Love the Lake District and given we have a two year old the amenities offered by Keswick but it’s a bit of a mission for a long weekend coming from south of London with aforementioned monkey in the car. Peaks is a good chunk closer so are there any similar towns ie decent size, walking from the doorstep, good location to sneak out for a cheeky road bike ride as well as tracks to tow our daughter in the trailer.

Ta

Castleton? although it is smaller than Keswick.

Oh and get a DVD player in the car!!

Bakewell?

Roadying and walking from door, Tissington trail for towing duties

Bakewell/Wirksworth

or, for a bit of a curveball, Bollington or Whaley Bridge

Not big places, but nice non-tourist honey trap villages with pubs, shops etc, enough for a weekend.

Both have great riding from the door, great walking from the door, and lovely towing rides on canal towpaths (and also the Middlewood Way in Bollington’s case) for little’un.

In terms of outdoor shops, Hathersage is the best (although not even close to Keswick)

Buxton, okay technically not in the National Park, but lots to do. Great park (Pavilion Gardens), with train., cafe,playground; swimming baths; Opera House (does low brow too); some fairly ok shopping; lots of cafes and chippies. Walking close by. Show cave.

Grindleford – gear shops and cafes aplenty, open air pool.

Glossop. No not joking. Becoming quite gentrified since the BBC decamped to Salford. Excellent train into Manchester (40mins), brilliant pubs, bike shop, good shopping. If you go Old Glossop then Bleaklow is your back garden. Fantastic victorian swimming pool.

I was going to say Buxton, but couldn’t think how it fitted the towing the little’un rides (unless you like towing the little’un uphill…)

Bakewell as in Bakewell tart? Now that sounds like a grand idea! Will have a look at all above and despite using Keswick I quite like IHNs suggestion of being away from main tourist areas as long as there’s enough to keep the little un entertained if the weather is ropey.

Bakewell will be perfect (just spent the weekend there)

Apparently it’s Bakewell Pudding, not Tart 🙄

radar, think you mean Hathersage for shops and pool, not much in Grindleford apart from the awesome cafe at the old station.

Bakewell is lovely, great road riding and pretty town. Watch the fish in the river while eating fish and chips or ice cream. Monsal trail ideal for trailers with a few stops and fun stuff to explore like Miller’s Dale and Raven Tor.

Bakewell or Ashbourne, both on cycle trails (Tissington / Monsal)

Matlock?

Found a couple of interesting looking places to stay that are 5 miles or so out of town. Preference is to bike in but if using the car is it relatively easy to park in bakewell on a weekend in, gulp, august?

non-tourist honey trap villages

Eh? Does not compute.

Getting into Bakewell is the slow bit, but there’s plenty of parking next to the Cattle Market/Showground. And you can usually get a spot.

If you are going in in an evening for a drink you’ll have no trouble.

Ashbourne and Buxton are more working towns and less dependent on tourists.

Bakewell does have this though!…

Homepage

The Monsal Trail in Bakewell would be good to tow the little one along:

http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/visiting/trails/monsaltrail

Hathersage

No family friendly bike trails but:

Outdoor pool

shops

places to eat

great family walking. Lawrence Field for finding old Mill Stones. Burbage for the old fort. Stanage for boulders to clamber about on

station for train to other villages or if its really wet Sheffield for PondS forge leisure pool which is near the station

Great, thanks all, appreciated.

Close to Hathersage is Bamford – great kids playground and a tramway leads from there all the way up to Ladybower – you could trailer from the playground right up along the res.

Presuming the trailer is on your mtb and the Mrs is willing, unhitch and let them play by the reservoir and do a quick Permissive/Brink/Hope Cross/Beast loop before towing back 😉

Or head over the bridge at Bamford to do the classic Howden/Derwent loop with the trailer and pie/peas and ice cream at Fairholmes.

Gravity slave, I have absolutely no idea why I typed Grindleford. The only other good thing in Grindleford, apart from the cafe, is the Padley Gorge walk.

Clearly old age is upon me. As penance I shall ride to Grindleford for elevenses, then over to the bakery in Hathersage for a hot roast pork butty for lunch.

The only other good thing in Grindleford, apart from the cafe,

Are we talking about the crappy station cafe that tells you off for everything?

Grindleford Station Cafe is iconic, I’ll have you know 😉

Don’t be deterred by the proliferation of hand-scrawled notices (my favourites include ‘don’t even ask for mushrooms’ and ‘some days we are nice to customers. Today is not your day’), they just add to the crazy charm of the place.

Yes they mean it….

Definatley on the last places in the Peak District for breakfast list for me, breakfast wasn’t even that good last time I was there.

Are we talking about the crappy station cafe that tells you off for everything?

But that its USP

In the good old days we had a climbing club meal there. Pie and chips followed by bar until no one could stand. Sleep on the floor until they needed it to open in the morning

yeah, a cliched version of itself riding the wave of the good old days. I remember it years ago and it’s novelty (lack of competition) and was there not that long ago and it felt like it was nothing but a damp truckers cafe. Sorry for not liking having spent a big number of years drinking climbing and biking round there other places are much nicer.

another vote for the kids playground at Bamford – if you cycle away from Derwent across the playing field and under the railway line you pop out in a garden centre carpark – ice creams or hot chocolate and gold fish to watch – my kids are small teens now but the walking shop there used to be one of the best places to get small kids proper outdoor gear

if based in Bakewell then Chatsworth House is an obvious attraction but if not your thing it still has a great playground for kids – charges but not full house entry

someone mentioned train to the Ponds Forge rapids in Sheffield as wet weather venue, by car Weston Park museum, Sheffield is excellent for kids and very easy from the Peak, though expect to spend some time looking for a parking spot

left field – if travelling from down south then Twycross Zoo sort of near Ashby de La Zouch and the M42/A5 is a good long stop off on way

edit favourite cafe – Hathersage Pool and you don’t need to go in – still like Grindleford and will always pop in but the guy responsible for following up on the notorious instructions to customers died around 7-8 years ago ? (Phil?) and really they should have gone with him

Sheffield! OK its a full on city but bang on the doorstep of the peaks – find somewhere South Sheffield for Castleton, Bakewell, Hathersage etc or North Sheff for access to Strines Moor, the Snake, Holmsfirth, etc.

Either way you are only 20 mins from the city centre also.

If you don’t fancy a city then Hathersage is well worth a look also as is Pensitone.

In the good old days we had a climbing club meal there. Pie and chips followed by bar until no one could stand. Sleep on the floor until they needed it to open in the morning

Snap. I ‘slept’ in a ‘plank’ position between two chairs. Bloody freezing too.

I think the original owner who was the properly miserable one has died, though, don’t know if the same traditions are carrying on.

Cannon Hall farm best go to for little un’s from Royston Vasey Penistone