scenery.

Boy, I’d love to do it all over again.

Do you have any UK breaks coming up this year?

If you fancy experiencing a weekend break at North View in Winster click here.

Enter my Giveaway to win a £250 voucher to spend on your own UK break with Sykes Cottages – click here!

Bee

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*Our stay with Sykes Cottages was provided to us on a complimentary basis. All words, views and experiences are my own.