Chesterfield
Simon Walton, Contributing Editor
CASA CONFIDENTIAL: The Chesterfield choice that’s ringing the right dinner bells.
Simon Walton, Group Travel Today’s globe-trotting gourmand, takes a leisurely detour from the dining table to discover a Derbyshire gem where crooked spires, roundhouses, and perfectly round onion rings all compete for attention.
If you’ve never lunched with a wizard’s confidante, a Cantonese chef to the stars, and a man who has spent more time in a hotel than Basil Fawlty, then you clearly haven’t had the pleasure of lunchtime with Simon Walton, the hungry hippo of Group Travel Today on his recent accompanied visit to Chesterfield’s Casa Hotel.
CHESTERFIELD: WENT FOR LUNCH, STAYED A WHILE
Tucked neatly between the manageable bustle of Chesterfield and the frenzy of Sheffield and Derby, Casa is the kind of hotel where business suits rub shoulders with weekenders, and onion rings threaten to engulf small planets. It may be on the edge of the Peak District, but it’s also very much on the edge of marvellous.
Our welcome came courtesy of Mark Thurman, the hotel’s operations manager and (I suspect) former assistant bell boy, given his encyclopaedic knowledge of the place. With 15 years’ service under his hotelier’s belt, he is clearly now part of the furniture — possibly the very plush kind found in the business lounge, where laptops battle it out with lattes and Zoom calls for relaxed dominion.
Before we delve into the dining delights of what was meant to be the sum total of our visit, let's have an aperitif look at the menu that Chesterfield has to offer.
Just a couple of hours from London, on East Midland Railways’ smart new Aurora trains, we all know for what this Derbyshire town owes its notoriety.
A TWISTED TALE
Chesterfield, at first glance, is all about the spire — that famous corkscrew atop St Mary and All Saints’ Church, which seems to lean with the breezy confidence of someone who’s just heard a very good pub story. The town wears its crooked crown proudly, a 14th-century reminder that perfection is overrated.
Today, Chesterfield is far more than its tilt. It’s a town that’s mastered the balance between market-town charm and modern swagger. There are new business parks, independent cafés, and a growing arts scene, but the Market Hall still rings with the sound of stallholders shouting “two for a fiver!” in tones that could wake the dead — or at least the hungover.
IT BRINGS VISITORS LIKE US
For most, the crooked spire is reason enough. It’s the largest church in Derbyshire and is still in regular use. If you’ve got a head for heights (and the clergy are feeling generous), a tower tour offers a fine view over town.
Then there’s the market — one of England’s oldest open-air bazaars, dating back to the 12th century. Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays are for the serious traders, Thursdays are for flea markets and the art of “lightly used”. You’ll find everything from old books to fresh produce, with the odd artisan gin sneaking in to remind you it’s going on 2026, not coming off 1726.
Stroll down the hill and you’re outside the railway station, facing a familiar face in bronze. George Stephenson, the “Father of Railways”, spent his later years in Chesterfield, and you can’t help but feel he’d approve of how the town has kept its engineering spirit alive. After all, this was once a vital stop on the old Great Central Railway — the last main line built from the north to London before the motor age took over.
A few minutes’ drive from the station brings you to Barrow Hill Roundhouse, Britain’s only operational railway roundhouse and an absolute treat for anyone who loves a bit of steam (and diesel, and electricity) with their sandwiches. There’s talk of reopening the “Barrow Hill Line” to passengers, all the way from Chesterfield to Sheffield and perhaps even on to Stocksbridge and the eminently visitable Fox Valley Retail Park. Whether it’s a fully-fledged railway or an extension of Sheffield’s Supertram, it’ll make this historic depot even easier to reach. Yes, there’s a café there too, so you can forget the sannies.
PRIME STEAK MEETS A SKYLINE TO SAVOUR
Meanwhile, Mark Thurman and the gang are getting impatient to serve at Casa.
After being ushered into Bar Barca — the Casa’s stylish all-day dining venue — we three prepared ourselves for a leisurely lunch. I was joined by Heather, a director of West Coast Railway Company, providers of The Jacobite tourist train, better known as Hogwarts Express, making her a personal friend of Harry Potter. Our other diner was a genuine wizard at the wok. Shan, a Sheffield-based culinary powerhouse whose Wok This Way Cantonese open kitchen is so popular it has lured foodies from as far afield as, well, Chesterfield. She’s returning the compliment.
IF NOT AT THE TABLE, WHERE WOULD WE BE LURED?
The answer, it turns out, lies in Chesterfield’s surroundings. It’s a landscape steeped in story and blessed with a healthy appetite for fresh air. It’s also, incidentally, the landscape that provides the livestock for the kitchens at Casa, and much of the produce as well. Very much a Casa’s case of getting back to our roots.
First stop, Hardwick Hall. Bess of Hardwick’s architectural brag from the 1590s, is a glittering showcase of Elizabethan opulence and window tax defiance. It’s a National Trust must-see, complete with manicured gardens and sweeping parkland.
Somewhat more contemporary, with its Elizabethan jewels sprinkled amid the later additions, is Dronfield. One stop on the line northwards (ten minutes, give or take). Dronfield, a smaller but equally charming market town, once a hotbed of early industry and now a pleasant pause between Chesterfield and Sheffield, is ideal for lunch (once you’ve digested the previous one).
Closer to home, Queen’s Park offers a quintessential Victorian afternoon of boating lakes, bandstands and cricket whites. And if you’re still walking off Casa’s onion rings, the Chesterfield Canal, affectionately dubbed The Cuckoo Dyke, provides a flat and scenic path through Derbyshire countryside.
OF OLIVES AND ONIONS
Every good exploration begins with good provisioning.
Things began innocently enough, with olives and sourdough. By “enough”, I mean enough to provision a Mediterranean regiment. The skewers masquerading as butter knives added a layer of theatre (and tomato-slicked embarrassment) to the act of carb consumption. A side of onion rings also landed, generously sized and strongly resembling the kind of doughnuts you’d win at a fairground, were the prize deep-fried and seasoned.
A TOWN THAT SHOWS ITS AGE WELL
After lunch, Chesterfield’s compact town centre beckoned — all cobbles, crooked streets and timbered façades. Around Low Pavement, the Market Hall and the Shambles, there’s a fine mix of medieval layout and 18th-century brickwork. You can almost hear the ghosts of drapers and smiths bartering beneath the eaves. Today, their stalls have been replaced by cappuccinos and cake, and some of the most generously filled rolls for which your heart will ever go into cardiac arrest.
PIZZA, STEAK, AND A BURGER WITH ANCESTRAL RESONANCE
Talking of heart-stopping dining, back at Casa’s airy ground floor restaurant, Heather opted for a margherita pizza roughly the size of a UFO, albeit a tastier one — perfect in balance of floppy and firm (the pizza, not Heather). Shan, being of discerning steak heritage, ordered the dry-aged house steak, served medium rare and finished with precision worthy of the Josper Grill and “Dry Ager” high-tech cabinet combo that Casa proudly boasts. It’s so space age, it auditioned for a part in Star Trek. This isn’t just steak, it’s storytelling — reared on their Walton Lodge Farm Estate just down the road. Walton Lodge? Shan was probably eating my relatives’ pets - albeit the family’s most pampered Belted Galloways in all of three counties.
As for me, I could hardly ignore a burger that bore my own name. The Walton Farm Burger arrived with the quiet confidence of a kitchen that knows exactly where its beef has been — and more to the point, what it's been fed. It was juicy, perfectly charred, and unequivocally local. Also: big.
WHEN THE APPETITE FOR EXPLORATION RETURNS
If you’re still mobile after lunch, just a mile due west is Holmebrook Valley Park. Acres of meadow, lakes and woodland — ideal for walking, running or simply reflecting on how much you’ve eaten. Or, for a different kind of green, join the faithful at the Technique Stadium for a Chesterfield FC match. The “Spireites” have one of the liveliest followings in non-league football, and the pies aren’t bad either.
Further out, The Avenue Country Park shows off Chesterfield’s greener future — once industrial land, now wetlands and wildlife. It’s the perfect place to justify dessert.
SUITE SUCCESS AND GRAZING GLORY
Between courses and coffees, we took a stroll through Casa’s impressive upper floors, a journey that combined business and pleasure with surprisingly panoramic views. From the top floor’s airy lounge, complete with self-service coffee, snacks, and a “grazing area” (which we examined with eager indulgence), we spotted the crooked spire of Chesterfield, and claimed visibility across not one, not two, but three counties: Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire. You could probably see Narnia if you squinted. Heather claimed the puff of steam on the horizon was her morning departure from Fort William.
With a dozen meeting rooms, countless reconfigurable layouts, and a business centre that exudes quiet professionalism, Casa clearly caters to the productive as much as the peckish. Parking is plentiful, the Wi-Fi is strong, and the coffee is sufficiently frothy to support even the most delicate of corporate conversations. You’ll of course be staying here.
CASA COMFORTS WITH CULINARY JOY
Casa Hotel isn’t trying to be a London grande dame or a Highland retreat. It’s confidently Chesterfield, reassuringly independent, and genuinely excellent. Whether you’re Zooming in with your business Teams, hosting a retreat, chasing down a well-marbled steak, or lunching with culinary conjurors and Hogwarts alumni, Casa has a seat at the table for you. When you do stop by, order the onion rings. Just make sure you’ve cleared some table space first. Four-star hotel rating, five stars from us.
GETTING THERE AND STAYING THERE
Chesterfield is well connected by rail and road, sitting neatly off the M1 and on the main line between London St Pancras and Sheffield — less than two hours from the capital on East Midlands Railway’s new Aurora trains. From the north, connections from Manchester and Leeds are simple. No airport lies within shouting distance, though East Midlands Airport is an easy drive.
The town is famously inland — that’s why they built the canal — but reaching it by barge might take more than a lunch break.
Casa Hotel (www.casahotels.co.uk) offers contemporary four-star accommodation, fine dining at Bar Barca, and those unmissable Walton Lodge Farm steaks. Rooms (starting from around £120) are bright, airy, and fitted for both business and leisure.
Chesterfield may not have a seafront, but at Casa, it certainly has style.
