Hotel in Ashbourne, United Kingdom

The Duncombe Arms

Name: The Duncombe Arms
Address: The Duncombe Arms Main, Ashbourne, UK, Ashbourne, GB
Telephone: 01335324275

150pts

Rate on Pearl Save

Mr & Mrs Smith Michelin

Call

About The Duncombe Arms

The Duncombe Arms describes itself — factually, but with characteristic British understatement — as “a pub with rooms,” a phrase that risks underselling the quality of the hospitality on offer. The rooms are ten in number, for one thing, plus a freestanding cottage and a converted barn for larger parties or longer stays. And while the pub itself is recognizably an example of the venerable public-house tradition, the quality of its food and drink defies expectation. Stylistically the Walnut House, where the ten rooms are located, is one part rustic and one part refined, landing squarely in luxury boutique hotel territory, though with more variety in size and layout than you’d expect from a ten-room hotel. The Garden Cottage is within walking distance, while the Old Barn is a few minutes’ drive away; once part of the Calwich Estate, it sits on the same grounds where Handel, Rousseau, and Erasmus Darwin were guests in earlier centuries. And the Duncombe Arms pub is quite naturally the heart of the whole operation, serving modern British cuisine ranging from pub classics to artful experiments, with all ingredients sourced from local Staffordshire farmers and purveyors.