Ashbourne Heights Holiday Park
Ashbourne Heights is a quiet countryside holiday park on high ground near Ashbourne, in the Derbyshire Peak District, with the flat, traffic-free Tissington Trail running straight off its boundary. It spreads static caravans, lodges, glamping and camping pods, bell tents and touring pitches around a heated indoor pool, a shop and a large play park. It's a self-catering park built for families who want walking and cycling on the doorstep and a wide choice of ways to stay on one site.
On this page
Is it worth it?
The quick read before the detail: who the park suits, what's on site and what to skim first.
The main reason families choose Ashbourne Heights is what sits next to it: the Tissington Trail joins the park at its boundary, so a walk or a family bike ride starts at the gate rather than after a drive. On site you get a heated indoor pool, a large play park and a wide choice of places to stay, from a grass tent pitch to a caravan or a glamping pod with a private hot tub. What you don't get is a restaurant, a bar, evening entertainment or a kids' club, so it's a self-directed, self-catering week rather than an all-in resort. You'll get the most from it if you'd rather be out on the trail and in the countryside than entertained on site.
Best for
You want flat, traffic-free walking and cycling from the door, a wide choice of places to stay on one site and a quiet countryside week on a budget.
Maybe not for
You want a restaurant, a bar, evening entertainment, a kids' club or dedicated toddler facilities.
Best ages
Any age. The play park suits a wide range, and the flat trail works with a buggy or a child on a first bike.
What stands out
Direct access to the flat, traffic-free Tissington Trail, and a range from grass pitches to a hot-tub glamping pod on one site.
What to check
The pool has no lifeguard and is booked in person on arrival, and dog rules vary by accommodation type.
Where is it?
Fenny Bentley, three miles north of Ashbourne in the Derbyshire Peak District, on the A515.
Quick facts for families
What the park is like
Where it sits, how it's laid out and the practical facilities around the core.
Ashbourne Heights sits on high, gently rolling ground above the Dove valley, with views across the Peak District countryside. It's a quiet, rural park rather than a resort, smart and well kept, with tidy tarmac roads and trimmed verges. Static caravans and lodges, a touring and camping field, a bell tent area and a cluster of glamping and camping pods are grouped around a central hub of shop, reception, the indoor pool building and the children's play park. For more on the surrounding area, see our Peak District guide.
There's no restaurant, no bar, no clubhouse and no evening entertainment, which is the single biggest thing that sets it apart from a bigger family resort. It suits families who want a low-key, self-directed week and won't suit anyone after an easy night out on site. The paths and roads around the core are smooth tarmac, so a buggy rolls easily between the shop, pool and play park; the touring and camping pitches are grass, which turns soft after rain. Little is published about step-free access beyond that, so treat the smooth core paths as a fair sign of buggy-friendliness rather than a formal accessibility promise.
The on-site facilities are practical rather than plentiful. There's a park shop for essentials, a launderette and a shower and toilet block with washing-up sinks for touring and camping guests, though it's one block, a longer walk from some pitches and busy at peak times. A Rally Room gives touring and camping guests a communal space with seating, a TV and tourist information. There's a gated nature garden and a dog walking area with a dog wash station. EV chargers are on site, and the park is cashless, so bring a card rather than cash.
WiFi is a paid Superfast package rather than a free perk. You register up to six devices and pay by length of stay, from £8.49 for a day to £15.75 for four nights or £18.99 for a week. There's no free clubhouse WiFi here, so budget for it if you need to be online.
The caravans, pods and tents
Every way to stay, from a grass pitch to a hot-tub pod, and which suits a family.
You can stay in a lot of different ways here, from a grass tent pitch to a hot-tub glamping pod, all on the one site. The table below is the range at a glance; the notes after it explain what each is like for a family. No official room sizes are published, so the sleeps figures are indicative rather than a guaranteed ceiling.
| Accommodation | Sleeps | Cooking | Bathroom | Bedding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Static caravan | Up to 6-8 | Kitchen | Private shower room | Beds made up |
| Luxury lodge | 4-6 | Kitchen | Private, one en suite | Beds made up |
| Glamping pod (hot tub) | 4 | Kitchenette | Private toilet, sink, shower | Provided |
| Camping pod (basic) | Up to 4 | None | Shared wash block | Hire £15 |
| Bell tent | Up to 4 | None | Shared wash block | Beds made up |
| Touring or camping pitch | Your own | None | Shared wash block | Bring your own |
The static caravans have two or three bedrooms and sleep up to six to eight depending on the unit, with separate bedrooms, a living area, a kitchen, a shower room, central heating and double glazing. Beds are made up with linen for your arrival. A lot of the caravans are privately owned and let out by their owners, so the age and finish of the one you get can vary more than a single description suggests.
The luxury lodges are more modern, sleeping four to six, with a veranda or balcony, made-up beds, a bathroom with an overhead shower and one en suite, and a sofa bed. They don't come with a private hot tub; that's the separate glamping product below, not the standard lodges.
The glamping pods, also called Safari Lodges, are the premium option: a two-storey, insulated tent-lodge with a kitchenette (hob, microwave, fridge-freezer, kettle and crockery), a living area with a TV, and its own toilet, sink and shower. There's a double bed downstairs and further beds upstairs behind a safety gate, so it sleeps four, with a private hot tub on the decking outside and a parking space of its own. Bedding is provided. Dogs aren't allowed in these.
The basic camping pods are a much simpler, separate product. They're small insulated pods sleeping up to four on a double bed and bunks, with heating, lighting and power, but no cooking, washing or toilet inside, so you use the shared wash block. Bedding isn't included; you can hire a set for £15 a pod and have the beds made up ready, and a travel cot or high chair can be hired the same way. These pods are dog-friendly.
The bell tents are festival-style, individually decorated, with made-up beds, rugs, cushions, plug sockets, outdoor furniture and a lockable entrance, using the shared wash block. They sleep up to four, or two in the smallest, and there are up to six on the park. They're seasonal, and the shortest stay is two nights. Dogs aren't allowed in the bell tents; dog owners after a glamping-style stay are pointed to the camping pods instead.
The touring and camping field is a mix of non-electric grass, electric grass and hardstanding pitches, open across the warmer months, and dogs are welcome on the pitches.
Eating and food shopping
Eating on a self-catering park, the indoor pool, and what there is for babies and toddlers.
With no restaurant, café or bar on site, eating here is self-catered. Every caravan, lodge and glamping pod has a kitchen or kitchenette; the basic camping pods and bell tents don't, so those are true camping when it comes to cooking. The plan is to cook where you're staying, order a takeaway to the park or drive into Ashbourne. There's no children's menu to look for, simply because there's no catering venue.
The park shop covers essentials for walks and bike rides rather than a full food shop. Several local places deliver takeaways to the park, and Ashbourne, three miles away, has a Co-op, Aldi, Sainsbury's and Tesco along with cafés and pubs, so most families do a supermarket shop on the way in.
The pool
The park's one leisure facility is a heated indoor swimming pool. Swimming is free, but there's no online booking: you reserve your slot in person at reception when you arrive. The pool is open from 10am to 4pm, and opening can vary in winter across the wider Park Holidays network, so check the current hours if you're travelling in the colder months.
There are no lifeguards on duty at any time. The pool is watched by CCTV, and parents supervise their own children to set ratios: one adult, aged sixteen or over, to one child aged nought to three, one adult to two children aged four to seven and one adult to three children aged eight to fifteen. Work out before you go whether you'll have enough adults for the children you're bringing. It's a single pool for all ages, with no separate toddler or paddling pool and no splash pad. Capacity is capped at around twenty-five, and changing is limited to one toilet and one shower on each of the men's and women's sides. Armbands and swim toys are allowed.
The park doesn't publish pool dimensions, depth or water temperature, so if depth matters for a younger swimmer, ask when you book. There's no stated swim nappy policy either, so check that too if you're bringing a child who isn't toilet-trained.
Babies and the play park
The play park is the heart of the park for children: one large adventure area with slides, swings, climbing frames, a zip wire, uncovered sand and picnic benches, and it suits a wide range of ages. Around it, an open field gives children room to run, cycle and scoot well away from traffic. There's no kids' club, no crèche and no organised activity programme, so children's time on site is the play park, the field and the pool.
For babies and toddlers, a travel cot and a high chair can each be hired for £15 for the stay. The cot doesn't come with bedding, so bring your own, and the high chair is a travel chair for your caravan or pod rather than a dining-room one, since there's no dining venue. There's a baby changing table in the toilet and shower block. The shop doesn't stock baby food, formula or nappies, so Ashbourne's supermarkets are the reliable option for those.
The Tissington Trail and getting active
The flat trail on the doorstep and the days out within a short drive.
The Tissington Trail is the main reason families choose this park. It's a former railway line, about 13 miles from Ashbourne to Parsley Hay, now a flat, traffic-free walking and cycling route, and you can join it straight from the park boundary. Because it's a converted railway there are no steep gradients, so it works for a buggy and for a child on a first bike in a way most Peak District paths don't. You don't need to bring bikes: guests get a discount on hire at The Bike Barn in Ashbourne.
Beyond the pool and the play park, there's little organised activity on site: no golf, fishing, spa, soft play, arcade or evening programme. This is a park you settle into and use as a base for the trail and the area, rather than one that fills your days for you.
The area and days out
Ashbourne itself is three miles south, a market town with supermarkets, independent shops, cafés and pubs, and the practical base for topping up supplies or eating out.
Dovedale and its stepping stones are close, about 3 to 4 miles (5 to 6 km) or ten minutes by car, and reachable on foot or by bike along connecting trails. The walk along the valley floor to the stepping stones and Thorpe Cloud is largely flat and popular with families, though it gets busy in summer. Carsington Water, a reservoir with watersports, cycling, a café and a play area, is about ten to fifteen minutes' drive.
For bigger days out, Alton Towers is the area's headline theme park, about 13 to 14 miles (21 to 23 km) and roughly 25 to 27 minutes away, though that's an estimate rather than a signed distance. Gulliver's Kingdom at Matlock Bath, about 12 miles (19 km) or twenty minutes, is a theme park scaled for younger children, and the Heights of Abraham cable car is in the same town, around 13 miles (21 km) and 20 to 25 minutes. Chatsworth House is further, about 19 miles (31 km) and half an hour or so.
Loves and gripes
What guests rate and what frustrates them, how it compares, the journey in and the weather.
This is our read across guest reviews and the first-hand family blogs, the good and the less good.
What families love
- Friendly, helpful staff, a recurring theme in reviews.
- The play park, singled out and suiting a wide age range.
- The Tissington Trail on the doorstep, flat and safe.
- Cleanliness and upkeep across the site.
- Value: a family-park round-up named it a Best Value park.
- The peace, quiet and countryside views.
- Its reputation: Mumsnet lists it among its best family-friendly Peak District parks.
Common gripes
- The self-supervised pool with no lifeguard.
- No restaurant, bar or evening entertainment.
- Hot, sticky plastic-coated mattresses in some units.
- Missing kettles, sockets or a TV in some of the basic units.
- Occasional portable-toilet upkeep and a smell near the bell tents.
- Grass parking that gets churned up in wet weather.
- The single shower block, a longer walk from some pitches and stretched at peak.
Across the review sites we checked it rates well: 8.5 out of 10 on Booking.com from 187 reviews, 8 out of 10 on ukcampsite from 85 and around 4.5 out of 5 on campsites.co.uk, with location, staff and value the strongest scores. Holiday Park Guru's own review scored it 82% overall guest satisfaction and named it a Best Value Holiday Park.
How it compares
Ashbourne Heights is the no-frills, budget-value choice among the family parks near Ashbourne, built almost entirely around one thing: direct, flat access to the Tissington Trail, plus a small pool and a wide range of places to stay on one site.
Sandybrook, also near Ashbourne, is the more upmarket neighbour, a five-star park with a 2026 gold tourism award, a toddler pool and a playroom, and it costs more; one comparison put it around £250 above Ashbourne Heights for a similar week in August, though that's a single snapshot rather than a fixed gap. Newhaven, the other Park Holidays park in Derbyshire, over near Buxton, is cheaper again and more basic, and Ashbourne Heights has the stronger trail access and is closer to a town. Two other parks nearby sit in a more facility-led tier, Callow Top and Darwin Forest, if a pub, restaurant, soft play or spa matter more to you than the trail.
The short version: this park is right for a quiet walking and cycling week on a budget, and wrong for a family who wants evening entertainment, a restaurant or dedicated toddler facilities.
Getting there and backGetting there and when to go
It's a drive-only park in practice. From Derby, take the A52 to Ashbourne, about 14 miles (23 km) and twenty minutes or so, then head three miles (5 km) north on the A515 through Fenny Bentley; the postcode is DE6 1LE, the park phone is 01335 218985, and the What3Words for the entrance is incorrect.agent.drift. No station serves the park; the nearest mainline stations are Derby and Stoke-on-Trent, both around 30 to 40 minutes' drive, and there's no rail into Ashbourne, as the old branch line is now the trail. Buses run to Ashbourne from Derby but not to the park gate, and with luggage and young children there's no realistic public-transport option, so plan to drive. You can book direct with Park Holidays or through Hoseasons or Pitchup, who also list the park.
For medical cover, Ashbourne has St Oswald's, a community hospital with a weekend and bank-holiday walk-in but no A&E. The nearest urgent treatment centre is Whitworth Hospital in Matlock, open 8am to 8pm, and the nearest A&E is Royal Derby Hospital, around 16 miles (26 km) and about half an hour away.
The touring and camping season runs from around 20 March to 2 November, with the camping pods opening a little earlier in March and the bell tents only from mid-June to the end of September. The caravans and lodges are heated, permanent homes, so they tend to be bookable across a longer season, which is worth knowing for an off-peak or winter break. Check-in is 4pm for caravans and lodges, or 2pm for an extra £25; bell tents check in at 2pm and need a minimum of two nights. Other extras sit on top of the holiday price: for a touring pitch, an extra person, car, boat or awning is £5 a night each, and there's a pet fee and optional cancellation cover.
The gentlest months for young children are late spring, in May and June, and September, when the trail is quieter, the pool is running and you miss the peak. Late July and August are the busiest, when the field fills and the trail, Dovedale and Alton Towers are at their most crowded.
When to goWeather
Fenny Bentley sits in the White Peak, in the lower dales rather than the high moors, so its weather tracks the wider area around Ashbourne. The figures below cover the season the tents and pods are open, roughly late March to early November; the heated caravans and lodges run longer.
| Month | Daytime high | Overnight low | Rain | Wet days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.5° | 1.5° | 81 mm | 13 |
| February | 7.5° | 1.5° | 71 mm | 12 |
| March | 10° | 2.5° | 61 mm | 11 |
| April | 13° | 4° | 66 mm | 10 |
| May | 16° | 7° | 61 mm | 10 |
| June | 19° | 9.5° | 80 mm | 10 |
| July | 21° | 12° | 66 mm | 10 |
| August | 20.5° | 11.5° | 72 mm | 10 |
| September | 17.5° | 9.5° | 70 mm | 10 |
| October | 13.5° | 7° | 90 mm | 13 |
| November | 9.5° | 4° | 94 mm | 14 |
| December | 7° | 2° | 96 mm | 14 |
Typical monthly averages from weather-station records. The tents, pods and touring pitches are open roughly late March to early November.
Because there's no toddler pool, no soft play and no entertainment, a run of wet days here leans on the single indoor pool or a drive to an indoor attraction, which is more of a planning problem than at a park packed with wet-weather options.
Questions
The things families ask most, useful links and when this guide was last updated.
Can we just turn up and swim?
No. Swimming is free but you book your slot in person at reception when you arrive, not online, and it's a self-supervised pool with no lifeguard at any time, so work out the adults you'll need before you travel.
Where do we eat if there’s no restaurant?
You cook where you're staying, get a takeaway delivered to the park or drive the three miles into Ashbourne for its supermarkets, cafés and pubs. There's no children's menu on site, so it's worth packing the basics your child will actually eat.
Can we bring the dog?
Dogs are welcome on the touring and camping pitches and in the basic camping pods, but not in the hot-tub glamping pods or the bell tents, so pick your accommodation to match.
Where’s the nearest A&E?
There's no A&E in Ashbourne; St Oswald's there is a community hospital with a weekend walk-in only. The nearest urgent treatment centre is Whitworth in Matlock, and the nearest A&E is Royal Derby, around 16 miles away. Worth saving the routes before you go.
Can we hire a cot and high chair?
Yes. Travel cots and high chairs are hired at £15 each for the whole stay, so it's best to add them when you book. The one thing to remember is bedding: the cot comes bare, so pack a sheet and blanket to fit it.
Do we need to bring bikes for the trail?
No. You can hire from The Bike Barn in Ashbourne at a guest discount, and the trail runs flat and traffic-free straight from the park, so it suits balance bikes and buggies as well as adults.
How far is Alton Towers?
About 13 to 14 miles, roughly half an hour by car, though that's an estimate rather than a signed distance. If your children are younger, Gulliver's Kingdom at Matlock Bath is closer and scaled for them.
When’s the best time to go with young children?
Late spring or September, when the trail is quieter and the pool is running and you miss the July and August peak. The caravans and lodges are heated for an off-peak break, but the tents and pods are spring-to-autumn only.
Is there WiFi?
Only as a paid Superfast package, from £8.49 a day up to £18.99 for a week, covering up to six devices. There's no free WiFi here, so download anything you'll need before you arrive if you'd rather not pay for it.
See more Ashbourne Heights photos
Open the Ashbourne Heights photo gallery →Useful links
- Ashbourne Heights Holiday Park: the park's own page for accommodation, facilities and booking.
- The Peak District with little ones: our guide to the wider area, its walks and when to go.
Last updated July 2026.
