Five dog-friendly places to eat around Chatsworth

The dog is allowed into the garden at Chatsworth. The house, with its paintings and porcelain and objects that have survived rather more than a dropped lead, is another matter. We keep to the park, where the lead stays on because these handsome acres are also grazing land, and begin considering lunch. There is a particular pleasure in looking at a landscape and then eating something raised in it. Around Chatsworth, that connection can be quite literal: estate lamb in a village inn, venison on an autumn menu, gin made with botanicals from the greenhouses. The difficulty is establishing which of the handsome dining rooms will admit the member of our party currently investigating the grass.

These five stops answer different versions of that question. Beeley gives us an estate kitchen and a pub table; Rowsley adds a more formal old-house setting, provided we book the right table for the dog. In Baslow, the Cavendish terrace suits a leisurely drink and something small to eat, while the Wheatsheaf provides an indoor bar and a substantial pub meal. Back at Chatsworth itself, the Carriage House makes staying together through lunch considerably easier. Menus follow the season, and a dog-friendly hotel does not necessarily open every restaurant to visiting dogs. Our choice of table comes before our choice of pudding.

1. The Beeley Inn

Devonshire Square, Beeley, Matlock, DE4 2NZ.

We arrive in Beeley with the dog's lead in one hand and the sort of appetite that makes a village pub seem an unusually sensible piece of planning. The inn stands at the southern edge of Chatsworth Park, with Beeley Moor behind the village and the brook running through it. It is still the Devonshire Arms in many people's memory, although the name is now the Beeley Inn. Three cottages became an inn here in the eighteenth century; of the three inns once serving the village, this is the survivor. We put our bag down beside the dog and settle into the older part of the building, where beams, flagstones and a stone fireplace give the place an intimacy that the big house, for all its accomplishments, cannot quite offer a hungry walker.

That table is worth arranging in advance. Dogs are welcome outside and in selected indoor areas, with a maximum of two per table; tell the inn when booking, because its supply of suitable tables is finite. The brighter brasserie overlooks Beeley Brook; the terrace sits beside the kitchen garden. We have reserved indoors. The dog finds a place against our feet while we turn to the September menu. Its most persuasive feature is the repeated appearance of Chatsworth's own animals. A view of the estate is agreeable. An inn that helps put its farming to use gives us something more substantial to consider.

The farm lamb, £32, is our main course: saddle and pressed belly, with fondant potato, chard, pickled shallot and jus. Putting those two cuts together is a more interesting decision than simply naming the farm. The saddle supplies the leaner meat; belly brings fat and the opportunity for slower cooking. A menu built entirely around prized lean cuts would tell only part of the animal's story. Here the shallot provides an acidic counterweight to the richer cut and the potato, and there is enough going on to justify keeping the starter modest. We divide a Scotch egg with piccalilli, £8.50, rather than beginning with another full meat course. We put our feet to one side to give the dog more room.

The £30 venison offers another autumn choice, with pickled blackberry, parsnip purée and pommes Anna, the thinly layered potato preparation. Pickling gives the fruit a sharper role beside game than a sweet berry sauce. We are also pleased to find a celeriac main at £21, its wild mushrooms and black garlic promising a proper savoury meal. Brown butter adds richness, although it makes this an unsuitable order for someone avoiding dairy without discussing an alternative.

Ale accompanies our lamb; the inn gives local beer a place alongside its wine and extensive gin selection. A pint suits a meal whose centre of attention is the estate's meat. The dessert list is similarly recognisable: treacle tart with whisky custard, sticky toffee pudding with caramel ice cream, fruit crumble. After lamb belly and fondant potato, we share the treacle tart rather than add another whole course apiece. One plate between us proves sufficient after the lamb.

Beeley is our strongest all-round choice for a proper lunch after walking from Chatsworth: recognisable inn comforts, an unusually direct connection to the surrounding farmland and an indoor place for the dog. It is not a cheap refuelling stop, and the lamb costs appreciably more than the pie, listed at £21.95. The extra spend makes sense for someone interested in how the estate's meat is used. Monday to Saturday, plan around lunch from noon to 3pm or dinner from 5.30pm; Sunday service runs from noon to 8pm. We gather the lead for the walk back with no need to hurry towards a missed house tour. The two-mile riverside approach has supplied quite enough entertainment for the dog, and a useful justification for ours.

2. The Peacock at Rowsley

Bakewell Road, Rowsley, Matlock, DE4 2EB.

At the Peacock, we take a moment outside before going in. The mullioned windows and seventeenth-century stonework suggest a house that has acquired a hotel around it, which is roughly what happened: it was built in 1652 for John Stevenson, steward to nearby Haddon Hall, and became a hotel in 1832. Haddon matters here. We are close to Chatsworth, but this building's history belongs to the neighbouring estate and the Manners family. With the dog beside us, we head for the bar and the table arranged when booking. It is an important piece of preparation in a hotel whose most formal dining room remains out of bounds to pets.

Dogs are admitted to the bar, garden and designated dining areas, on leads. Lunch gives us a substantial choice, and the bar lets us enjoy the old house without turning the meal into an exercise in separation. There is a small step at the main entrance; anyone needing an alternative route should ask about access through the garden doors. Once settled, we draw the lead clear of the passage between tables and open a menu that ranges well beyond the sandwiches one might expect to eat in a hotel bar.

The £22 tagliatelle catches our attention because of its Dovedale blue. Dovedale is the Peak District's soft blue cheese, dipped in brine rather than dry salted. It has a softer character than the crumbly blue cheeses that often dominate a cheeseboard. With wild mushrooms and spinach, it gives the pasta a regional identity without requiring another plate of meat. We order it alongside the £26 salt cod with tomato, chorizo and white beans. Salting fish began as a means of keeping it; using it with beans and cured pork makes culinary sense long after refrigeration has removed the original necessity. The menu calls the dish a cassoulet. With cod and chorizo involved, it is plainly following its own route through that southern French idea.

A smoked-haddock fishcake, £12, starts our meal, with pickled fennel, watercress velouté and capers. It is the sort of starter that shows how far this lunch intends to move beyond pub familiarity: the basic fishcake remains legible, but the accompaniments supply acidity and greener flavours. The kitchen smokes its own salmon, prepares whole deer and works with live crabs. There is craft behind the elaborate menu. Those preparations make us more inclined to spend on a cooked lunch than a sandwich. We stop at two courses and move our glasses into the space the plates have occupied.

For the salt cod, we choose a glass of Picpoul de Pinet, £9.75 for 175ml, keeping the wine brisk rather than adding more weight to the meal. The drinks list contains another useful piece of Derbyshire beyond its local gins: Wire Works whisky from White Peak Distillery in Ambergate. Its Caduro expression takes its name from cable once made at the former wireworks, and combines spirit matured in ex-bourbon barrels with that from reconditioned wine casks. The region's old industrial buildings are contributing to the drinks cabinet as well as the scenery. A three-part whisky tasting is listed at £18.95. We stay with one glass of wine each, since there is still walking to do, but the option gives a non-driving whisky enthusiast a reason to linger with a settled dog.

The Peacock suits a longer lunch and an interest in cooking. It also requires a realistic budget: even the burger is £26, and a discretionary 12.5 per cent service charge is added. Choosing the pasta does more than reduce the bill; it is one of the clearest ways to taste something particular to this part of Derbyshire. Lunch normally runs from noon to 3pm, extending to 5pm at weekends. We collect our coats while the dog negotiates the space beneath the table in reverse. Book the permitted dining area, allow time for the meal, and the Peacock offers considerably more pleasure than simply finding somewhere a dog is allowed to wait while its owners eat.

3. The terrace at the Cavendish Hotel

Church Lane, Baslow, Bakewell, DE45 1SP.

Our coats stay on at the Cavendish. The terrace looks over Chatsworth's landscape, and on a clear afternoon it is an excellent place to sit with a dog, a drink and fewer plans than we had that morning. It is also outside. This simple fact needs stating because photographs of the hotel's interiors can lead a visiting dog owner to imagine a rather different afternoon. Resident dogs have access to the Garden Room and terrace; for those of us calling in without a room, the terrace is the advertised welcome. We book by telephone, bring something for the dog to lie on and choose a day when sitting still is likely to remain pleasant.

The Cavendish has become a much more interesting hotel since its refurbishment under designer Nicola Harding and Laura Burlington, who is part of the family at Chatsworth. Much of that pleasure lies inside, among the art and furnishings. Here, we pay attention to the openness of the view and to the freedom of having the dog beside our chair. The Garden Room takes its inspiration from Chatsworth's glasshouses, a fitting neighbour for a terrace where the landscape supplies most of the decoration. The terrace's current autumn offer is the lounge menu. Think of this visit as a small meal or afternoon pause; book Beeley or Rowsley for a substantial indoor lunch.

The sausage roll and pickles, £9, come first, with finger sandwiches, £8.99: coronation chicken, smoked salmon with lemon cream, ham and mustard, cucumber and herb cream cheese. Their variety suits an afternoon when neither of us wants another complete meal. We divide them while the dog settles beside the chair, choosing the sharper mustard after the richer chicken. Someone extending a drink into lunch can add the Courtyard Dairy cheeseboard, £13.99.

The gin list contains a better introduction to Chatsworth's horticultural eccentricities than many a souvenir. We choose the estate's London dry gin with tonic. Its botanicals include lemons, lemon verbena and, unusually, Cavendish banana leaf. Leaf is the important word: this is a juniper-led gin with citrus and herbs, not an alcoholic banana pudding. Peak Ales developed it with the estate, using plants from the grounds and greenhouses; the banana connection reaches back to Joseph Paxton, Chatsworth's celebrated nineteenth-century head gardener. There is a real piece of the garden in the drink. At £7.05 for 25ml before the mixer, it is a considered order, and a more particular one than the familiar international brands also listed.

For tea, we choose the house Assam with the £9 cream tea: a plain scone, a fruit scone, clotted cream, strawberry jam and tea or coffee. It is worth considering the complete order, since tea alone is £5. We split the plain scone first, keeping the plate between us and clear of the dog. The fruit one needs less jam. There is ample ceremony in this small arrangement without committing to a full afternoon tea.

The lounge menu runs from 10am to 5pm, with a discretionary 10 per cent service charge. Some terrace space is kept for walk-ins, but reserving is sensible when bringing a dog. Our recommendation is conditional on the weather and on wanting this relatively modest style of meal. Those are substantial conditions in Derbyshire, where a view can remain lovely long after one's hands have ceased to appreciate it. We finish while sitting outside is still a pleasure. For this gentler sort of afternoon, the terrace earns its place.

4. The Wheatsheaf, Baslow

Netherends, Baslow, Bakewell, DE45 1SR.

We turn into the Wheatsheaf with a dog who has already walked far enough to take little interest in our choice of pub. The eighteenth-century coaching house stands close to Chatsworth Park, and its scale calls to mind the people, horses and luggage such buildings were expected to absorb. Today the requirements are less elaborate: somewhere indoors, a proper meal and enough room beneath the table for a dog to lie down. We head for the bar, the indoor area where pets are welcome. The beer garden is another option, with a children's play area making it useful for families in good weather, but we are content to put the bag on the floor and stay inside.

The menu belongs to Marston's, with burgers, steaks and pies intended to satisfy a mixed party. We settle on lunch without needing everyone to share the same enthusiasm for game or blue cheese. The dog has one preference, which is that the chairs stop moving. We arrange ours to leave a clear space at the edge of the table, then turn our attention to a pie whose name is considerably more conspicuous than the others.

The current Hawkstone IPA and beef pie is a collaboration between Marston's and the brewery associated with Jeremy Clarkson. It is our choice for lunch. Its construction is more useful to know than the celebrity connection: diced beef and beef cheek, Cheddar and shortcrust, with mash, vegetables and red-wine gravy. Cheek is a hardworking cut that benefits from slow cooking; combining it with diced beef gives a pie more potential interest than treating meat as anonymous filling. The Cheddar makes it a rich order before the gravy arrives. We keep the rest of lunch simple and resist adding a starter merely because we have been walking. This particular pie is a limited-time dish, so check the menu if it is the reason for your visit.

A bottle of the same Hawkstone IPA accompanies our pie, matching the beer in the filling. Cask drinkers should look at the handpumps: CAMRA lists Marston's Pedigree among the regular offerings, alongside changing beers. With the dog tucked beside our feet, the pleasure here is in the ordinary pub arrangement: a beer, a pie and no pressure to treat lunch as an occasion. The food tells us less about the immediate estate than Beeley's lamb or the Peacock's Dovedale cheese. This is the stop for a party that wants everyone to find something familiar and sit down together.

Food service continues until 8pm from Sunday to Thursday and until 9pm on Friday and Saturday. That flexibility matters after a walk, especially when other kitchens have closed between lunch and dinner. We specify the bar when booking with the dog, since permission in one part of a pub should never be taken to cover every table. We finish lunch with the afternoon still available to us. For a group travelling with children and a dog, these long food hours and the indoor bar are persuasive reasons to choose the Wheatsheaf; a meal centred on local produce is better sought at Beeley.

5. The Carriage House Café

The Stables Courtyard, Chatsworth, Bakewell, DE45 1PP.

We walk into the Stables Courtyard with the dog and look up. Four ranges of sandstone surround the square, and above the great entrance are a coat of arms and a clock turret. James Paine designed this block for the fourth Duke of Devonshire in the eighteenth century. These were quarters for horses and the people who looked after them, built with enough architectural confidence to make arriving for a bowl of soup feel faintly underprepared. We cross to the Carriage House, where the arrangement becomes reassuringly ordinary: choose food at the counter and take it to a table. There is a designated indoor seating area for dogs, so lunch need not involve dividing the party between a café and the courtyard.

A suitable table is our first priority. One of us stays with the dog while the other makes the trip to the counter, an arrangement that saves negotiating a lead, a tray and other people's lunches simultaneously. There are no reservations, and the café's position beside Chatsworth's main attractions makes timing important. For a dog easily unsettled by people passing close by, the beginning of hot-food service is a more sensible bet than the middle of lunch. Water is available at the dog's drinking station near the café exit in the courtyard; we make that stop before settling down to our own meal.

The counter's range is designed for the varied appetites of a day out: seasonal soups and pies, salads, sandwiches and cakes made by Chatsworth's chefs and bakers. We take the day's pie and bring coffee back with the food, having made our choice at the counter. Someone wanting a smaller meal can assemble soup and a sandwich; someone who has already eaten can stop at a slice of cake and locally roasted coffee. We eat with the dog beside us and the next stretch of walking still in mind. The pleasure is in being able to make a complete day here together without turning every meal into another journey.

This is self-service dining at a major visitor attraction. It cannot offer the unhurried table service or the intricate menu of a country-house restaurant, and it is a poor choice for a private, lingering celebration. Its advantage is much more specific: shelter, hot food and a dog-friendly table within the Chatsworth visit itself. No house or garden admission ticket is needed to reach the café in the stables. Driving here solely for a quick coffee, however, deserves a little arithmetic. Standard parking is £7.50 or £10 according to season, making the stop much better value as part of a longer visit. Christmas parking operates under separate pre-booking arrangements.

Hot food is normally served from 11.30am to 3pm, within the café's usual 10am–4pm opening; seasonal hours and events can alter that. We have lunch before the hot counter closes, then take the dog back into the park on the lead. The inns deserve a separate journey when the meal is the purpose of the outing. Today we want more time in the park, and having a hot lunch here lets us get on with it.