Green light for 71-bedroom hotel in the Peak District

A development opportunity to build the largest hotel in the heart of the Peak District National Park has arisen after the go-ahead was given for the 71-bedroom property.

The mill-style hotel will be built in local stone on the edge of the village of Stoney Middleton, Derbyshire. It will be the first time since the creation of the national park in 1951 that a new hotel will be built in the park, where the accommodation is dominated by small hotels with less than 24 bedrooms and pubs with rooms.

Brothers David and Colin Hall, who own the Rock Mill Business Park where the development will take place, have spent 12 years seeking permission for the hotel from the Peak District National Park.

They intend to operate the new visitor and heritage centre, which will sit alongside the hotel site, which they want to sell or lease as a development opportunity.

Property consultancy Sanderson Weatherall is marketing the site. Ian Naylor, partner at Sanderson Weatherall, said: "This is a rare and fantastic opportunity to acquire what it set to be the largest hotel in the National Park.

"The development will benefit year-round from the huge footfall from both national and international visitors to the area, as well as from corporate and other market sectors, and with little competition."

The hotel will feature a 150-seat casual dining restaurant with a wood fire oven, bar and meeting room.

It will be located less than 10 minutes from Chatsworth House and the town of Bakewell. The Peak District National Park attracts more than 10 million visitors a year.

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