Sandybrook Lodges
Sandybrook Lodges is a small, family-run five-star lodge park on a wooded hillside a mile from Ashbourne, on the southern edge of the Peak District in Derbyshire. Fifty-three self-catering lodges sit in the grounds of a former manor house, with an indoor pool, a converted toddler playroom and the White Peak trails on the doorstep. Families come for the quiet countryside setting, the indoor pool with its toddler area and a base for days out to Dovedale, Chatsworth and Alton Towers.
On this page
Is it worth it?
Who Sandybrook suits, how the self-catering set-up works and the facts to skim before the detail.
Sandybrook is a quiet, well-kept lodge park for families who want a countryside base in the Peak District and are happy to run their own days. Its strengths are specific: an indoor heated pool with a separate toddler area that gives you a swim whatever the weather, a converted lodge kept as a toddler playroom, modern lodges and a small, peaceful hillside setting a mile from Ashbourne. It's also well placed for days out, from the Tissington Trail a few minutes away to Alton Towers and its CBeebies Land, the pre-school area, roughly 10 to 12 miles (16 to 19 km) off.
It suits some families much better than others. Every lodge is self-catering and there's no restaurant, so you cook or you drive out to eat. There's no kids' club or babysitting either, so childcare is on you throughout. The park sits on a hillside with some path gradients, and the money side is a five-star lodge price rather than a budget one. Guests come back often, but go in knowing you're buying a quiet self-catering week, not a resort with a full programme laid on.
Best for
You want a small, quiet self-catering lodge in the Peak District with an indoor pool and toddler playroom, and you're happy to cook or eat out and plan your own days.
Maybe not for
You want meals cooked for you, a kids' club or babysitting, flat ground throughout or a beach and a water park.
Best ages
Babies and toddlers upward. The indoor pool, toddler playroom and CBeebies Land nearby suit the youngest, though there's no supervised childcare at any age.
What stands out
The indoor pool with its separate toddler area, the home-like toddler playroom and Alton Towers with CBeebies Land about 20 to 25 minutes away.
What to check
Whether your lodge bedroom fits a cot, whether the lodge has a washing machine and which instructor-led activities are running for your dates.
Where is it?
A mile north of Ashbourne on the A515, in the southern White Peak of the Peak District, Derbyshire.
Quick facts for families
What the park is like
The setting and layout of the site and what the hillside means with a pram.
Sandybrook is a small park of 53 lodges set in the grounds of a former 19th-century manor house, on the A515 Buxton road a mile north of Ashbourne. The lodges sit among mature trees, including a historic pinetum of rare conifers such as Giant Sequoia, Californian and Dawn Redwood and English Yew. A bluebell wood lies behind the lodges. It's small, quiet and peaceful in character: countryside rather than entertainment, with no live shows, no bar and no nightlife. For the wider area, see our Peak District guide.
This is the southern, White Peak part of the national park, rolling limestone country of dales, trails and market towns rather than the higher moorland further north. The site is on a hillside, so it isn't flat: some of the paths between lodges have gradients. It's manageable with a pram, but if anyone in the group finds slopes hard going, ask for a lodge near reception when you book. There's an accessible lodge, and the park has worked with AccessAble on a detailed access survey, so ring ahead with any specific mobility needs.
Reception is open 08:30 to 19:45 daily and has a small shop selling milk and confectionery, and it will collect a newspaper if you order one. Each lodge has two parking spaces, and there are two Pod Point electric-car chargers on site, charging at 55p per kWh with a five-hour limit between 8am and 8pm. The park is run by Pinelodge Holidays, a family firm founded in 1993 by Hugh Grayson and now run by the second generation. Its larger sister park, Darwin Forest near Matlock, now trades as Landal Darwin Forest. Sandybrook holds a string of current awards, including a five-star Gold rating from VisitEngland, a Green Key, a David Bellamy Gold award for its grounds and Gold for Best Camping, Glamping and Holiday Park at the 2026 Visit Peak District and Derbyshire tourism awards.
The lodges
Every lodge type and how many it sleeps, what comes as standard and the cots and baby kit to arrange before you arrive.
The lodges run in ranges by size and finish, from a one-bedroom Kedleston for a couple up to four-bedroom lodges that sleep eight. The table below sets out each type by its bedrooms and how many it sleeps. Prices step up with the range and the extras, with the entry-level Tissington and Kedleston lodges at the lower end and the Vista and Willow Exclusive lodges the premium ones. The "From" figures below are the lowest advertised starting price for each lodge type (last checked June 2026); the actual rate for any stay depends on the dates and length of stay.
| Lodge | Sleeps | Hot tub | From | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tissington Classic Vogue 2 | 4 | Optional | £329 | Two bedrooms, a double and a twin; open-plan living and a bath with an overhead shower. Some are dog-friendly. |
| Tissington Classic Vogue 2 Accessible | 4 | No | £329 | Two accessible bedrooms, a wet room and ramp access, designed for an assisted wheelchair user. Dog-friendly. |
| Tissington Classic Vogue 3 | 6 | Optional | £399 | Three bedrooms, the double ensuite plus two twin rooms; a family bathroom with a bath and a washing machine. |
| Tissington Classic Vogue 4 | 8 | Optional | £609 with hot tub | Four bedrooms, two double and two twin, with a washing machine. Room for two families. |
| Kedleston Elite Vogue 1 | 2 | Optional | £319 | One king bedroom, with a spa bath, a separate shower and a sauna in the ensuite. Built for couples rather than families. |
| Kedleston Elite Vogue 2 | 4 | Optional | £349 | Two bedrooms, a double and a twin; full-length windows and a family bathroom. |
| Kedleston Elite Vogue 3 Spa | 6 | Included | £599 | Three bedrooms, the double ensuite plus two twin rooms; a family bathroom and a washing machine. |
| Kedleston Elite Vogue 4 | 8 | No | £499 | Four bedrooms, two double and two twin, with two bathrooms and a washing machine. |
| Vista Exclusive Spa 2 | 4 | Included | £519 | The premium lodge: two ensuite bedrooms, panoramic views from an elevated spot, a freestanding bath, a washing machine and extras like a feature fire, a PlayStation, a wine cooler and a coffee machine. Early check-in from 2pm. |
| Willow Exclusive 3 Spa | 6 | Included | £659 | Three bedrooms, the king ensuite plus two twin rooms; built for dog owners, with a utility area, a dog shower and warm-water supply and stable doors. Dog-friendly, early check-in from 2pm. |
Every lodge is fitted for a comfortable self-catering week: a flatscreen TV with Freeview and Chromecast, a DVD player, a soundbar or CD player, Wi-Fi and a dishwasher. Bed linen and towels are provided, and there's decking with outdoor furniture outside. One thing to check for a longer stay or a baby who goes through a lot of clothes is the washing machine, which only comes in the three and four-bedroom lodges plus the Vista Exclusive; most two-bedroom lodges don't have one, though there's a small on-site laundry. Hot tubs are an optional extra on most ranges and included on the Kedleston Elite 3 Spa, the Vista Exclusive and the Willow Exclusive.
Check-in is from 4pm and check-out is 10am, with the Vista Exclusive and Willow Exclusive Spa lodges offering an earlier 2pm check-in. Cots are hired in advance at £9 for a short break or £12 for a week (last checked June 2026), measure 120cm by 60cm and suit children under two, but you bring your own cot bedding, as it isn't supplied. Not every bedroom can take a cot, and only a couple of lodges can fit two cots in one room, so confirm what your lodge can hold with reception before you travel. Highchairs are hired at the same rate, and reception also lends bed guards (£10 deposit), blackout blinds (£20 deposit) and veranda gates (£10 deposit), plus children's plastic crockery and cutlery and a bathroom step at no extra charge (all last checked June 2026).
Dogs are welcome in designated pet-friendly lodges, up to two per lodge for a charge and not on the furniture. Dog-free lodges are kept aside for allergy sufferers, though assistance dogs are allowed in every lodge, so a completely dog-free environment isn't guaranteed. The Willow Exclusive goes furthest for dog owners, with a utility area, a dog shower with warm water and stable doors built in.
Eating and self-catering
How meals work with no restaurant on site, the food shop and delivery, then the indoor pool and its rules.
There's no restaurant at Sandybrook, so every meal is either cooked in the lodge or eaten out, and that's the single biggest thing to weigh before you book. It's fine for confident self-caterers and a real consideration for families who'd rather hand dinner over, especially with a tired toddler. Every two to four-bedroom lodge has a conventional cooker, a microwave, a fridge-freezer, a dishwasher and a full set of crockery and utensils, so it's properly equipped for family cooking and for preparing baby food and weaning meals.
For supplies, reception sells milk and confectionery, and there are supermarkets in Ashbourne, about 5 to 10 minutes away by car. Most supermarket delivery services will bring a shop to the lodge: reception gives you your lodge number to use at checkout, and for an arrival-day delivery you time the slot for after you're in, between 5pm and 7.45pm. When you want to eat out, the park keeps a list of local pubs and restaurants, all of which get busy, so book a table ahead. Some takeaways deliver to the park too.
One indoor poolThe pool
Sandybrook has one swimming pool, indoors and heated, open daily from 08:45 to 19:30 with last entry at 7pm, and free to all guests. It has a separate, shallower toddler area alongside the main pool, so there's a warm indoor swim with little ones whatever the weather. There's an adjacent spa pool and sauna, but those are for guests aged 16 and over, and in warmer months there's an outdoor sun terrace by the pool. You bring your own towels, as the pool doesn't provide them.
The supervision rules matter with young children. Anyone under 16 must be with a responsible adult at all times; under-12s need an adult in the water with them, up to three children per adult; and children of 12 and over may be watched from the spectator area. The main pool also closes to general swimming during the paid Mini Jet Ski and WaterWalkerz sessions and during the free Splash Hour, and there's no second pool to fall back on, so a swim doesn't always sit exactly when you'd like it. There's no beach here and no water park; it's an inland spot, and the nearest open water is Carsington Water reservoir, about 8 miles (13 km) away.
Babies and toddlers
The toddler playroom and pool area, the kit you can hire and what to expect on childcare.
Sandybrook's family credentials are real but hands-on rather than supervised. The standout for the youngest is the Toddler Play Room, a lodge given over to toddlers and open daily all year, free to use. Inside are ride-on toys, a slide, a den, a play mat, toy cars, books and a toy kitchen, kept deliberately home-like so small children settle, and it's especially welcome on a wet afternoon. Alongside it, the separate, shallower toddler area in the indoor pool gives babies and early walkers somewhere gentle to splash.
For the practical kit, cots and highchairs are hired in advance for a small charge, and reception also lends bed guards, blackout blinds, veranda gates, children's plastic crockery and cutlery and a bathroom step, most on a small refundable deposit. You bring your own cot bedding. The lodge kitchens have everything you need to prepare baby food, so weaning is straightforward. One quirk worth knowing: a baby monitor can interfere with the lodge Wi-Fi, and if it does, reception can give you an access code to fix it.
What's missing is supervised childcare. There's no kids' club, no crèche and no babysitting at any age, so the children are with you throughout. That's how the park is set up rather than an oversight, but if a morning off or an adult dinner is part of what you want from a holiday, this isn't the place for it.
On siteThings to do
Plenty is included, and most of it is free and outdoors. There's a 10-hole mini-golf course open all year from 08:30 to dusk, and a recreation field with space for football, cricket, rounders or frisbee. There's a playground with a climbing frame, slides and basket swings, and a woodland walk that meanders behind the lodges through the bluebell wood and pinetum. For younger children there's Charlie's Challenge, a clue trail with forest games, a bug hotel and a forest door that ends with a certificate, plus orienteering routes and noughts-and-crosses set into the woodland walk, all free from reception. Table tennis works the same way once you've bought a bat. The daily Games Room has two pool tables at £1 a game and air hockey and table football at 50p a game (all last checked June 2026).
A set of instructor-led activities are paid and pre-booked, and these usually run on Wednesdays and Sundays, with the schedule thinning out off-peak and mid-week, so check what's on for your dates. Archery is open to ages 7 and up and the crossbow session to 12 and up, both booked as a private hour-long session for up to 8 people at £60 a session (last checked June 2026). In the pool, Mini Jet Skis take children aged 3 to 7 and WaterWalkerz, the big inflatable balls you climb inside on the water, run in 10-minute sessions at £10 a person (last checked June 2026) for ages 5 and up, up to 14 stone; the pool closes to general swimming during both. Splash Hour is a free hour in the pool with inflatables, noodles and balls, from 10am to 11am on Thursdays and 3pm to 4pm on Sundays, when general bathing pauses.
What Sandybrook doesn't have is worth stating plainly, so you can set expectations: no spa treatments, no tennis courts, no gym, no cycle hire and no tree-top adventure course. It's a simpler offer than its bigger sister park or a Center Parcs. Reception does sell discounted tickets for a good list of local attractions, including Chatsworth House, Haddon Hall, the Heights of Abraham, Matlock Farm Park, the Great British Car Journey, Peak Wildlife Park, Go Ape and the Crich Tramway Museum, so buy those on site rather than at the gate.
The area and days out
The town on the doorstep, the walks and trails close by and the family attractions within a short drive.
Ashbourne is the nearest town, about 5 to 10 minutes away, a working Derbyshire market town with supermarkets, cafés, pubs and independent shops rather than a tourist strip. The Tissington Trail starts a few minutes from the park and is walking distance: an 8-mile surfaced, off-road former railway line that's easy going with buggies, prams and young cyclists, and dogs are allowed. A little further, about 10 minutes by car, Dovedale and its stepping stones are one of the Peak District's most-visited spots, a limestone gorge with a river and the Thorpe Cloud hill; the riverside walk to the stepping stones suits young children, while the climb up Thorpe Cloud is for older ones.
For a bigger day out, Alton Towers is roughly 10 to 12 miles (16 to 19 km) away, about 20 to 25 minutes by car, and its CBeebies Land, the pre-school area with rides built around children's TV favourites, is the strongest local draw for families with babies and toddlers. Bluey the Ride, a junior coaster, is new for 2026. Closer to home, Matlock Farm Park (about 25 minutes) suits toddlers with its animals, play areas and tractor rides, and the Heights of Abraham at Matlock Bath (about 20 minutes) has a cable car over the valley, caverns and an adventure playground. Chatsworth House (about 25 to 30 minutes) has gardens, a farmyard and an adventure playground popular with young families, and the Crich Tramway Museum (about 20 minutes) is a living museum with a period village and heritage trams that works for all ages.
A few more fill out a longer stay: Peak Wildlife Park (about 25 to 30 minutes) is a wildlife and zoo attraction; the Great British Car Journey at Ambergate (about 20 minutes) is an interactive car museum; and Go Ape at Cannock Chase (about 30 minutes) is a tree-top course that takes children from about age 6, with a junior tier from 4 at some sites, so check the minimum age for the day you have in mind. Haddon Hall (about 20 minutes), a medieval manor in the Wye valley, suits older children more than toddlers, and Buxton (20 miles, 32 km), a Victorian spa town with the Opera House, the Crescent and Pavilion Gardens, makes a pleasant day out. Reception's discounted tickets cover several of these.
Loves and gripes
What families consistently rate, what they flag and how the park stacks up against the alternatives.
What families love
- The indoor pool with its toddler area, the facility nearly every family singles out.
- The Toddler Play Room, home-like and a lifesaver on a wet afternoon.
- Modern, clean, well-equipped lodges.
- The peaceful hillside setting, the small scale and the mature trees.
- Being close to Alton Towers and CBeebies Land for families with toddlers.
Common gripes
- No restaurant on site, so every meal is cooked or eaten out.
- No kids' club or babysitting, unlike a Center Parcs.
- The hillside terrain, with path gradients to manage with a pram.
- A thinner instructor-led activity schedule off-peak and mid-week.
- No washing machine in most two-bedroom lodges.
- The main pool closing during paid activity sessions.
The strongest signal on the family side is loyalty: guests come back often, and the park runs a discount for anyone who has booked three or more times in five years. On TripAdvisor it carries 751 reviews, a Certificate of Excellence in 2025 and a Travellers' Choice award in 2026. It also holds a current five-star Gold rating from VisitEngland; Gold for Best Camping, Glamping and Holiday Park at the 2026 Visit Peak District and Derbyshire tourism awards, having won Gold there in 2021 too; and a Bronze at the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence in 2021, so the quality and the repeat custom are well evidenced across several years. The praise is consistent on the pool, the playroom and the lodges; the flags are less complaints than facts to plan around, chiefly the self-catering and the lack of a club.
Against the alternativesHow it compares
Darwin Forest, near Matlock, is Sandybrook's sister park under the same family firm, now trading as Landal Darwin Forest. It's much bigger at 137 lodges, with an on-site restaurant, an indoor soft-play centre called Little Monkeys and a larger pool, and it sits on flatter ground, closer to Chatsworth and the Heights of Abraham. Sandybrook is the smaller, quieter, hillier and cheaper of the two, closer to Alton Towers, but without the restaurant. Our Darwin Forest guide covers it in full.
Center Parcs is the comparison many families reach for, and it's a different scale of thing: roughly ten times the size, with a full indoor water park, the Subtropical Swimming Paradise, several restaurants, a big activity programme and a spa. Sandybrook is a fraction of the cost, smaller, more rural and more of a true Peak District setting, but it doesn't offer the all-weather certainty of a glass-domed pool. Our Center Parcs guide explains how the brand works.
Closer to home, Hoe Grange Holidays is a smaller, farm-based site nearby with no pool but exceptional baby equipment, all provided free, from cots and highchairs to bed rails, baby bouncers and hand blenders, where Sandybrook charges to hire the same categories of kit; Sandybrook wins if the pool is the priority. Our Hoe Grange guide has the detail. Knockerdown Cottages, also near Ashbourne, is similar self-catering with a pool but much smaller at 16 cottages, so Sandybrook is the larger park with more to do on site.
Getting there and when to go
How you reach the park and book it, the shortest stays and the best months for a family.
You reach Sandybrook by car, and it's the practical way to explore the area too. Satnav to DE6 2AQ. From the park it's about 13 miles (21 km) to Matlock, 15 miles (24 km) to Derby and Uttoxeter and 20 miles (32 km) to Buxton. There's no direct train or bus: the nearest stations, Derby, Buxton and Uttoxeter, are all 15 to 20 miles off and need onward transport, and the 442 bus stops a mile and a half from the park, which isn't practical with young children and luggage. If you're flying in, East Midlands airport is the nearest at 35 miles (56 km), about 40 minutes, with car hire at the airport; Birmingham is 55 miles (89 km) and Manchester 42 miles (68 km). The park runs no transfers.
The park itself keeps a family occupied for a few days, but the Peak District is spread out and you'll want to tour it, so plan on having a car. The shortest stays are three nights from Friday to Monday or four nights from Monday to Friday, with 7, 10 and 14-night stays too; there are no single nights, and a two-night break may be available last-minute, by phone only. You book direct through sandybrook.co.uk or through Hoseasons and its accredited channels, which is also where the Blue Light Card discount applies.
The park is open all year, and every core facility, the pool, the toddler playroom, the games room, the mini golf and the playground, runs year-round, so a facilities-led stay works in any season. For days out, late spring and September give the best mix of decent weather and fewer crowds, while July and August are the warmest and the busiest, and Easter and the May half-term are the peak weeks at the local attractions. Early June and September tend to be better value with lower visitor pressure.
When to goWeather, month by month
Sandybrook sits on an elevated inland plateau in the White Peak, so it's cooler and more exposed than a coastal resort, and there's no summer guarantee. July and August are the warmest at around 21°C, but this is inland England, and rain is spread fairly evenly through the year, with even the drier months seeing rain on around ten days. Pack layers and waterproofs whatever the month; the indoor pool and toddler playroom are the wet-weather insurance, and one of the better reasons to pick Sandybrook over a purely outdoor Peak District stay.
| 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.
Questions
The things families ask most, the pages worth a bookmark and when this guide was last refreshed.
Will a cot fit in our lodge?
Some bedrooms can't take one, and only a couple of lodges fit two in a single room, so give reception your lodge and check before you travel. You book the cot ahead for a small charge and bring your own cot bedding, since that isn't supplied.
Is there anywhere to eat on site?
No, there's no restaurant, so plan to cook in the lodge or drive out. Reception sells milk and confectionery, most supermarkets deliver to the lodge and the local pubs and restaurants fill up, so book a table ahead. Ashbourne, about 5 to 10 minutes away, has the nearest choice.
Do we really need a car?
Yes. There's no direct train or bus to the park, and the mile-long walk into Ashbourne runs along a country road that isn't suitable with a pram. You'll want a car for the trails, Dovedale and the days out too, since they're spread across the Peak District.
Can we bring the dog?
Yes, in a designated pet-friendly lodge, up to two dogs, for a charge and not on the furniture. Dog-free lodges are set aside for allergy sufferers, though assistance dogs are allowed everywhere, so no lodge is guaranteed to have never had a dog in it.
What is the shortest stay we can book?
Three nights from Friday to Monday or four nights from Monday to Friday, plus 7, 10 and 14-night stays. There are no single nights, and a two-night break may be available last-minute, by phone only, so ring the park if that's what you're after.
How do we book, and are there any discounts?
Direct through sandybrook.co.uk or through Hoseasons and its accredited channels, which is also where the Blue Light Card discount applies. If you come back often there's a loyalty discount for guests who have booked three or more times in five years.
Can our toddler go in the pool with just us?
Yes. Children under 16 must be with an adult at all times, and under-12s need an adult in the water with them, up to three children per adult, so one parent can take a couple of little ones in together.
Will the baby monitor work in the lodge?
It usually does, but a monitor can interfere with the lodge Wi-Fi. If yours does, reception can give you an access code to sort it out, so it's worth flagging on arrival rather than after a broken first night.
Will the paid activities be running when we visit?
Not always. Archery, the crossbow session and the pool activities are usually on Wednesdays and Sundays in peak season, and the programme thins out off-peak and mid-week, so ring reception with your dates before you count on any one of them.
See more Sandybrook Lodges photos
Open the Sandybrook Lodges photo gallery →Useful links
- Sandybrook Lodges: the park's own site for lodges, the pool and facilities, activities and booking.
- The Peak District with little ones: our guide to the wider area and when to go.
- Darwin Forest: the larger sister park near Matlock, if you want a restaurant and soft play on site.
Last updated 17 July 2026.
