Darwin Forest - Luxury Lodge Holidays
- Jennifer Kozyra
- Jul 29
- 5 min read
Nestled within 47 acres of beautiful woodland between Matlock and Bakewell, Darwin Forest is an award-winning 5-star lodge park that's perfect for families. The park offers luxury self-catering lodges sleeping between two and eight guests, with many featuring private
hot tubs and dog-friendly options too.
It's a luxury staycation that combines being hidden away in the woodland, surrounded by walks straight from your lodge door, fantastic facilities like an indoor pool, golf and restaurant which is also a great base for exploring the Peak District. Darwin Forest Lodges ticks so many boxes of what we want from a family stay
Top Info
🛌 Luxury lodges sleeping 2–8 guests
👙 Hot Tub lodges available
🐕 Dog Friendly
🏊♂️ Indoor heated swimming pool
🏋️♂️ Spa & gym
🎾 Tennis courts & Football
⛳️ Mini golf
🛝 Adventure playground & games room
🍔 Foresters Bar & Restaurant
🍞 On-site shop
🏹 Extra activity to book: archery, mini jet ski & axe throwing
🚶 Walks straight from your lodge
🚴 Bike Hire
📶 Free Wi-Fi throughout the park
🚗 Parking available next to each lodge
📍Great Base For: Chatsworth House, Bakewell, Matlock Bath, Heights of Abraham & Peak District attractions
📍Two Dales, Matlock DE4 5PL
We visited Darwin Forest at the start of the summer holidays, staying for a three-night weekend break with our two daughters, aged 11 and 14. As our girls are getting older, we’re always looking for places that offer a mix of relaxation, activities and things they’ll genuinely enjoy, and Darwin Forest was a perfect fit.
Our Lodge - Chatsworth Elite Vogue 2 Spa Plus
Our lodge, the Chatsworth Elite, was the most spacious lodge we've ever stayed in. It was modern, comfortable and had everything we needed for a long weekend with two big kids.
The open-plan living area meant we could all spend quality time together, whether we were eating, watching TV or just relaxing after a busy day out. The fully equipped kitchen made cooking really easy too – those cooked breakfasts each morning were a breeze.
The bedrooms were what really impressed us. The master bedroom was huge, with plenty of storage, a king-size bed and a spacious en-suite. The girls absolutely loved their twin room too. It had proper single beds, loads of floor space, room for them to get ready, and even their own en-suite bathroom, which made everyone much happier in the mornings!
One of our favourite parts of the stay was spending the evenings out on the decking. Surrounded by woodland, it felt so peaceful and private, with no one overlooking us. While the girls made the most of the hot tub, we could sit back, relax and enjoy the tranquillity. We barely even heard another guest during our stay.
Our Chatsworth Elite lodge included:
- Sleeps up to 4 guests
- Private hot tub
- Spacious open-plan lounge, dining area and kitchen
- Fully equipped kitchen with oven, hob, microwave, fridge, freezer and dishwasher
- King-size master bedroom with Smart TV and en-suite shower room
- Twin bedroom with proper single beds and its own en-suite bathroom with shower over the bath
- Bed linen, towels, bathrobes and slippers provided
- Large decking area with outdoor seating
- Free Wi-Fi
- Private parking outside the lodge
👨👩👧👦 Fantastic Facilities for Families
One thing that really sets Darwin Forest apart is the range of facilities available
on site and one of the reason we chose to stay here.
The Facilities include:
- Heated indoor swimming pool with fun splash sessions
- Bookable activities such a archery, Zorbs, Axe throwing
- Little Monkeys indoor play centre
- Large outdoor adventure playground
- Tennis courts, mini golf and sports facilities
- Woodland walks straight from your lodge
- Evolution Health & Fitness Centre
- Explorers café
- Foresters Bar & Restaurant
- Woodland Shop
- Bike hire
- Laundry Room
One of our favourite thing was Splash Hour in the pool. It was advertised as the pool having noodles and inflatables but my word the whole pool was filled with amazing, massive inflatables with sharks, flamingoes and little boats. It was so much fun and the girls spent the whole time laughing as they tried to get onto the floats and 90% of the time falling straight off.
With the fact there are great indoor and outdoor facilities makes it a good place to stay what ever the weather.
🌳 The Perfect Base for Exploring the Peak District 🌳
As much as we loved spending time at Darwin Forest, we did eventually manage to drag ourselves away to explore some of the nearby attractions. One of the things we loved most about staying here was just how many fantastic places were within easy reach.
Some of the most popular attractions nearby include:
- Chatsworth House
- Heights of Abraham
- Matlock Bath
- Bakewell
- Gulliver's Kingdom
- Monsal Trail
- Carsington Water
On our way to Darwin Forest, we stopped off in Bakewell for a few hours. We wandered around the pretty town, enjoyed lunch in one of the many cafés and, of course, couldn't leave without buying a Bakewell Tart and a Bakewell Pudding!
On the Sunday we visited the Heights of Abraham, which is just a 15-minute drive from the lodges. As a Darwin Forest guest, you can even get a discount on your tickets, which is a lovely bonus. It really is a fantastic family day out, with the iconic cable cars, fascinating cave tours, children's play areas and cafés all making it a great place to spend the day.
If you're staying for a week, you could easily fill every day with a different adventure. Although, with such a beautiful lodge and so much to enjoy on-site, you might find it just as hard as we did to tear yourself away!
Food & Drink on Site
Foresters Bar & Restaurant is perfect if you fancy a night off from cooking, serving breakfast, lunch and evening meals in a cosy, pub-style setting. You can pre-book a table before your stay, although we didn't book and still managed to get one. There's a good choice on the menu, including a separate children's menu, and when we popped in for a drink on the Sunday, the roast dinners being served looked absolutely amazing.
That said, we actually found ourselves eating in the lodge more than we usually would on holiday. We don't normally cook much when we're away, but we loved our lodge so much that we wanted to make the most of it. The kitchen had everything we needed to prepare easy family meals, and staying in meant the girls could spend even longer enjoying the hot tub while we relaxed on the decking. Those chilled evenings together ended up being some of our favourite moments of the whole trip.
Is Darwin Forest Worth It?
Absolutely.
What we loved most was the balance between peaceful woodland surroundings and having so much to do as a family. It has a much more relaxed feel than some of the larger holiday parks, yet still offers fantastic facilities, making it perfect whether you're visiting with young children, teenagers or even grandparents.
Would we stay again? Without a doubt.
The price is a little higher than a typical caravan holiday park, but honestly, it isn't a fair comparison. Darwin Forest is in a completely different league. The lodges are luxurious, spacious and somewhere you genuinely want to spend time, rather than just somewhere to sleep
Our girls spent hours in the swimming pool and hot tub, while we loved simply relaxing on the decking surrounded by woodland. It gave us the perfect long weekend away time to slow down and make some wonderful family memories.
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