High Tor Hotel

We stayed while attending the illumimations in Matlock Bath and really enjoyed it. The rooms were small but well equipped, and the hotel was nicely decorated. We’ll definitely return.

The room itself was clean and fairly comfortable, but basic things were missing. The bathroom door stuck each time we opened it, so we stubbed our toes several times. There was no spare toilet roll, nowhere to put things, and a noise came from the bathroom about every 30 minutes overnight. On Friday evening there was nobody at reception, and the internal doors were locked. A note told us to phone for someone to come down; about 10 minutes later a young man arrived. He couldn’t find our booking because he searched by first name instead of surname, and the room had been booked under my husband’s name even though I’d booked and paid. He gave us no information. When we asked about breakfast, he pointed to a notice with the times but didn’t mention that we needed to book a slot, so we thought we could just turn up. He knew nothing about the restaurant either. The restaurant and bar were behind a door that stayed locked all evening, and there was no information about opening times, so we ate elsewhere. On Saturday at about 9am the breakfast room was locked and no staff were around, so we went elsewhere again. We skipped breakfast when we checked out around 7:30 Sunday morning. We’d been told there would be a box at reception for the keys, but it wasn’t there, so we left them on the desk. The hotel was very clean, but felt very unwelcoming. They took our money without providing much of a service. We won’t stay again.

We came back to The High Tor for my birthday after staying there in 2019, when we couldn’t fault it. Sadly it has changed ownership since then and has fallen into a rundown state. The windows are falling apart, there are cobwebs everywhere, and the foliage in the grounds looks very unkempt. What a shame. On 4 October 2025 we waited nearly an hour to check in because no staff were on site. The bar was meant to stay open until 9pm, but at 8:40pm it was locked and the staff had gone home when I went to buy a bottle of wine. Breakfast the next morning took nearly an hour, and there was no coffee because the machine didn’t work and the woman there didn’t know how to fix it. The few staff we saw provided very poor service. Avoid at all cost.

The location was amazing, the rooms beautiful and the staff lovely. We’ve just come back from two nights, and breakfast was wonderful. Thanks to everyone for making our stay special 😊👍😘