Sad to say two more twits are leaving home.

(This post was  sent at dawn (ish) this morning by Jenny and Derek, originally as part of a comment to yesterday’s post ‘The Blue Tits have left Home’. We thought it deserved space of its own…)

Sad to say two more twits are leaving home. 6am and planning to leave early to avoid Simon and his camera – who was still filming last evening in dimming light.

Despite unusually wet weather our stay – as expected – has been excellent. Before our next visit we are going to work on developing short walks for oldies.

We categorise our needs as being between the very interesting guide book of the village and White Peak Walks by Mark Richards. We young 70 years old plus aim to walk 20 to 25 miles during a week’s stay. Which requires walks of no more than 4 miles in length and with contours slightly further apart than they used to be.

We tried the path immediately behind the house shown as Unsuitable for motorised vehicles. It is also unsuitable for bath chairs. It goes up and yet even further up and is most rewarding. It is a slow steady climb which provides plenty of time to use John’s excellent guide to flowers and fauna in the Green File. The steady climb to the road and the journey back down into the village is most rewarding. Such a trip takes about 3 hours – losing the way is essential and chatting with any passing mortal is to be recommended. It also allows recovery time for the next day. A good example can be found in Waterside Walks in the Peak District Page 94 Ilam and the River Dove.

The title for the collection of walks could well be “Strolling with oldies up hill and down dale”.

We look forward to that, Derek and (Jenny), and thank you! There are many of us that this would suit admirably.

The Blue Tits have left home

We don’t know whether we have occasion to be rejoicing or commiserating, I do hope the former. There has been no sign of parent blue tits or offspring for two days.

Does anyone know, do the young ones literally just fly the nest, followed by the parents? Or is this another case of ‘nature red in tooth and claw’? Of course Boots is under suspicion but she could not possibly have attacked the whole lot anyway, and certainly not without leaving a lot of evidence behind…

Now, if we had had a camera installed we would not be in this state of ignorance and anxiety.

News and Pics from Katie and Dan who stayed here last week

Katie and Dan, who spent their honeymoon  here in Tom’s Barn last week have just sent us these lovely photos taken while they were here, with full permission to put them up on the blog for all to see.

One evening while they were here this enormous hot air balloon hovered somewhat menacingly over Orchard Farm for several minutes: it really did feel that it might suddenly plummet down at our feet, but by the time of the photo is had found a sudden burst of wind and was on its way over the hill.

Katie writes:  “We are definitely feeling more rested and relaxed after our break, and it really was the perfect honeymoon, so thank you! We encountered the horses on our walk on the way to Brassington – they were very friendly and curious!”

So, thank you very much, Katie and Dan. (And we loved meeting you.)

Plans for our new video

Well, the die is cast, the decision has been made and Simon the video man will be here on Thursday and Friday next week, with his son Mike. We had been planning to wait until we had heard a definitely optimistic weather forecast but the longish range ones all seem a bit vague about the end of next week so we decided to take the risk and go for it. It will probably be grey and miserable, but it may well not and we could wait for ever  – in fact today and yesterday would have been perfect days, but it’s too late to think that now!

Simon and Mike can only actually film the inside of the two ‘cottages’ on a Friday when they are both momentarily empty, and as the changeover has to continue regardless there isn’t a great deal of flexibility about the timing of the internal shots. On the Thursday they will do the outside and some quick snippets of the local area just to give a feel for our part of the Peak District and what is easily available to people staying here.

When we told our plans to one of our guests as they left this morning, she claimed to be horrified saying she loved the old video and it was the only reason they had decided to come here!! Well, it may have been the only reason some people didn’t, and I still squirm every time I hear my voice. It really is uncanny, when someone rings up to book and you can hear your own voice coming over the telephone wires, droning on and on in the background.

Anyway, the original video ‘expires’ in November so we have got to get a move on if we want another, and we do.  Unfortunately,  I have again drawn the short straw  this time, and will be doing the ‘voice-over, so more squirms… But this time, if Simon chooses to film the removal from the Aga of the cake for the week at least I shall have made sure the Aga door is as near gleaming as we can get it!

A magpie and a hot air balloon over Orchard Farm

No news as yet on the baby blue tit front but there is a lot of flying in and out of the parents; the dove that the crow attacked is still about but if she has chosen anther nest it is certainly better hidden than the one in the haybarn.

All the other birds are full of song. We sometime wonder whether there is something strange acoustically round our part of the village – the birdsong does seem exceptionally clear and you could say noisy, especially if you are listening to the rooks and crows of an evening.

We are not that keen on magpies for all sorts of good reasons, but John has taken a beautiful picture today of a magpie in flight and you could almost begin to admire them. Just for fun I will also add a hot air balloon which flew over at the weekend, so close and so low we all wondered whether it was going to land here. But then suddenly it rose quickly (they are noisy too) and disappeared over Parwich hill behind us.

Self-Catering Accommodation at Orchard Farm for Blue Tits

Just outside our kitchen window, nailed to a tree, is a nesting box given to us two or three years ago by Debbie – ‘American Deb’ who many of you may have met or at least corresponded with in the past, when she has taken over the reigns while we went away.

For several years no birds went near, but this year a pair of blue tits has made it their home. They have been so busy, flying in and out with bits and pieces for their nest. It has been frustrating not being able to see what is happening inside, hence our determination to buy an RSPB  nesting box (spotted at Carsington at the weekend) with a wireless camera rigged up inside it.

Meanwhile, we have waited and we have watched and John has photographed from behind a window (see some of his photos in the Gallery); Boots the cat lies languorously on the picnic table beneath but the birds seem quite undeterred. They are quite safe inside their little box with a tiny opening, far out of Boots’s reach, but when their babies launch out from the nest we shall keep a very beady eye on our beloved cat; fortunately, at 13 she is more fine words than action.

We have already witnessed at a distance one reminder that nasty things happen in the natural world. We had a pair of doves, who built a nest in a corner under the roof of our dutch hay barn. She sat patiently, until one day we saw crows almost literally dive-bombing her. Her nest is now empty but she is still about; maybe she will try again and choose somewhere better hidden from the wretched crows.

Bean crunching: occupancy stats for our barns

The weather has turned lovely again, which is wonderful. It makes it particularly sad that I should have actually chosen to be indoors at the moment, out of the sun and sitting at the computer rather than tackling the weeds or any other outdoor chore that would have justified my staying outside. And actually, the need to weed is far more urgent than the stats I’ve produced but I  have been quite happily occupied for an hour or two looking at various facts and figures, including amongst others our barns occupancy stats.

Occupancy for our barns has always been well over 90%. Last financial year (2009-2010) Tom’s Barn’s was 95%, having adjusted for the 10 days withdrawn for decorating in February, with all year  one weekend and one midweek unaccountably unbooked (can’t blame a cancellation or anything like that!). Douglas’s Barn occupancy was 99%, with – apart from the 5 days withdrawn for re-decorating – only one weekend, in  December, not booked .

As far as visits go, Tom’s Barn had 59  during the year, Douglas’s Barn 60. Both had 35 one-week or longer bookings and 24/25 short breaks respectively. That’s a lot of changeovers! There’s a lot to be said for being such as small unit, how owners cope when they have a large complex doesn’t bear thinking of…

Finally, another figure which we find surprising: only 18% of our guests last year had been before (22% Tom’s Barn, 15% Douglas’s). I think that must be a blip: last year the overall figure was 24% and we do have such a lot of guests coming back and back;  I am sure the figure will be higher again next year and certainly, looking at our wall planner/advance bookings chart can almost guarantee it.

We love having old friends return, and they seem to like the feeling of coming ‘home’ to somewhere familiar. That isn’t to say of course that we don’t also really love welcoming new faces here and it is gratifying that so many of you do keep finding us one way or the other, through the internet or through friends and family – so, do keep  coming!

Doing the homework for our new Tom’s and Douglas’s Barn video

Our current video runs out of steam so to speak, in November. Filming in November is not the greatest time of year so we are planning to have the next one shot during the summer, possibly even in June if good weather forecasts and available ‘windows of opportunity’ in a busy video maker’s schedule allow. One has to accept that June could be as grey and miserable as November can be sunny and warm, but never mind… At least there should be leaves on the trees.

Today our task was to begin a reconnoitre of places in the immediate vicinity that are important to our guests and to us and ought to appear, however fleetingly, in the video. The idea is we take photos which we send to Simon our video man to help him plan where and what he might film on the day. We also hoped that some of John’s best could end up in our Gallery.

We decided on Carsington Water first, then Tissington, and what a pleasant time we had in spite of the skies being grey and heavy and the light hopeless for a decent photograph. We walked and explored and did some research on the side about all the things one can now do at Carsington as well as riding, walking and cycling and bird watching.

At the Water Sports Centre one can take lessons in sailing, canoeing, kayaking and wind surfing, or, with proof of  competence, hire the equipment and go out yourself. Power boating and fly fishing is also available (fly fishing only in certain areas and always from a boat, not the side). At the Sailing Club, if you have your own boat you can sail for from 60p a day, or so we understood.

After all this research and hard work we retired to the Mainsail Restaurant upstairs where we had an enormous bacon and sausage bap each as we looked over the sailing boats in the water, each bap the size of a small loaf but with a lightish,  fluffy dough which meant they went down rather embarrassingly quickly!

Finally we discovered that there is now an RSPB shop in the courtyard where one can buy nesting boxes with small cameras already installed. We have been wishing we could see what is going on in our nesting box in the garden where a pair of blue tits is raising a family behind frustratingly closed doors. But that is another story, another blog post sometime soon…

Tom’s Barn – is our ‘dog friendly holiday cottage’ really dog friendly?

We have always welcomed (well-behaved) dogs in Tom’s Barn, and are more than happy to do so. From time to time we have also had other pets, such as cats and parrots but by and large it is mainly dogs. With one or two notable exceptions our dog guests are usually beautifully behaved but even so they undoubtedly create extra work and sometimes damage.

We do ask that owners keep them off the chairs and sofa, and certainly away from upstairs. For owners whose dogs are reluctant to abide by the rules we do provide dustsheets for the furniture, and until recently a nursery gate to prevent enthusiastic dogs from going upstairs, but as we know ourselves, this was a real pain to fit and use and the odd dog sneaked his way up and one can hardly blame them. (Although some of you may remember one unforgetable experience here that we’d like to forget but can’t quite, yet, and we do blame that dog.)

However, our latest Visit Britain Inspector last month commented very critically about evidence of scratch marks from doggy claws on the wooden stairs and hinted heavily that this was a serious blot on our Five Star/Gold Award status… So David, our wonderful joiner friend, has come to the rescue; he has designed and built for us a lovely wooden gate (it still needs varnishing but there’s only so much we can do in five hours on a Friday) permanently fixed to the foot of the stairs. The next challenge is somehow to eradicate or disguise/hide those wretched scratch marks on the steps – more news on that score later.

So far so good on the dog-friendly score. But we have had pointed out to us by a recent guest – owner of a beautiful (and beautifully trained) Rhodesian Ridgeback I would happily have kidnapped – that on our website we claimed to have an enclosed garden. Well, I am afraid she is right, and we don’t. I was in fact very surprised to discover I had claimed that the Tom’s Barn garden was enclosed; my excuse is that I wasn’t thinking of it in terms of dogs particularly – what I meant was that it was self-contained.

Happily, the owner in question was tactful enough to say she was glad they had been misled, because they simply wouldn’t have booked had they known the true facts. They had had a lovely time and they – and their dog – were very charming guests, and they hope to come back (and we hope they do).

Meanwhile, we have thrashed around how we could make the area truly self-contained without going to the expense and disruption of building stone walls etc – any suggestions gratefully received. Meanwhile, please note, our garden is not enclosed.

The B5056 has reopened, and other highlights!

What joy!

The B5056, our main route from Parwich to Ashbourne (it joins the A515 at Fenny Bentley a couple of miles north of Ashbourne) is now open again, after what seems like an age of us all having to straggle through Alsop on a road never meant for – and barely able to cope with – as much traffic as it has recently.

‘They’ really have done an amazing job, as far as the eye can see, and one can only hope and assume that the problems of landslip etc really have been overcome. It is wider, smoother and an absolute joy to drive along; I never imagined one would rave at the excitement of actually have two lanes instead of a single track, but, what joy!

Now the next excitement in the village (well, exciting for the vast majority of local people although there is a vocal minority who aren’t so pleased) will be the opening of the village hall. It is due to be finished very soon, slightly behind schedule after months of snow and ice hampered work over the winter, then lots of rain earlier in the spring. From the front (a bit like our barns) it doesn’t look anything special but from the back of the building, and even more strikingly, once inside, it is amazing – full of light and surprising angles, with the best possible use made of the relatively limited space.

The final excitement of the moment is a very little one but important to John and me. We have discovered, with Jeremy’s help, why we couldn’t load photos onto the website: something to do with Flash technology and nothing to do with any human incompetence to our relief and slight surprise.