Calver Restaurant Guide

2024 Review: This swish country house hotel, in one of the Peak District’s most picturesque villages, is transforming before visitors’ eyes as part of an ongoing, £1.1 million makeover. As we went to press, the more casual ‘Garden Room’ had already been reborn, with chef Adam Harper (ex-of the acclaimed nearby Fischer’s) overseeing a new menu with impeccable local sourcing such as Chatsworth beef; this, the more formal fine diner, will follow suit, but meanwhile won praise this year – well “on its way to a Michelin star” by some accounts. All reports acclaim the “brilliant food and ambience in all areas” and it’s also tipped for afternoon tea.

2024 Review: “Great-value French cuisine” has drawn guests for more than 25 years to this family-run venture from Eric & Christiana Piedaniel – both career chefs. It makes a “lovely quiet environment for lunch” just 10 minutes’ drive from historic Chatsworth House.

2022 Review: This “lovely gastropub” on the Duke of Devonshire’s Chatsworth estate gets mostly positive feedback for its “good food and real ales”. There’s sometimes a perception, though, that “it falls short” of its potential: “the cooking was fair, but it could be so nice here”.

2022 Review: A collaboration between Sheffield cook Richard Smith, his restaurateur wife Victoria and the award-winning craft brewers Thornbridge; “creative fish dishes” feature alongside meats – all well-singed on the fancy Bertha indoor charcoal oven – and the “great location” (skirting the Peak District) makes it particularly “good for outdoor eating”.

“Correctly described in last year’s guide as ‘What the Peak District needed… and now has” – this “warm, welcoming” and unmistakably ambitious venture (crowdfunded five years back) occupies the cosy setting of a converted stable block. Chef-patron Lee Smith oversees the modern British cooking, based on “really good locally sourced produce (meat is from a real farm shop next door)”, and “tasting menus are not obligatory” since there’s also a “good à la carte” – plus the £23 per person ‘Market Menu’, which will have you in and out in under an hour. Whichever you go for, it’s all “exceptionally good” and “definitely worth the detour” if you’re heading up north.

The River Wye is the river in question, and this attractively located period restaurant with rooms (dating from the 1600s) sits nearby, complete with walled garden. It doesn’t inspire huge volumes of feedback, but fans are enthusiastic: “a fabulous meal here to celebrate an 80th birthday – wonderful food was beautifully presented”.