Darwin Forest Country Park

11 readers found this review helpful

I can honestly say that this holiday was one of the best we’ve ever been on!
For those of you that haven’t got time to sit and read the below, here’s the quick version!
Advantages: Beautiful place, pet friendly lodges, loads to do, excellent accommodation, lovely people, nice & quiet, don’t have to leave the park if you don’t want to, great pub food, free wi-fi in the reception area, everything’s quite close together (without being too close) so you don’t have to walk far, dog absolutely loved it!
Disadvantages: No cashpoint, uncomfy beds & pillows, pub doesn’t open till late in the week, only serves food at specific times, you do have to pay for electricity, but it’s not expensive and they do refund any unused cards (we used approximately £1 per day, but we had all the appliances on!), the shop is a bit on the expensive side, but that’s to be expected, not many TV channels, bad mobile reception, but that’s a plus point for some people!
Here’s the detailed version if you’d prefer it!
We stayed at Darwin Forest Country Park for 3 nights at the end of May/beginning of June, we originally booked the Elvaston lodge (a 1 bed/1 bath lodge with a spa bath & sauna), but we enjoyed our stay so much we ended up adding another 2 nights, though we had to move to a Peveril (a 3 bed/2 bath lodge).
The Elvaston was beautiful, not overlooked by anyone, very clean and surprisingly roomy; I’d go as far as to say it was one of the best lodges on the park as a lot of the others are overlooked. The Peveril was a little bit older, but still in good condition. The lounge and kitchen area was really big and well equipped, the bedrooms are a bit on the small side (the bedroom in the Elvaston was a bit bigger), but if you’ll be spending most of your time in the living area this shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
There’s not too many TV channels to choose from, I think there was just the usual 5 plus a kids channel, Sky News and a couple more, but I think might be working on trying to install freeview. There’s almost no signal for mobiles, though I found that to be quite a positive thing, it was nice to live without the mobile for a while! More often than not if you have a wander to the pub/reception area you can get a quick text to go through if you really need to. They do have free Wi-fi, but you have to go to the internet area by reception to get a good connection.
There was only one thing I could pick fault with (and I’m very fussy!); the beds and pillows were quite uncomfy, so go prepared if you like your own pillows!
I guess it’s just luck of the draw if you end up in a good position as some lodges are more overlooked than others, unless you specifically know which one you’d like... I think there might be a downloadable map available on their website if you’d like to choose a specific lodge!
The park itself is beautiful, stunning views from the walks and everyone is so friendly, guests and staff included. There’s an indoor swimming pool which you can use for free if you are staying in one of the lodges, a gym, a beauty and hair salon, mini golf, tennis, a snooker room you can rent, pool room, arcade room, a little store with everything you could need and a lovely pub/restaurant (there’s probably lots more to do, but I can’t remember all of it!). All the staff were really helpful and friendly, the pub does gorgeous food and isn’t too overpriced. The beauty salon is lovely, they use Dermalogica products and the treatment room itself was gorgeous, with little twinkly lights in the ceiling, could have stayed there forever!
There is a spa in the pool/gym area, but you have to either be a member or pay to use it.
Only problem I found was that there was no way to get cash out and with us having a dog it was difficult to keep nipping to the cashpoint (I was told that there was one about 4 miles down the road). You can pay bycard in most cases if it’s over £5, but I’d get some cash out before you go, just for emergencies.
We were lucky enough to have amazing weather which made the experience all the more fabulous. I’d imagine that if you were unfortunate enough to get bad weather it might not be as good, but if all you want to do is curl up in front of the fire with a cup of hot chocolate, then there’s no better place!
Apologies for the long review, but I wanted to fit everything in! I know it might be a bit on the pricey side, but in my opinion it's worth every penny! If you are thinking about booking this place and are on the fence, I can’t recommend it highly enough! If you’re a couple, family, or want a pet friendly holiday, it’s perfect for all; there’s plenty to do, get it booked before I beat you to it!

7 readers found this review helpful

Overall we had a great holiday and will re-book. We have a young pre-school family and it had execellent facilities four our needs - swimming pool, indoor and outdoor play centre, lots of woodland walks and space for toddlers to bike ride. Also great walking and mountain biking in the area.
The only let down is the on-site pub, which is not open in the day in the week, and the food is average. However 2 miles towards chesterfield is one of the best gastro pubs we have been in and we ate there twice.
We have been to center parks many times (sherwood) and we would choose darwin over it, due to the relaxed nature and closer on hand facilities.