home   tom's barn   douglas's barn   how to book   out & about   where we are   contact us

home   tom's barn   douglas's barn   how to book   out & about   where we are   contact us

Tom's Barn
Availability

Our Blog

2010 Prices  From: £435 to £555pw

See our how to book page for more information, including the discount for all our loyal returning guests

• Sleeps two, in king size bed
• Dog-friendly
• Log burner, unlimited logs
• Wireless Internet Access
• Sony Netbook for your use
• FreeSat TV
• Winter short breaks

Please Note...

• Tom’s Barn is not suitable for children, but babies (not yet crawling!) are very welcome
• It is not suitable for anyone with mobility problems

The pine kitchen is now a (Farrow & Ball) painted kitchen. At the end of February 2009 we replaced the fridge freezer and the washer dryer and in April 2010, the cooker.

We always leave you some fresh flowers, and – during the summer – a jug of herbs from the garden.

You will find a tea tray laid for your arrival, with home-made cake or biscuits.

The light and airy sitting room is open to the rafters, with our Australian son-in-law’s paintings high on the walls and some of John's local photographs.

It has a log-burner with all logs supplied and full central heating.

The bookcase houses local information, maps, games and books.

We also provide a copy of the Radio Times, Derbyshire Life and the local paper so you can see what’s on. We also now provide a little Sony Netbook for your own use, with links to some usful local sites.

The sitting room is equipped with a flat panel tv, dvd player and mini hifi.

The romantic galleried bedroom (with en suite bathroom) has open rafters. Over the luxury Vi-spring bed are two roof lights - with blackout blinds for when you don't want to star or moon gaze.

The bedroom also has a digital radio for your use and remote control TV.

There is a heated towel rail by the bathroom door (controlled by a remote 'zapper') to ensure those fluffy towels are nice and warm for you.

The en suite bathroom has also had another face lift and is now also painted in Farrow and Ball Slipper Satin and Old White.

We wouldn't dream of changing the tumbled marble tiles and the wonderful two-seater whirlpool bath we all love so much.

The special bath is up two steps and deeper and cosier than most.

There are candles and thanks to a prompt from The Observer we now even provide two plastic champagne glasses for when some romantic celebrating is called for!

Outside the front door of the barn there is a table and a couple of chairs.

It is an ideal spot for enjoying a quiet drink in the evening sun after a long walk - possibly with your dog - in the surrounding Peak countryside.

There is also a cottage garden area, with a living willow hedge - not it must be said dog secure. This used to be a grain store so the surface is somewhat rustic. There is a brand new Pepe table and two chairs, plus a Weber charcoal barbecue for your own use.

Tom's Barn has designated off road parking for your car.

These floor plans give a rough idea of the layout of Tom's Barn.

Mentions in the Press

Most recently Tom's Barn was recommended quite unbeknownst to us in the Reader's Tip Section of the BBC Countryfile Magazine Dec 2009 edition.

There was a small but complimentary mention in July 2009 in the Daily Mail Travel section.

Tom's Barn was highlighted as one of 'The UK's Best Cottages for Lovers' in the Sunday Telegraph Travel Section on March 30th 2008.

We hasten to reassure our guests that lovers are welcome at all stages of their relationship from the starry eyed to the gracefully matured!

Why Tom?

The previous owner of Orchard Farm was Tom, a well liked village character, but probably not the best farmer in the world and certainly a complete stranger to soap, hammer, paintbrush or any thought or experience of home improvements. After years of neglect the house and barns were in an unbelievably awful state.

It took us months just simply getting the house and outbuildings reasonably habitable, before we were able to start on the rather more exciting and certainly very rewarding transformation process. Needless to say this is ongoing.

Meanwhile, it was at least twenty years before people stopped referring to Orchard Farm as ‘Tom’s place’, hence Tom’s Barn. We now have a grandson, Tom, who at five - and living in Sydney NSW - assumes his role to be that of absentee landlord.

When he can read and write fluently we may look forward to some comments (we won't yet accept any instructions!) on our Blog.

Meanwhile, he seems quite happy at present with the way we are running things for him.

Romantic retreat for two in the Peak Park - relax supremely inside or enjoy the sunshine and walks outside

Tom's Barn is bright, warm, welcoming and spotlessly clean. Yet before we converted it in 1999, it was the most decrepit and cobweb festooned old barn you could imagine, smelling of ancient cows (and probably worse). We have photographs in the barn of the transformation which even we find hard to imagine, now that we have such a bright, warm, dry, cosy place.

We have a rolling programme of redecoration and renewals to keep Tom’s Barn fresh as new. Janet, our ‘right hand’ whom many of you know, terrorises any spiders who dare now to set foot, and keeps the place sparkling… We have recently had the outside woodwork repainted, in our favourite eco-friendly Valti paint.

What is more, our two holiday cottages are owner-run: we - the owners - are on the spot to welcome you, answer any questions and iron out any problems if they should happen to occur. We promise we don't intrude!

home   tom's barn   douglas's barn   how to book   out & about   where we are   contact us

home   tom's barn   douglas's barn   how to book   out & about   where we are   contact us