The Palace Hotel in Buxton, Derbyshire, is an amazing hotel. It is an RAC 4* accredited hotel and my partner and I went on a 2 night leisure break there for Easter. We chose this particular hotel because it has a swimming pool, sauna, steam room, gym and beauty salon. In short, we decided to pamper ourselves.

The Palace Hotel is one of a group of Hotels run by the Paramount Group. They are all 4* hotels and most of them have leisure facilities. They offer 2 and 3 night leisure breaks from £50 per person, per night. This tariff is for 2 people sharing and includes a 3 course dinner and full English breakfast.

The thing that did it for me was the hotel itself. We arrived at 6pm, checked into our room and went straight off to the swimming pool. The 14 metre, mosaic tiled, indoor swimming pool is beautiful. The water is colder than you would imagine (the idea is that you get all hot and sweaty in the steam room or sauna and then dive in the cold water to cleanse and tone the skin. Of course, these days you are required to take a shower between the two). The pool itself is within the leisure suite. You enter and are greeted by a receptionist. You are given towels and asked what you would like to use. You can choose to either be largely left to your own devices or to be shown around - it's up to you really. For two people who swim regularly in the local council pool, this was a really nice experience. It was all so clean and the changing rooms were large and pretty. It was the little things that counted for me.

The menu offered us plenty of choice. There were 10 starters to choose from and 12 main courses. A couple of dishes were offered at a supplement. For example, we could have chosen any of 9 dishes as part of the weekend break, or any of 3 for an extra supplement of between £3 and £6. We stuck to the basic menu and the food was wonderful. 3 courses later and we were both too full to do anything other than go to bed and watch TV. Breakfast the following morning was buffet style but there was a lot of food and it was all very fresh and hot. Again, the food was excellent. I have to say that over the course of our 4 meals, the service we received was not excellent. It wasn’t bad, really, but not excellent. Service was slow on the first night and we were horribly rushed on the second. They forgot to bring our drinks during one dinner and then our coffee during the next days breakfast. We were apologised to on all occasions and everyone was very polite. One more mishap, though, and I would have been complaining bitterly.

There were lots of children around, as it was Easter, and children stay free. There is a children’s menu available and all you pay for are meals. I wouldn’t really recommend it for kids as there isn’t anything for them to do in the hotel and I saw a lot of stressed parents trying to get their young to behave ‘properly’ during a 3 course, silver-service meal. It’s a bit boring for kids.