My summer swallow fetish

 I spent the summer trying to achieve the impossible. The results you can see in the photo gallery.

On the Home page top right click on Photo Gallery by the little green camera symbol.

On the Photo Page click on the first photo in the gallery you want to visit (in this case, Swallows). For a larger picture Click on Pic[Lens]

The first picture comes up; to move to the next click on the arrow to the right (or left if you want to go back).

Reader’s Tip in BBC Countryfile Magazine Dec 2009

We had hoped to be able to give you a link to the BBC Countryfile Magazine feature on the Peak District where this Reader’s Tip appears,  but have discovered that this is not possible. Although there is a website  one cannot access articles (nor readers’ tips!) because otherwise I imagine they’d never sell any magazines.

So the best we can do, with the blessing of Fergus Collins the Countryfile Magazine editor, is to reproduce the  tip below, and give you the link to the online magazine for a general browse.

“Tom’s Barn, Parwich
I would recommend Tom’s Barn, two gorgeous barns on the edge of a beautiful Peak District village with walks from the door. We went there for our honeymoon.”
Sam Temple-Scotton
BBC Countryfile Magazine, December 2009
http://www.bbccountryfilemagazine.com

To read the article on the Peak District you have to buy the current (December) edition, which we urge you to do and keep for reference if you are interested in our lovely part of the world – and who could not be?

And meanwhile, once again, thank you to Sam, although we gather there was  initial concern from some quarters  that she had revealed what should have remained a well-kept secret!

Douglas’s Barn

We’re always updating and replacing things. A big addition, for Douglas’s Barn only, is Sky TV. The latest major addition is a new iPad for your use, pre-loaded with weblinks to helpful local sites to ensure you can make the most of your time here.

Tom’s Barn

Lots of new things, as always, including a new Roberts DAB radio/CD/iPod dock and new electric hand-held mixer. The most exciting possibly is an iPad for your own use and convenience. Tom’s Barn Accommodation click here

What’s Happening in Parwich

For the latest local news, what’s on locally, weather updates, lots of John’s photos over the last couple of years and all the latest information about Parwich, visit the village blog

Tom’s Barn Blog and Gallery going live!

We’re poised, on tenterhooks, about to go live and by the time you read this we will be…

Our  ‘blog’ is now a grown up fully revamped Blog and we are trusting it will eventually be as much fun as we hope. Jeremy Brough, our wonderful webdesigner friend, and we, have worked hard on this one but we are quite sure there will be some funny blips this end to start with and do let us know, gently, if you discover any so we can sort them out as soon as possible.

We hope to keep you all up to date with what’s going on and we are hoping that it will be much easier for family, friends and guests to find their way round, and we trust, make the occasional comment and send us a  picture from time to time.

Seriously, we really hope that our guests will help us keep abreast of the latest news locally – where perhaps you’ve eaten or walked or shopped or whatever else you have enjoyed and want to share for the benefit of future guests (and us!).

It will also give John much more scope to store and share his ever-increasing collection of photos, more of which later. Many of these will be of Tom’s Barn and Douglas’s  Barns (our two lovely holiday cottages for two in the Peak District, for those coming upon this out of the blue)  even more will be of Orchard Farm, Parwich and the surrounding countryside; also will feature flowers in the garden, the local birds, butterflies, bees and Boots.

To ensure we retain a cosmopolitan edge we are hoping that our family members may send the occasional post from London, Hastings, Sydney, Cape Town and Durban, not to forget our far flung guests as well!

Please don’t feel awkward about commenting. You don’t have to put your full name – just your first name, or initials, or even a pen name if you feel particularly shy – and your email address will never be revealed. It might be helpful and make it more interesting for all if you gave an indication if you were guest, family or friend (maybe all three). All we ask and confidently assume is that the comments are fit to be read even by our young grandson Tom aged five (he can’t read yet anyway, but you get the gist…!); criticisms if there are any will be welcomed as long as they are are constructive!

Tom’s and Douglas’s Barns entry on TripAdvisor

This post was originally written in Sept 09; we now have had three comments and all being well will soon have a few more!
The Tom’s Barn and Douglas’s Barn TripAdvisor entry is live at last, and we are no longer listed as being in Teeside, which is a help! It certainly confused people, including us. And another milestone – we have now had a review. We eventually discovered who wrote it, lovely guests who are have just booked their next visit for February. Thank you both very much! We always get such wonderfully warm and appreciative comments to us privately, and in our Visitors’ Books, and now also, anonymous ones on the Visitrac questionnaire; however, these are all very discreet and not aired publicly, so it feels good to have a TripAdvisor comment and let’s hope it will spur others on to action! We do know that at least one other review has been sent to TripAdvisor but that one must be circling round Durham Cathedral rooftops – it never reached our site, anyway! We have asked several of our many overseas guests (lovely Australian ones mainly but no doubt it applies to many other nationalities as well) how their fellows down under would find somewhere in England to stay and TripAdvisor seems the place they’d look so you’d be actually helping them find somewhere nice (or at least that’s what we sincerely hope you’d feel!).

TripAdvisor Reviews

See Tom’s and Douglas’s Barns on Trip Advisor for the latest reviews from guests who have all stayed in either Tom’s or Douglas’s Barns recently.

More Things to Do

There is so much to do locally, it can be bewildering knowing where to start. When you are actually staying here you will find access to pretty well all the information you might need already loaded onto the Sony netbook in your barn.

Before you are here perhaps the first bit of advice is to look at all the activities on our Out and About page. There is plenty of information there, with links to pretty well most activities available locally, whether walks, water sports, climbing – you can even hang glide if you really want to.

Then of course there are all the stately homes locally – Chatsworth, Haddon, Kedleston, Sudbury and not much further afield, Lyme Park and Hardwick Hall. Theatres too… our very favourite being Buxton Opera House which is an easy half hur’s drive from here.

If you are interested in cooking here are plenty of excellent farm shops, butchers and delicatessens, all selling local food; if you’d rather eat what someone else has cooked there are wonderful pubs and restaurants in the area, some even within walking distance of here. If shopping is your thing there are book shops and antique shops galore, not to mention some pretty classy dress shops…

And to end on the self-indulgence theme, there are several places locally where one can book a pampering session or two (for the men as well as the ladies if that appeals).

Cycling in the Peak District

We’re on slightly dodgier ground here, personally, as neither of us is a great cyclist. We do have possess a pair of bikes bought to lend our guests (at the their own risk as one has to add, these days) which does mean you don’t necessarily have to drive here with a pair strapped to the back of your car.

There are cycle tracks everywhere, and cycle hire spots if you want more gears and gadgets than our lovely bikes are blessed with. The nearest and most convenient tracks are the Tissington and High Peak Trails, both formed from old railway lines so free from any too violent slopes, and free from cars, too.