Two-Times-Ten (plus one) Top Tips

How to enjoy a carbon-free, stress-free holiday in our two holiday cottages with everything you need to hand.

All in all, the outlook is pretty good – the list is growing all the time – there are 20+ top tips and no doubt more will spring to mind as we set our sights greenward.

You pretty well have to arrive here by car. The nearest mainline train station is 20 miles away; we have had guests travel by train and book a taxi for the final leg. You can technically do the Derby/Ashbourne/Parwich journey by bus, but – John did it once and it took him a very very very long time.

However, once here you all is well. You can live very happily here, in the Derbyshire Peak District, without getting into your car at all, all week.

1. You will find in each barn all the basic necessities – coffee, tea, dishwasher tablets, loo paper etc; we also always leave you a loaf of fresh bread, 6 new laid eggs, a pint of milk and a pack of butter.
2. The Sycamore village pub shop 01335 390 212 sells bread, milk, fruit and veg, frozen meals and pretty well all the basics.
3. Or you can do a pre-order from Waitrose www.waitrosedeliver.com  who will deliver here (DE6 1QB) free of charge if you spend over £50. If you place an order to arrive early Friday afternoon we will put it all away for you in your barn before you arrive – but please warn us in advance!
4. The White Peak Butchery in Tissington 01335 390 300 (next door village, easy 40 minute walk over the hills) is a quite excellent butcher. He sells home made pies etc as well as truly delicious bacon, sausages and meat.
5. The Gibsons 01335 310 250 deliver milk, cream, yogurt and ice cream on Mon, Wed, and Friday. Ring them to arrange it if you would like milk delivered.
6. Peak District Fine Foods 01332 883 616/07946 415 20 www.peakdistrictfinefooods.co.uk will deliver pretty well anything if ordered in advance.
7. Our next door neighbour, Val Kirkham, 01335 390 458 runs a catering service and will prepare and deliver meals for two (even serve them, if you’re willing to pay the extra!). Contact her direct for current information and prices. www.topnoshcaterers.com
8. Newspapers can be ordered through us in advance to be delivered at your door in time for a civilised breakfast.
9. The Sycamore, our local – about 5-7 minutes’ stroll from here – is a traditional village pub, very friendly and with no pretentions. It is run by Janet Gosling, with Steve; they serve generous and reasonably priced bar meals and snacks.  Tel.01335 390 212
10. We have just put a slow cooker in each barn so that with the minimum of effort and electricity you can return from that lovely walk to be greeted by the smell of whatever delicious casserole you put in to cook slowly that morning.
11. There is lots to see without moving far from the village. In each barn we have a Parwich Walks booklet which guides you round the village on a series of walks taking in the different interesting landmarks.
12. The bus stop and current timetable is opposite the village green and the church. Be warned – it takes a little planning – there are only a few a day, mostly into Ashbourne, and none on Sundays or Bank Holidays.
13. We can provide a secure place to lock up your bikes. We can even lend a pair of fairly ordinary but hopefully OK bicycles (provide your own hard hat…).
14. The High Peak and Tissington Trails are both easily accessed on foot from here.
15. The Coach House tea rooms at Tissington 01335 350501 serves very nice light lunches, tea and snacks. You could stop and buy a (light) plant or two at the Tissington Nursery, too, while you were there, and wonderful local meat, sausages and home made pies from the White Peak Butchery. (Better bring a rucksack for this trip.)
16. There is a lovely pub called The Gate in Brassington which is 1 hour’s walk over the hills (01629 540 448). One can walk there and back for a delicious lunch (but not on Monday or Tuesday) or – in the light summer evenings – supper.
17. A somewhat more energetic walk with take you to Dovedale – you could have a meal or snack at the Isaac Walton, or walk back up along the River Dove to Alstonefield where the George awaits thirsty hungry walkers. The food there improves all the time!
18. Further afield there are wonderful walks in every direction, right from the door – several with convenient pubs en route for anyone happy for a round trip of a minimum of six to eight miles.
19. There are two floodlit tennis courts 3 minutes’ walk away from here. We can lend you rackets and balls.
20. We also have free broadband wi-fi and the use of a land line so if you must keep in touch with work or family responsibilities you can do so without moving from the peace and comfort of your barn. Most people would prefer to leave all thought of the outside world behind but unfortunately one does not always have the choice of that luxury.
21. Ashbourne Taxis 01335 345 198: If you want to go further afield, without using your own car you could always cheat slightly and order a taxi. They are well used to coming here!

November Green Log

28/11/09:  The November entries are going to be  rather slim…

Meanwhile, the pile of waste food in the cone is growing rapidly, but still sweet smelling. We have resisted the temptation to explore underneath the surface. I do hope something is actually happening, though.

Meanwhile, with all this rain – nothing like the dreadful floods in Cumbria, but wet enough for all that – we could have filled the water a hundred times over; all our stone troughs are full to the brim and of course there is no call for any extra water at all at the moment.

July Green Log

28 July: Well, we are all set up but have nothing to go into the hole yet apart from a shoulder of lamb bone; I made all the vegetable left overs and gravy into soup! Have to do better than this if we are going to become competent green cone users. We will have to hope between us and our weekly guests we’ll soon be making better use, but it is early days yet!

26 July: John did much of the digging until it got deep. Our son, Nick, up from London for a weekend of rest and relaxation found himself doing the rest – very competently I might add, and the green cone is now installed.

15 July: – No – all is well, only seven weeks after we ordered it , it has come, quite undigested but with no instructions at all… For those that aren’t too sure about these things, it should ‘digest’ cooked food left overs including meat and fish but not the veg. and fruit etc which goes into the normal compost. It sounds more complicated than it probably is!

8 July 2009: We ordered about six weeks ago a Green Cone food digester; one hopes as John suggested, that it hasn’t self-digested en route.

August Green Log

18 Aug: Reassuringly undramatic progress – the pile of sweet smelling debris is growing, slowly, and all being well will start digesting itself!

14 Aug: We and our guests have managed to muster some more left overs, including meat and fish and well-boiled up (for stock) chicken bones. Nothing dramatic seems to be happening down the hole yet, but remarkably it all seems to remain very sweet smelling and inoffensive.

1 Aug: A solemn procession – John, Janet and Marion – went to witness the first feeding of the cone! We had actually managed to accumulate some more left overs like bacon rind and some tired remains of a pudding. We were impressed how warm the interior of the solar heated cone had become.

September Green Log

26 Sept: Water butts all installed – still not a drop of rain yet to test them out but we can’t imagine this is a long term worry.

24 Sept: Shaun, our lovely Parwich builder, is coming on Saturday to install several water butts which will make watering all our pots easier. Since we ordered them I don’t think we’ve had a drop of rain but that cannot be a permanent anxiety…

19 Sept: It is pleasing to be able to discard fat, bones, and stale bread crusts (hope the Parwich ducks are receiving enough crusts from elsewhere). The mound of food waste is growing with no obvious signs of self-digesting but we hope that is happening silently and unseen under the heap.

5 Sept: We are becoming increasingly impressed. We’re absolutely determined not to become green bores or even bullies, but have been delighted to see that most of our guests are as intrigued as we are by the whole process and very keen to use it.

October Green Log

24 Oct: Our guests and we appear rapidly to be filling the pit; we are obviously putting stuff in faster than it can degrade. Perhaps we are going to need another. We won’t tell Nick just yet!

17 Oct: Chicken bones, herring skin and bones…we keep waiting for it to start smelling but – so far – the perfume is sweet, believe it or not. The butts are now full to the brim, with no obvious need to use the water so far collected!

9 Oct: The pile of waste food in the green cone is growing impressively, with no obvious signs of it seeping away obediently silently. The water butts after some heavy rain last Tuesday are reassuringly half full already.

4 Oct: At last we’ve had some rain (never thought one would be quite pleased about that) and the butts are successfully collecting water: enough to mean that water will actually come out of the taps.

Down With Rules and Regs!

Please note, we are keen to be responsible citizens and do our bit, green or otherwise, but only where it is practical (or indeed a legal obligation). We – as a nation – are constantly being harrassed, lectured and exhorted to do this, not do that; we are keenly aware that you come to our barns to relax and get away from all these rules and regs that increasingly beset modern life.

We are not going to become obsessive about green issues (or health and safety…) either for ourselves or our guests. ; if you want to make compost and feed the green cone, that is lovely; if not, that is also fine.

Our Journey Greenwards

At the moment we are on a ‘green’ splurge. We have bought some rather attractive compost crocks to use indoors and have replaced the normal kettles with ‘Eco-kettles’ . We have put in each barn a slow-cooker so that our guests can come home to some hot soup or stews or even rice pudding on their return from a day’s walking in the Peak District (assuming they’ve popped in all the ingredients before setting off!). We are delighted to learn that they are already proving a great success.

Please note, we are keen to do our bit, but only where it is practical. We are not going to become obsessive about it, either for ourselves or our guests. We are keenly aware that people come to relax and get away from all the rules and regs that increasingly beset modern life; if you want to make compost and feed the green cone, that is lovely; if not, that is also fine.

Meanwhile, see our separate  Green Cone Log for other  green (slow but well-meaning!) progress :

A Gold Award for Douglas’s Barn!!

Out of the blue, we heard the news from Enjoy England a few months ago. The award is for ‘exceptional quality of accommodation and customer service!’

Meanwhile, see our How to Book page if you would like to check this out for yourself.

Book Online!

You can now book and pay online. Click on the relevant Vacancy Calendar or go straight to the How to Book Page.