Paying almost £200 for a double room, we expected some level of luxury, but we couldn't find it anywhere. The room was listed as a large double, but was very small. Bathroom tiny and not at all luxurious or stylish, clean but basic. We arrived very late, the lights were not working and the room was freezing. The large radiator was off, but there was a small electric fan heater in the room which we had to leave on all night but it didn't help. There was hardly any bedding on the bed (one sheet and one blanket) and no extra bedding in the wardrobe. The included breakfast was basic, cold buffet style, anything from the menu was charged as an extra. The common areas of the hotel were quite stylish, but the rooms were cheaply furnished, lots of Ikea accessories which didn't really look the part. I wrote a letter to the manager about our stay and had a standard 'thank you for your feedback' letter in return. I can't imagine how this hotel managed to get listed in the Mr & Mrs Smith guide.

Quaint hotel which has very nice rooms with a modern twist - was taken as a surprise for my b'day and felt I had been pampered. Wine list was v good and food tasty but portions far too small for the price. Nice touches like ipod docking station, dvd with good selection of films at reception to borrow.

The Peacock describes itself on its website as a “luxury hotel”, and “luxuriously appointed”. Nothing could be further from the truth.

On arrival we found the hotel to be very conveniently situated with a perfectly adequate car park at the rear next to a pretty little garden.

Before entering we checked the dinner menu by the door – main courses range from £23 to £27.50 – which we considered to be far too much. There are cheaper bar meals available, but these are still about 50% dearer than at the very nice Grouse & Claret pub next door.

The décor in the entrance hall and lounge was not what we expected – more IKEA than country house hotel, with some awful lime-green modern armchairs in evidence. But the biggest disappointment was the bedrooms. Ours was narrow, dark, and shabby. Immediately inside the door a large stain and a frayed edge was evident on the cheap-looking, beige, loop-piled carpet. Some scruffy old framed prints on the vestibule wall were of London scenes rather than Peak District ones. Daylight from the narrow window was woefully inadequate, and the artificial lighting consisted of two ugly and dim IKEA type wall lights, plus one table lamp. We immediately asked for two more lamps which were duly provided, but they could only be plugged into a couple of non-standard sockets and it was still not light enough to read comfortably. The window had to be banged with a fist to open it, and a pane of the leaded glass was already cracked (no doubt by a previous guest having to whack it open). Storage comprised one hanging rail in a closet, plus one small three drawer bedside-type unit – totally inadequate even for our two night stay so we had to live out of the suitcase. The rest of the furniture was mainly a shabby old mismatch, plus a weird, metal, gloss-painted lime green, mushroom-shaped object posing as a bedside table. Décor was bland and uninspiring except for one wall wallpapered in a horrible candy stripe. The flat screen TV had poor reception on several channels, its teletext did not work, and it somehow managed to have the sound out of sync. with the picture on all of the channels. The small, cream-tiled, en-suite bathroom was clean and adequate, but certainly did not qualify for the description “luxuriously appointed” (we have had better at Premier Travel Inns). Said bathroom did not have a window and the extractor was not operating – judging by how bunged up it appeared to be it had not done so for a long time.

Our friends’ room was a bit lighter because of its shape and having a wider window, but the ‘antique’ wardrobe was so derelict that none of us would allow it into our homes even if offered it for nothing. Their room had a horrible, garish pink/lilac theme. There were two 6-inch high IKEA-type tables posing as bedside units. And their bathroom extractor did not work either.

The continental breakfast was quite good. But the full, cooked breakfast should be included in the room rate, rather than offered at a £6.50 supplement. The breakfast room was more what one would expect, but it was despoiled by one wall being painted in the ubiquitous lime green, and adorned with the now-familiar, IKEA-type wall lamps.

Attempts to use a mobile phone within the Peacock resulted in a “Limited Service” message. This happened when standing just inside the front door, but was resolved by moving one yard onto the doorstep outside. Suggestions that there was blocking in progress in order to force use of the in-room phones at 15p+ per minute were strenuously refuted by the staff.

On the plus side the bed was comfortable and the linen and towels were of high quality. There is also a second, early evening room service, which is a good feature for a UK hotel. The service and staff attitude was quite good, but most of the staff seemed to be rather inexperienced youngsters. The Peacock appears to live off of its fly-fishing facilities and the alleged gourmet restaurant (which we never used). The room rate of £145 per night including cold breakfast which we paid was grossly overpriced for what we received, especially with reference to the quality of the rooms.. The term “luxuriously appointed” is of course subjective, but in our opinion it is in this case misrepresentative. The obvious attempt to implement the currently fashionable “blend of old and new” has seriously backfired here, and appears to have been done on the cheap. After two nights at the Peacock we were glad to leave and we felt that we had been fleeced. For value for money accommodation in the Peak District steer well clear of it – seriously.

What a fantastic stay we had here. Only managed one night but we were greeting warmly on arrival at lunchtime - enjoyed a nice pub lunch in the bar area and then checked in.
Rooms were delightful, the furniture was in keeping with the age of the building but all amenities were included and the room was nice and spacious. Quickly managed to connect to the wireless network (free access) and then got ready to go out (a family member was getting married at the East Lodge hotel around the corner which was nowhere near as nice!) After returning from the reception party very late the hotel staff were still up (which was surprising considering the hotel was pretty small) We got up for breakfast at about 9am and were pleasantly greeted by the manager who showed us to our table and asked how we slept. She asked if we had got the newspaper we had requested (which we had) and left the servers to get us drinks etc.
Three of us ordered cooked food (myself a full english, my mum scrambled eggs and my sister scrambled eggs with smoked salmon) My mum had to ask the waiter to take her eggs back as they were very salty! The staff made light work of this and a few minutes later a fresh batch was brought out. After we had eaten we checked out which was simple and departed. The hotel has nice grounds with the river literally at the foot of the garden. Fly fishing can be done locally and they have all the kit available at the hotel. All in all we very much enjoyed our stay and would definetley return!