Tissington Tea Rooms Re-Opening

Tissington is one of our nearest neighbours, an estate village which has been owned and run by the FitzHerbert family for four centuries – 403 to be precise! According to them it is where heaven and earth meet in the Peaks – I thought that was Parwich but we’re not far away so they may have got it slightly wrong!

Anyway, to be serious, it is a lovely village and a great favourite with our guests and us who love walking over the hills to tempt ourselves in the White Peak Butchery there with the array of wonderful meats, sausages, black pudding and bacon; many of them have also discovered On a Wick and a Prayer wonderful candle workshop, not to mention Tissington Hall itself and the Tea Rooms where we often like to go for a delicious lunch or afternoon tea.

The Tea Room have been shut for a bit, while very super fancy new loos and other improvements were put in. We were delighted to be invited to the official opening yesterday morning, where the Derbyshire Dales MP, Michael MacLoughlin (also Chief Whip) opened them and we all celebrated with champagne and  a specially commissioned Tissington Tearooms cake.

Tom’s & Douglas’s Barns – Romantic AND green!

As many of you will know by now, we had our third GTBS (Green Tourism Business Scheme) inspection last Friday. If you follow the link to their website you will see what this signifies, but basically, to quote them, it means we are ‘committed to sustainable tourism and minimising its damage to the environment’ which must be an admirable goal by any standards. The inspector, who had been before, said he was impressed with what we have done to make our two cottages as environmentally sustainable as is compatible with our guests’ comfort and ease. He was impressive himself, and very constructively helpful about what more we could achieve.

So far so good. He was pleased with our ‘greenness’ but criticised our modesty!  We were always taught that it was very desirable to be modest, indeed wholly admirable never to brag or blow one’s own trumpet (too loud, anyway!). These days this restraint is probably less respected, and now we understand that far from being admirable it is totally undesirable if one has green holiday cottages, and particularly green cottages in the Peak District! (That’s another story.)

The GTBS inspector said quite rightly that our website did not “shout green” and I accept that it did not, to an unhelpful extent.

Anybody wanting to find out more than our Green Policy would have been a bit pushed apart from the odd snippet on the blog, although in the barns there are massive ‘Green Files’. All the information is to be had if you are actually here but that is no good if you are not.

Anyway, he tactfully hinted that if we got our act together, with Jeremy our wonderful web man, and gathered up all our green information together and available online in an obvious section of our website before he returned home from his tour of inspection to start upon his reports, that would help our final grading significantly. No promises… but it is worth the try. I have a full day of meetings tomorrow but all being well will be able to tackle it towards the weekend. As they say, watch this space.

Parwich Road Works: Orchard Farm is Nearly Cut Off from the World

For years and years there has been a leak/spring/stream sometime gushing down the road round the corner from Orchard Farm, just after you take the right fork at the grassy triangle with the Road Narrows sign when you are coming to Orchard Farm. We have more or less learned to live with it until the weather tunes icy or it snows and then the whole road freezes over in a most unhelpful fashion. Everybody has periodically complained to the District Council who until last Monday didn’t appear ever to have thought it mattered.

The suddenly, a couple of weeks ago, yellow notices popped up warning us that there were to be drainage investigations and Monsdale Lane was to be closed for  week. We were however subsequently assured that the potentially entrapped residents would be allowed access so we did not worry too much. However, no such luck! By access they must have meant on foot: there is a large and deepish hole across the corner and some pretty serious barriers. It is very obvious where the so-called spring was coming from  as there are two sections of drain visible, separated by a couple of feet. I trust it was waste water from drains higher up, not from someone’s  metered water supply.

Of course we can all go round the ‘back’ lane, Monsdale Lane ,what our children used to jokingly refer to as our back drive, so we are not really cut off at all by more than a mile or two of charming (we really love it and so do all the local and visiting dog walkers) but decidedly narrow country lane. All is well until one meets someone coming the other way which is fine if one has all the time in the world to back cautiously to the nearest spot where there is enough space to pass, and the moral is to be sure to leave enough time…

So at the moment it is a minor hardship to be endured and commiserated over. A week will be long enough, so let’s hope they will be finished as promised by Friday 16th although it isn’t looking very promising to the untrained eye.

How Did You Enjoy Your Time in Douglas’s Barn?

It had been such a long time since I last collected some comments that they have had to come in two instalments. This is the second Douglas’s barn one and Tom’s Barn’s will follow in due time.

“Lovely stay! You have thought of everything to meet our every need.”: October 2011

“Thank you John and Marion for making our Pearl Anniversary so special! Our 2nd visit and just as excellent as ever.” October 2011

“Dearest John and Marion, what a joy to meet you both and stay in Douglas’s Barn! We have had such a wonderful time: the barn is so beautiful, we felt like the first ever visitors here! The love and care you have taken makes this a place we truly do not want to leave! Thank you so much for everything.” December 2011

“What a beautiful place to stay. We enjoyed it so much we barely left during our visit! A brilliant setting for A’s 30th and for getting into the Christmas spirit.” Dec 2011

“What a wonderful place to relax and take it easy. I can’t remember the last time I spent so much time doing nothing…apart from walking, running, jigsaws, knitting, reading and…relaxing.” Christmas 2011

“Thank you so much for a wonderful week. The cottage had everything we could possibly need and was incredibly cosy. We loved the local walks, and lots of eating too. Great local food.” January 2012

“Wonderful barns, hosts and village. We have completely recharged our batteries. We will be back!” February 2012

There is just one thing I really feel must be said: if we were to write a Guests’ Report we would be pretty gushing. We are most very fortunate in that we have such genuinely lovely, interesting  people staying here. It makes it so easy and pleasant for us. In fact, as I write this, inspiration has struck: I think my next blog post must be a Report on our Guests – so wait for it!

Eating Well with Minimum Effort in Tom’s and Douglas’s Barns

Revamping our ‘green’ papers for the GTBS inspection on Friday I see that it is over two years since I first published this post. It has needed updating and correcting so I thought it would be useful to post the updated version for any of you planning a holiday here in the future, or even dreaming about one.

Before you arrive, we will always send you an updated list of recommended local pubs and restaurant. We also send the names of a few local butchers, farm shops and delicatessens: we are spoiled for choice in an area that boasts the Chatsworth Farm Shop, various ‘original’ Bakewell Pudding shops/delis in Bakewell, whilst in Ashbourne we have Smith’s for fine wines and good food, the Cheddar Gorge for cheeses, pies and cakes and Natural Choice for everything organic ‘green’. In the two latter shops you can now buy delicious fresh bread baked by the Dining Room on St John’s Street. You will also find a great selection of cheeses at the Hartington Cheese Shop.

Nigel’s on Compton in Ashbourne sells excellent local meat and the meat from the White Peak Butchery in Tissington is something else again – not for nothing do some of our guests walk over every day to buy their next treat!

You may find a visit to the Chatsworth Farm Shop another  essential treat…

For any basic necessities you suddenly find you need, Janet Gosling in the pub/shop, will undoubtedly be able to help you. You could have a quick drink in the pub at the same time if you felt like it or even a bar meal.

And, when you return to cook your effortless casseroles and even steak & kidney pudding, we have the slow-cookers ready and waiting for action in each barn. However all this requires at least some energy output, however pleasurable. There are several recipe books to help.

For totally relaxed forward planning, who don’t you pre-order online with Waitrose (plenty of healthy and organic choices there as well as nice wines)? They will deliver here DE6 1QB any day, free as long as you spend over £50 – which doesn’t take long these days. If you arrange delivery in the 11-1 slot for the day you are arriving we will put it all away for you before you arrive, but of course you can place an order for half way through your stay here if that seems a good idea. If you let us know that you are going to be out, we can take delivery and keep it all cool and safe in our house until your return.

You can also order organic veg, fruit, meat and dairy products – even wonderful chocolate – from the local Riverford Sacrewell Most conveniently they deliver here on Fridays; we can take your order in, keep it refrigerated and put it in your barn before you arrive as we do for Waitrose orders.

The system with Riverford for one-off orders is rather more personal than it is with the bigger Waitrose.  Look online to choose what you would like but the actual order itself needs to be made by telephone on 01780 789700. Explain you are staying here at Orchard Farm and would like your food delivered at the same time as ours on the Friday you arrive. You can pay them by card over the phone, or send a cheque.

You also now can pre-order a delicious homemade curry for the end of the week  (hottish – let them know if you don’t want it too hot!). Ring Paul and Evie Burlinson on 01335 390488; you collect it from their Cottage on the Green between 5 and 7 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Finally, we will let you into a little secret. You will find the kitchen very well equipped, with sharp knives and pretty well everything you might need, and most of our guests find they really enjoy cooking a meal after all, in spite of having vowed they would do the very minimum.

Apologies for The Long Silence

Believe it or not, life goes on as normal in Tom’s and Douglas’s Barns, and Orchard Farm too for that matter, although judging from the loud silence from these parts you might be forgiven for wondering. I am really sorry to have been so apparently lazy but in fact we have been away! We spent a few days in Yorkshire helping a very old – as in longterm – friend celebrate a significant birthday.

She did this in some style so we arrived home larger and decidedly better fed than when we left, and as usual after even a short time away there is a mountainous backlog of emails and urgent things to do. The emails I have almost worked my way through; one very urgent matter which is going to take a lot of time is our 2012 GTBS (Green Tourism Business Scheme) inspection which is due this Friday…! It is rather tedious in that one has to produce monthly records of oil, electricity and water consumption and cost. This would be easy for those efficient souls who keep monthly records and up to the minute accounts but those of us who tend to rely more on meeting deadlines as and when they occur find it rather demanding.

The more interesting side is gathering up and updating all our green information (even transport policy…!) but even this is pretty time-consuming. Inspections are never fun but it certainly is good being kept up to the mark, and forcing one to look critically at how one does things and how they could be improved. At the moment we have the Peak District Environmental Quality Mark and the GTBS Silver Award so we have standards to keep up! It would be ignominious to be downgraded but I don’t think we will be(?).

The other ‘excitement’ this week is the Regional AGM of the Peak District Premier Cottages group. This will be an interesting an convivial affair, with much to be discussed including what is apparently a hot topic in the self-catering world – whether to have an all-inclusive price or not. I think we all in our area are fervently all-inclusive: personally, I feel there is nothing more annoying and unsettling to discover that unexpected and unwanted extra charges suddenly appear (like booking a cheap flight on RyanAir when  you discover there is actually a booking charge, per person, per journey… so their quoted rockbottom price is not the price at all, merely the starting point of a quickly much larger bill, sneakily arrived at). John and I like to feel that once our guests have paid the balance the embarrassing subject of money is behind us and  finished with. We will greet you and think of you as genuine house guests and apart from your paying for your newspaper if you have one – which I think we’d all agree is fair enough – the subject of money doesn’t enter into the relationship at all…

Anyway, (we feel quite strongly about this!), another project that we have all got involved in is the Visit England 20.12 offer, which involves offering a special discount or extra, ideally worth 20.12%. We will be offering 20.12% off weeks in November and December (but NOT Christmas and New Year before anyone gets too excited); we are pretty well booked up until then except for odd weeks so it makes a holiday in these two months at the end of the year pretty good value.

To benefit from the discount these holidays have to be booked via the Visit England 2012 website, quoting a voucher code so keep an eye open for that. I think it is going live on March 8th.

Your Stay in Douglas’s Barn – What is Your Verdict?

In a strange way, we always feel a bit awkward quoting extracts from the Visitors’ Books. Sometimes the comments are quite personal and I am sure guests don’t think of them as likely to be hitting the airwaves but on the other hand we all love to see what other people have said, done liked and what they maybe didn’t like. Also of course it all helps paint the picture, which is vital for possible/potential guests.

For example, glancing through these comments it would soon become obvious that if you wanted fast food outlets or daily cinema trips booking a holiday in Tom’s and Douglas’s Barns, Parwich is definitely not the answer, nor is it for clubbing enthusiasts or anyone nervous of dark dark lanes at night with very few street lights and no bustling crowds. (I’m quite serious, someone once asked me ‘How can you bear to live somewhere so far from civilisation?’ I thought they had completely missed the point, they felt convinced I had completely lost the plot. If you want comfort and ease (not glamour), if you love walking in beautiful countryside (whether gentle rambles or vigorous hikes), country pubs and good food, then maybe you really are on the right track. Read on…

I knew it was a while but am ashamed to see it is six months since we last did this, gathering up some guests’ comments to help give you a flavour of the kind of holiday you can expect if you stay in either Tom’s or Douglas’s barns. Skimming through, picking some out almost at random here to start with are some unexpurgated comments from the Douglas’s Barn guests. (All can be seen in the Visitors’ Book.)

“Had a fantastic time, what fabulous accommodation! Can recommend Lathkill Dale, with pub in village with brilliant views. The cottage exceeded our expectations, thanks!!” August 2011

“Our first visit but definitely not the last. Everything perfect, beautiful cottage, every detail and more thought of.” August 2011

“A very special cottage which makes you feel at home even when it’s raining…Loved Haddon Hall and the wild flowers at Dovedale.” September 2011

“Lovely cottage in stunning countryside; only used the car once, walks from the door – marvellous!” September 2011

“Fantastic cottages with great walking and cycling on the doorstep. Can recommend the pub in Brassington and the Thai restaurant in Ashbourne. Thank you, John and Marion, for all the little extras.” September 2011

Spring Arrives, as do Our Guests’ Snow and Ice Grippers

Well, we certainly predicted this! Today dawned grey, but true to the weather forecast it got better and better and by lunch time the sky was blue and the sun shining. Down the drive came a delivery van, out jumped the driver and cheerily handed us a parcel – always quite an exciting moment. What should we discover it was but four sets of snow and ice grippers, a pair each for all four guests at a time, and some traction lengths to help cars get out of icy ruts. How we had longed for these when the weather was bad a couple of weeks ago.

Today, in the sunshine it was hard to imagine ever needing such things; however, it is still only February and goodness knows what icy spells await us before spring is really and truly here. And it is a lovely feeling that we shall be able to help our guests negotiate icy paths and roads, not to mention our own front ‘yard’ which John was very pushed to keep even remotely safely passable during the cold spell a few weeks ago.

We couldn’t resist photographing our arctic weather equipment by the snowdrops under the plum tree, as the sun streamed down and the birds skittered happily enjoying the nuts and seeds, showing off their glossy plumage to any passing would-be admirer… Talk about tempting fate; no doubt this time next week I’ll be writing a blog post about how useful our snow equipment has been. But in the midst of all this general excitement, John spied, these little miniature daffodils blossoming unseen in our little patch of garden between the back of the house and the stone wall of the road behind. It is north facing but does get the sun from the side in the mornings and we suppose that the space is very sheltered in what is virtually a minute walled garden-on-a-slope.

Talking about road conditions, those of you who have been here in the snow and ice, will know that there is always a particularly bad stretch on the bend as you turn left to go down into the village, or after you have veered right at the road narrows sign when you are coming here. There is a permanent spring or stream or is it a leak (perhaps that explains the predicted drought for the east midlands and the east of England?) Anyway, we have just heard that our lane is to be closed for a week in March while ‘they’ investigate the drains. We will keep everyone posted when we know more.

Beautiful Bullfinches at Orchard Farm

According to John’s brother’s bird book, bullfinches don’t come to bird tables, but ours do. Need, or maybe just greed must have persuaded ours to change their habit as they have become very faithful feeders, mingling apparently happily with all the others – robins, blue, coal and great tits, chaffinches, goldfinches, even the odd dove and pheasant. Boots watches them all from the warmth and safety of the kitchen window, but fortunately any killer instinct has passed with the years (she is every bit of 14 now, which is quite a stately age for a cat although she is still quite capable of rushing up a tree, or even chasing her tail when the mood takes her).

When he isn’t trotting down to the little Parwich shop-in -the-pub to buy more bird seed and nuts John is out in all weathers with his new camera and lens. The birds are beginning to very much take him for granted, which is good and he has managed to get some lovely photos of the bullfinches. I hope I won’t have mangled them too much by the time I have loaded them here!

Eating In Without Lifting a Finger…

It doesn’t take long for the subject to return to food, not that I should perhaps apologise. One can’t turn on the telly for a minute without finding a cookery programme and goodness knows how many cookery books are produced each year and fancy kitchens full of even fancier gadgets advertised.

And yet we are told that nobody cooks any more. We know that is not true. A lot of our guests take a lot of pride in cooking, and part of the fun of their holiday is having the time, and in a well-equipped kitchen, to prepare delicious meals to enjoy together.  But even they, and indeed all of us, however keen we may be as cooks, do like occasionally to sit back and enjoy what someone else has prepared.

We are lucky in Parwich to have some really excellent nearby pubs and restaurants where you know the food will be good and the atmosphere fun and you will feel you’ve had a real treat. However, drink-driving laws and winter road conditions both also make the idea of eating in very attractive, and  with no worry about getting home afterwards, much more relaxing. This – with some forethought and planning – is charmingly possible in Parwich.

Discounting the possibility of having cheated by popping something into the slow cooker in the morning, or the often very tasty prepared ready meal meals one can buy in Waitrose and M&S in Ashbourne – and indeed in all the super markets, we have some unique gems in Parwich to offer our guests.

Firstly, you can ring Val Kirkham beforehand on 01335 390 458 to find out about her meals which she will cook in her house next door to Orchard Farm and bring them round personally to your door when you want them. Secondly, you can pre-order a curry from Paul and Evie, at the Cottage of the Green, on 01335 390 488. These are available at the weekend, and you do have to fetch them (5 or 6 minutes ‘walk).

Today John and I did just that. Fridays – our changeover day – are always busy  and supper time can come with us feeling a little weary and with nothing delicious miraculously appearing on the table. We’d planned ahead this week, and ordered a chicken curry, rice and a chutney. Paul and Evie had popped in some very thin lacy-textured poppadoms (heme-made?) and we had a feast fit for kings. Last time we had a lamb curry, next time who knows…?

All we do know is that they will always be very authentic and quite lovely and very good value as we find a portion for one does us both and we are NOT known for our birdlike appetites. We do have to ask for mild to medium strength, slightly embarrassingly for people who lived in India for three years and have eaten some pretty hot curries in our time. I suspect Paul’s ‘Hot’ would be just that, hot! If anyone has tried one we’d be intrigued to know!