Romantic cottages for two in the Peak District
Romantic cottages for two in the Peak District
As usual all bookings for 2010 (or even beyond) made in the current year are at the current (2009) prices. So, if you have been before you benefit doubly – 5% off this year’s price for a booking for a week (or more) next year…! That can’t be bad.
So, act quickly… See our How to Book Page for how you might be able to set someone’s heart alight by planning a surprise romantic treat for your husband/wife/partner. It is a guaranteed success – both generous giver and grateful receiver are equally happy; even just the looking forward to the break does one a power of good.
A holiday break on the winter months is a sure fire success. Prices are lower then (paradoxically, as it costs much more to run our cottages in the cold weather!). Days are shorter, evenings cosier, the walking wonderful and you will return home refreshed and relaxed and feeling more at one with the world.
There is a 5% discount throughout the year for all weeks booked by previous guests.
We had our annual (except it was only ten or so months since the last one) Visit Britain Quality Assurance Scheme inspection on Thursday June 4. It was conducted by a new to us inspector who was very pleasant, very thorough we felt, and very fair.
So we were somewhat surprised to discover, in spite of numerous ‘improvements’ in Tom’s Barn since the last inspection, that our total score remained the same.
We had been hoping we might notch up another percentage point to get a Gold Award for Tom’s Barn as well as Douglas’s Barn (see paragraph above) but apparently the fact that the cooker in Tom’s Barn is now being outshone by the newness of the fridge and the washer dryer meant we can’t, which seems somewhat tough. We had already indicated that a new cooker was on the agenda for next year but one can only do so much each year. Oh well. At least we still get 100% for cleanliness
The short video clip is now live!
As you will see, it is short. You can’t hope to say everything in about two minutes, but what we hope is that it will add another dimension to the images and text on the website and brochure, and the comments from our guests.
It was shot on a fairly typical leafless November day; fortunately on this day it was sunny and actually quite warm but of course there is no evidence of all the vibrant summer colours.
However, as both Tom’s and Douglas’s Barns are practically just as busy during the winter as the summer (the appeal of bracing walks and home to a soothing bath and cosy warm evening by the fire) it is probably no bad thing to show it in the winter, but we hope to be able to add some more colourful hot weather shots next year because there is no denying it is just absolutely lovely here then, too.
The clip is by no means comprehensive (see above) but the intention always was simply to convey a mere hint of the flavour. We’ll be interested to know whether everyone will think we have succeeded. Please let us know. We won’t at this stage be able to do anything about it, but we’ll learn for next time!
These days the possibilities for publicity both good and – but we hope not – bad, are enormous. Our son Nick helped us set up a Facebook site Tom’s Barn Facebook about a year ago and to be honest, we rather forgot about it after that only to discover to our surprise that we now have eight or nine fans.
Rather confusingly, Tom’s Barn and Douglas’s Barn appear twice on Facebook! Our daughter, Ruth has started a group on her site called Holiday Cottages in the Peak District and this now has 20 members. Perhaps somebody who knows more about these things will tell us how we can amalgamate the two but if you care to have a look do click on Tom’s Barn Holiday Cottages in the Peak District Group and perhaps become a member of that group as well!
So – all you Facebook fans and addicts – please think about swelling our band of friends if you’d care to or simply leaving a comment!
Earlier this year we received the news of this award. Apparently the award is for exceptional quality of accommodation and customer service made to all Five Star holiday cottages that achieve 91% or over in their overall Quality in Tourism inspection score. We had no idea, so the whole thing came right out of the blue but very pleasingly nonetheless.
Tom’s Barn, which is just as lovely and quite as popular (and we look after you all exactly the same!) just missed the boat, with 90%… We’ll have to do even better next year.
We were talking to a colleague the other day; he mentioned Twitter, and before we knew where we were, he had registered us as tomsbarn and Marion F-Sessions as the luxury holiday cottage owner! Our first attempt to start ‘twittering’ was ruined by a violent thunderstorm which lead to a five-hour long power cut, so that wasn’t a very promising start.
Our twitterings are very sporadic and dull as ditch water to boot! Anyway, those of you who are more experienced in these things may be interested to start following and spark things up somewhat if that’s possible…. Our instant posse of nine follower could do with a boost, please. (We have blocked quite a few that didn’t look totally very appropriate!)
The online bookings have been coming in thick and fast, and it all seems to be working pretty well as the new system and we gradually get to know each other. We have benefited from a lot of very patient and helpful support from the SuperControl team and also all the kind guests who willingly – and occasionally unwittingly – became trial guinea pigs.
Anyone who uses the online system, please let us know if you meet any hitches. We do know that doing it online suits a lot of people’s lifestyles these days and we really want it to work as slickly as possible with the minimum of hassle for all concerned. It certainly simplifies things this end.
You can make an instant provisional booking online – no more laborious downloading of the booking form for you, filling it in and sending it off by post with a cheque.
See the How to Book page for more detailed information. Please note, until we have personally confirmed it, your booking remains provisional because of the risk of our having just the previous minute promised the dates you want to someone over the phone.
However, for all those of you who far prefer to do it more personally by email or telephone, everything will continue as before.
And of course, nothing will really have intrinsically changed. Lurking behind the sophisticated online booking system it will still be John and me here in our study at Orchard Farm and of course sometimes Debbie when we are away. It will still be us answering the phone and we will still be more than happy to take bookings over the telephone for those who prefer the human contact and personal touch.
Tom’s Barn No 1 in a list of Five Romantic Retreats!
The first mention in the national press that we were aware of was over three years ago now, when – completely out of the blue – we found ourselves with a flurry of bookings from people who claimed to have read about us in the Independent.
Tom’s Barn had been singled out as the top romantic retreat ” out of the five mentioned…
“You may not have the whole farm to yourself but it feels like it once you’re in the barn….Outside, you’ll find spectacular walking territory – and a village pub – within ambling distance.”
And Why Douglas?
Marion’s father Douglas, whom many of our ‘older’ guests will remember, used to live here. From a Lowland Scots family, he actually grew up near Lichfield, used to holiday in the Peak District and spent all his working life in Africa, where Marion grew up… Hence the Derbyshire/African mix in Douglas’s Barn and probably still in Marion!
After he retired from Africa he and Rachel, Marion’s mother, spent the next forty years in south Devon, at what the Hall family used as their home base, their lovely thatched cottage called Barnford. After Rachel died, Douglas eventually decided to move up here, with Boots the cat, to live beside – not with – us.
He quickly made a lot of friends in Parwich, and just loved his self-appointed role as guardian angel of the Tom’s Barn guests while we were at work. Douglas died in 2004; in 2006 we converted ‘Douglas’s Barn’ into our second holiday cottage for two.
The previous owner of Orchard Farm was Tom, a character well liked in the village but a complete stranger to soap, hammer, paintbrush or any home improvements. He was renowned also for his pack of boss-eyed dogs which local children apparently found rather frightening. After years of dogs and neglect the house and barns were in an unbelievably awful state although Tom had been living here happily enough, apparently.
Tom died in December 1982. We bought Orchard Farm at auction in April 1983. Most people thought we were mad, including just at first our own children then of a fairly impressionable age. They soon rallied round but 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.
It was twenty years before people stopped referring to Orchard Farm as ‘Tom’s place’, hence Tom’s Barn. We now have an Australian grandson, Tom, who at just five assumes – from Sydney – his role to be that of absentee landlord.
He seems quite happy at present with the way we are running things for him.
I have had the pleasure of managing Tom and Douglas Barns for 10 Years and felt it was time to enjoy a bit more of my retirement. The barns will continue to be holiday cottages and will be maintained to the standard that all previous guests have enjoyed. The only change is that Sykes Cottages […]
The weather is a bit mixed but we are still getting sunny days. A perfect time of year to come and stay for a few days and have a walk in the lovely countryside, take a bike ride, visit one of the many attractions that all stay open or just relax in Tom or Douglas […]
The weather has been so wet but our barns offer a cosy retreat in beautiful countryside. Why not pack a bag for a few days and have a break . We have extended our spring prices until mid June and reduced our summer prices. It would be lovely to see you for a few days […]
