Happy New Year to you all!

What a year 2012 promises to be! From the depths of financial despair and gloom we soar to Jubilee and Olympics hysteria… Meanwhile most of us just plod on as best we can; whilst horribly aware of rising costs for all and job insecurity for many and although the timing is unfortunate it is great that we have some exciting distractions ahead and certainly Visit Britain and VisitPeak District are very upbeat about the possibilities that this year will bring for tourism and the economy.

Life has to go on and like many of you we will just continue to do the best we can and to do our best to ensure that all our guests have as good a holiday as possible. Unfortunately we cannot control the weather, but neither can anyone so that’s a relief… And to continue the financial theme for one more minute, our 2012 prices have now kicked in and I am about to put them up on our website. They have been on the online booking system for some time. The prices have all gone up a rough 5% which actually is somewhat less than our costs have increased.

Bank Holidays this year include the Jubilee celebration tacked onto the Spring Bank Holiday (June 4th and 5th). That week has already been booked in both Tom’s and Douglas’s Barns as have two of the Olympics weeks by folk anxious to escape from London for the spell!

Chatsworth House reopens on March 9th but there are talks and things going on before then which clicking on the link will reveal; the Horse Trials are 11th to 13th May and the  Country Fair is 31st August to 2nd September. Haddon Hall I suspect may open at Easter (April 6th to 9th) but so far I have failed to discover the exact date. The Buxton Festival is 7th to 25th July. And of course throughout the summer we have the famous Derbyshire well-dressings, with the local Tissington celebration from the 17th to 23rd May being a special highlight.

This just skims the top of the barrel – check this page of the Visit peak District website to see just some of the events there are, not to mention the permanent activities and sights which are here all year round – the walks, cycling, sailing etc at Carsington, hang gliding,climbing and so on…!

And finally one has to eat and who could be better placed than we are round here for good unspoilt pubs serving great food