Stepping out of London and Into England's Charming Peak District

Where is the quintessential England? Is it London, is it Stratford? Like the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel, it may be here, it may be there, it may be everywhere. In my case, after a recent visit, I expect it could be in the Peak District, in northwestern England, not far from Manchester and Liverpool. The Peak District National Park is some 500 square miles of serene landscapes, pretty villages and historic towns, and when it isn't crowded during July and August, can be a peaceful introduction to all that's best about visiting England. As one example of its nature, Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre shortly after visiting the Peak District, depicting the scenery much as you can find it even today. Avoid July and August, I repeat, as local guides told me the park is one of the two most popular national parks in all England (the other is Lake District, also here in the North).

Events

In late October and early November each year, the Great Peak Food Fest is held, along with the Great Peak District Fair. At least 24 venues are the site of special meals and tastings, including the Michelin-starred Baslow Hall, where you get a three-course lunch with a glass of wine for £24. Overall, local products are featured, of course. More at www.peakdistrictfoods.co.uk. There's also an irreverent Fringe Festival in 2008 from July 9 to 27, at The Pump Room, The Crescent, open daily, free admission. Buxton Fringe Festival, tel. 011 44 7849/673-058, www.buxtonfringe.org.uk.

And in the summer of 2008 (August 2 to 24), Buxton will have, for its 15th year, the world's largest International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival. There were 11 G&S operas performed at the Buxton Opera House in 2007, with about 3,000 performers from as far away as Australia, South Africa and the USA. Expect about 20,000 visitors, or more. Web www.gs-festival.co.uk.

Highlights

Chatsworth House, the early 18th-century ancestral home of the Dukes of Devonshire, is a splendid example of what is best in English country houses. The current duke, the 12th, spoke to a group of visitors recently about the art collection he inherited and expanded. One of Britain's finest privately owned compilations, it has everything from Greek statues to ultra modern works of art. (The duke is a vice chairman of Sotheby's, incidentally, and there was a huge sculpture sale at Chatsworth through November 4 of 2007, including works by Rodin, Barbara Hepworth, Damien Hirst and Robert Indiana). Be sure to look for the famous trompe l'oeil violin painted on a door in the Music Room and the Van Dyke and Frans Hall paintings in the Dining Room and a Rembrandt in the Ante-library. There's a Lucien Freud painting of the second half of a horse, featured in the West Corridor, which I was tempted to name "Horse's Ass," but its official name is Skewbald Mare. (The front end of the same horse, entitled Mare Eating Hay, is elsewhere, and was painted separately, it is said.) Guided house tours, covering the most impressive 25 rooms and halls, cost £4.

The magnificent garden was designed by Capability Brown. The Cavendish (ducal) family lives here, on the first floor, their quarters closed to the public, of course. The house featured prominently in the 1995 Pride & Prejudice film as Darcy's home, and many think Jane Austen was thinking of Chatsworth when she described "Pemberley." You can even rent sleeping quarters (five locations, either barns or farm house). Open mid March to mid December. Admission £10.50. Chatsworth House, Bakewell, Derbyshire, tel. 011 44 1246/565-300, www.chatsworth.org.

Haddon Hall, near Bakewell, has been in the Manners family since 1567. A fortified manor house dating from the 12th century, it overlooks the River Wye, and is not far from Chatsworth and the town of Bakewell. Its main banqueting hall and tapestry belonged to Henry VIII, one of the reasons it and the Long Gallery are justifiably said to be one of the best examples of a medieval hall in England. Open April through October. Admission £8.50. Haddon Hall, Bakewell, Derbyshire, tel. 011 44 1629/812-855, www.haddonhall.co.uk.

Haddon Hall was chosen to represent Thornfield, Rochester's manor house in Jane Eyre, for the 2006 BBC production of the eponymous film. It should be popular with set jetters (those who visit film and TV locations). The latter should note that Zeffirelli filmed his version of Jane Eyre here in 1998, too, and the house has appeared in at least five other films in the past decade. Open April through October. The Peak District has its own Film Trail, noting as well The Dambusters, a classic 1945 wartime film showing how the RAF's famous bouncing bomb techniques were honed during practice on Lake Derwent and its dams. Peak District Film Trail, www.visitpeakdistrict.com/janeeyre.

Buxton & Bakewell

The town of Buxton may seem to have little to recommend it at first glance, but it is the sight of an excellent annual music festival, centered on the fairly elegant opera house. Recently, the town accepted National Lottery money for reconfiguring its vast Devonshire Royal Hospital Dome as the center of a new college, one devoted to tourism and hospitality industries and now a part of the University of Derby. An English newspaper review claimed "Some are already calling it the grandest university campus outside Ox-bridge." Already, you can get hair, beauty and spa therapy treatments in salons run by the university for training students. Free admission. University of Derby at Buxton, 1 Devonshire Road, Buxton, tel. 011 44 1298/71100, www.derby.ac.uk/buxton.

Once a prominent health spa, its glory days as England's "highest spa" are due for a revival by a group of Central European entrepreneurs who intend to turn the town's Crescent into a "five-star luxury hotel and spa," echoing Bath's in appearance, they say. (Don't hold your breath, as the plans have been circulating for years and the local Council and Nestle are still discussing who shares what of the natural spring's water.) You can drink some of the fabled spa water either free of charge from a public spigot in the Crescent, opposite the Tourist Office (bring your own container), or at 80 pence a bottle in the student's shop inside the Great Dome of the college.

The Buxton Museum & Art Gallery offers free admission Tuesdays through Saturdays year round, and Sundays and Bank Holidays from Easter to the end of September. Most important of its exhibitions is the Derbyshire Open, nearly two months' worth of works by professional and amateur artists from the area. Buxton Museum, Terrace Road, Buxton, tel. 011 44 1298/24685, www.derbyshire.gov.uk. The local Opera House, restored and reopened in 1979, presents regular performances by local theatrical groups and visitors such as the St. Petersburg Ballet or Moscow State Circus, to mention only two recent attractions.

Bakewell, a town lying near both Haddon Hall and Chatsworth, has its own charms, including the Bakewell Old House Museum, the oldest residence here. Built in the reign of Henry VIII, it's open daily from April through October, showing off the mill worker's dwelling, a blacksmith's shop, 11 rooms of memorabilia and more. Admission £3. Old House Museum, Cunningham Place, Bakewell, tel. 011 44 1629/813642, www.oldhousemuseum.org.uk.

Local specialties include cheese, chocolate, honey, preserves, Derbyshire oatcakes and Derbyshire lamb, among other delectables. (Derby is pronounced darby in these parts, by the way.)

You can enjoy dining at the magnificent Dome of the Derby University Buxton campus at its Dome Fine Dining, Café Quarter, Bistro 44, or The Forge (the latter fast food only). Students try their best to produce good eats for you at all these spots. At the Dome Fine Dining, two-course lunches cost from £6.50, three-course from £9, dinners (four courses) from £16. (Sample menu: curried parsnip & apple soup with parsnip crisps; mushroom brioche; beetroot and pear salad with horseradish & crème fraiche; coriander and lime chicken; slow-roasted shoulder of Derbyshire lamb; apple, onion & gruyere tart with mixed leaves and vinaigrette dressing. The Dome, tel. 011 44 1298/28345, www.derby.ac.uk/buxton.

Also good, say locals, is the Old Hall Restaurant, where the regular three-course theater menu (featuring up to five starter choices and five main course choices) goes for £19 (or £17 if you want just two courses). Old Hall, The Square, Buxton, tel. 011 44 1298/22841, www.oldhallhotelbuxton.co.uk.

I had a nice scone and tea at the Bar in the former stables of Chatsworth House, costing £4.50. But full meals, cafeteria style, are available at the Carriage House Restaurant in the same courtyard.

Lodging

If you don't choose to stay at Chatsworth's barns or farmhouse (see above), consider the Devonshire Arms in Beeley, a few miles away, with four double rooms. Otherwise, check out www.chatsworth.org for guest houses offered by many Chatsworth estate tenants or the Cavendish Hotel on the edge of the park. You can also find rooms through the website of Haddon Hall (see above).

Contacts

You'll find a lot of information on the British Tourist Authority's excellent www.visitbritain.com site. A splendid introduction to Britain can be had by flying there on British Airways, which has direct flights from New York and many other North American gateways to London, as well as direct flights to Manchester from New York via British Airways (www.ba.com).

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