Parwich Open Gardens – a garden (still) in the making

It is our village annual Open Gardens day today, and miraculously the sun is shining. There was one day not so long ago when in spite of a truly torrential downpour visitors poured through the Parwich gardens, soaked to the skin.

Orchard Farm opens its doors too. We always feel a trifle foolish doing this; the first time we were asked we were horrified that our half made garden  might be of any interest to anyone but were assured that it is reassuring for people to see the odd garden which is obviously needing some work and some weeding.

So the first time – about eight years ago, we called it a ‘garden in the making’ and made a little display of photographs showing the before (ramshackle field with docks and nettles growing rampantly over  old asbestos blocks, corrugated iron, rusting tractor parts and even possibly some old animal remains) and the now as it was then.

We have made some progress since then but in our minds (and literally) it will always be – and look like – a garden in the making, but that description is wearing a bit thin by now.  We’ll try and think of something a bit fresher next year meanwhile, please be warned, manicured it is not!

Five Stars and a Gold Award

We heard some time ago that we had been granted  Five Stars and a Gold Award for both Tom’s and Douglas’s Barns, which of course was a great relief and delight. Just when I was beginning to wonder whether I had dreamed the whole thing we have now  actually received the 2010 Inspection Reports. We will happily produce detailed facts and figures for anyone who would like to see them.

Just to explain for those who are lucky enough not to have to deal with these things: to achieve Five Stars in self-catering accommodation there are various straight forward conditions which must be fulfilled – such as,  for instance, the property must have a dishwasher.

The Gold Award is for ‘exceptional quality of accommodation and customer service’.

Also, much less simple, one must also satisfy the inspector that  in each of all the following sections the accommodation meets the minimum level for (in our case) Five Star:  the Exterior and Setting,  ‘Management Efficiency’,  Cleanliness, Public Areas, Bedrooms, Bathrooms, Kitchens.

We’re delighted to have met these fairly stringent guidelines and just as delighted to report that once again we have achieved 100% for cleanliness throughout both barns – well done Janet and Carol!

There were one or two anomalies – possibly even in our favour – which we find really puzzling and for which we thought we would seek an explanation – possibly more about that later. However,  the final average overall score for Douglas’s Barn  is 92%, and 91% for Tom’s Barn and we’re not complaining about anything.

Our new video: Instalment three

I started writing this while Simon was filming our study for the new video. He felt it important that viewers should see the Orchard Farm nerve centre, so to speak. Whether it will survive the cutting/censorship stage remains to be seen.

All we are hoping for is an entertaining and informative few minutes which will give newcomers a flavour of what to expect and may perhaps revive some nostalgic memories for our many loyal ‘old stagers’.

It comes at the end of a long but enjoyable two days.  The weather forecast was appalling, correctly so for yesterday, which was grey, overcast and drizzling on and off all day. It was grey, breezy and dreary here at Orchard Farm, but with  much stronger winds at Carsington where John took Simon and his son Mike, who were working together on the video, to see lots of sailing boats  skimming attractively over the waves. Or such was the hope, in fact there wasn’t a boat that dared to go out, but the windsurfers were apparently having a wonderful time, pitting their skills against the strong wind.

They went to Dovedale and had a very useful time at  Tissington where Sir Richard was good enough to let them into his beautiful gardens at the hall (not always open to the public); they also filmed  the  Tissington White Peak Butchery – that favourite destination of so many of our guests (and us!) who all love to walk over the hills to buy their truly excellent meat and pies.

By the time the crew got to Chatsworth it was dusk and the drizzle was really beginning to settle in for good. The shots of Chatsworth, seen across the park, looked beautifully misty and dream like although more ideal would have been house basking in the glow of the setting sun.

Today, Friday, was much better than the forecast, and by mid afternoon the sky cleared and the sun shone, so in the end we were lucky. Simon and  Mike made the very best use of the day, with lots of views of Parwich and a trip to the pub and the shop-in-the-pub. They caught our milk being delivered, and the papers, and our eggs. (They missed the veggie box delivery; they missed also the cake baking so my beautifully shiny oven door was a waste of time and elbow grease after all that!

The voiceover was the bit I had been truly dreading, but Simon made it relatively easy with sympathetic questions and promptings. We then gave them a supper of Tissington Bangers and saw them on their way back to Bath.

It will be some time before the new video hits the screen. The pictures need to be edited, the worst of the ums and ahs taken out of the voice over, and suitable  background music selected.

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.

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.

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.

Marmalade Update

Should be more a general update really but marmalade features heavily so I’ll start with that. We have just made a batch of grapefruit, lime and lemon marmalade, not having thought ahead enough to lay in stocks of Seville oranges in the freezer. Nor – in our defense – had we realised when we started tentatively popping little jars of homemade marmalade into the barns just what we had started.

How wrong! Our guests seem to love marmalade quite as much as we do, which of course is lovely.

We thought of it as a little experiment, something we could try out discreetly, and discontinue equally discreetly…

So now I am on the lookout for interesting recipes for really good, bitter marmalade but which doesn’t rely on Sevilles. We used wonderfully fresh, organic Sevilles this Jan, from Riverford, but the grapefruit, lemon and lime is almost as good although I say it myself.

Any offers of favourite marmalade recipes that fit the bill, will be very gratefully received (and acknowledged!). Please/thank you!