Romantic cottages for two in the Peak District
Romantic cottages for two in the Peak District
This cheering bud 
opened today (Tuesday 16th March) in the wonderfully warm spring sunshine by our front door.
What a happy sight after a long and dreary winter although the snowdrops have down their best to lift everyone’s spirits – they have been a delight this year…
A ‘quietish’ week after the last one. Ashbourne’s Shrovetide Football two-day rugby scrum on a field with no boundaries is over for another year, we’ve had snow and sunshine and now beautiful warm sunshine again today, Saturday.
Having thrown away my removable splint I have been down to London for a couple of days with daughter Ruth and son Nick; this included our attending a book discussion at Daunt’s in Marylebone High Street – Lady Antonia Fraser in most entertaining conversation with Valerie Grove about her new book ‘Must You Go’ – about her love affair and marriage to Harold Pinter. It had always seemed an odd match, but obviously a very happy and inspiring one. The book is a most fascinating read, hard to put down.
Back now and we are off to look for a barn owl spotted by friends, which John hopes to photograph. Watch these pages, as they say… so far in our experience owls disappear once a camera is anywhere near.
It was cheerful but exhausting. At least we weren’t actually doing the decorating but there was a lot of moving stuff out, moving stuff back, cleaning, sorting, replacing…
Janet and Carol did a fantastic job, coming in quite voluntarily two (extra) evenings to make sure they got everything done in time for our next guests due last Friday. And of course by the time our guests arrived everything looked quite ordered and serene.
We also had the pressure on, this end, making sure we had all the paperwork ready for our ‘green’ inspection for the Green Tourism in Business Scheme, which was scheduled for that very same Friday. The preparation was arduous, but the actual inspection when the time came very pleasant; it will be several weeks before we know the outcome but we are hoping we will move up a notch to the Silver Award section. We will announce the verdict as soon as we hear ourselves!
Well, we’re back to normal after a particularly busy week. Jason and Stuart (who are amazing decorators) managed to redecorate both barns within a week working throughout the weekend before last. They spend as much time on what many of us find the unbearably boring sanding and rubbing down, but it pays off. The paintwork looks immaculate.
We thought the barns looked pretty good beforehand but they do look particularly fresh and inviting now. In Douglas’s Barn we repeated the Farrow & Ball Buff for the woodwork and Matchstick for the walls because that seemed to have been a happy choice.
But, what for Tom’s Barn? After much deliberation and soul searching we plumped for Slipper Satin throughout (a rather attractive white, if that makes sense) and for the woodwork Old White which depending in the light is off-white, or pale grey – even sometimes pale grey with an almost olive tinge…
We think it looks great, let’s hope you do too.
I just caught the stonework glowing in the wintery sunlight before everything was covered in hail.
Having just launched the new Blog & Gallery John and I promptly went away for ten days which was hardly efficient but was just the way it turned out.
All being well things will start ticking over again. Meanwhile, a short bringing-up-to-date…
We had a wonderful family get-together in the French Alps (Les Gets in the Haute Savoie) not far from Geneva and within sight on a good day of Mont Blanc. The excuse – if we needed one – was to introduce our grandson Tom to snow. He is five now, and living in Sydney NSW had never seen snow. He had longed to throw a snowball so got plenty of opportunity for that, and skiing too.
Much snow, much skiing, much fun, one leg in plaster (mine)! But we did not let that hinder things too much and in the chalet it hardly mattered apart from my having to hop around on crutches and be pushed by long-suffering son Nick or nephew Tim, down snowy roads into the village. Not so easy now we are at home with stairs and steps to negotiate at every turn but it is amazing how one learns to adapt and thanks to John, Sara, Derek and Tom there are many kind attendants. I have much more insight now into how it must be for the disabled and feel very blessed that my disability is only temporary.
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!
We have two quite exciting technological developments to tell you about.
The first is that we now have been able to seriously boost the strength of our wireless internet connection.
For a long time we have offered wireless internet access in both barns; at first only a minority of guests seemed to use it but these days very many/most our guests bring their own laptops and access the internet without a problem. For those few guests who thanks to our incredibly thick stone walls struggle always to get a signal in the further reaches of Tom’s Barn we have a motley supply of boosters; if all else fails we have on a couple of occasions lent our own laptop, which leads nicely on to the next exciting news item!
The second development we are even more excited about.
We are going to provide a (very dinky little) Sony Netbook in each barn for our guests’ use.
We are busy setting up some useful links to helpful local services so if you want to research – maybe even book online – local eateries, art galleries or theatres you can do so from the comfort of your cottage.
Also, if you don’t want to bring your own laptop all you need do is load vital folders and files onto a dongle and – bob’s your uncle!
The netbooks are beautifully neat and light, with a 10″ screen so probably not perfect if you are working on an enormous architectural project or composing a symphony but perfect for most other things.
Our romantic holiday cottages are perfect for honeymooners
We have always loved the fact that our two barns seem to be just what so many of you are looking for, whatever your age and whatever the stage of your relationship.
Many of you don’t need any excuse but just as many might be celebrating a special birthday, an anniversary, a golden wedding or passing an important exam.
We are delighted to have noticed a very happy honeymoon trend in the last year or so, which is lovely for us and by all accounts a very super way to start off married life for the happy couples. The picture shows Peter and Claire’s honeymoon ‘rosette’ which seemed to survive the ten days of showers and sunshine of their stay quite unscathed.
We had our annual QiT inspection in June this year. Both barns had guests in them which can’t make it easy for the inspector but we are assured they are thoroughly experienced and trained in being able to tell what is old and what is recently lived in as far as cleanliness is concerned.
Anyway, all is well, and I must say our guests did us proud. The last thing we want to do is put them under pressure. You come here to relax, not fret about inspections, but there wasn’t much evidence of any new ‘dirt’ at all (and, no, no old dirt either). There is no way up – one can only come down – from our 2008 100% score for cleanliness and I’m delighted to report another 100% for cleanliness all round!
We were really hoping, having done so much to Tom’s Barn recently, to get as high a score as is possible. Now that Douglas’ Barn has been awarded the new Gold Award on the basis of its last year overall score of 91%, we would love Tom’s Barn to move up that extra point this year, which is all it needs!
However, we may be disappointed. Our very nice and we felt thoroughly fair inspector explained that because of the strict way they have to score the fact that the cooker in Tom’s Barn is let down by the now higher standard of the fridge-freezer and washer means the kitchen can’t be credited with any more points, even though we have done such a lot already and a new cooker is top of our agenda for next year’s spending spree.
Visit Britain Quality in Tourism Five Stars really does mean something, as does belonging to Premier Cottages, see below.
The annual inspection is rigorous and includes the setting and internal and external appearance of the property, management efficiency, furniture and fittings and overall impression. Each ‘critical area’ of the property has to meet an equivalent high standard of at least 87%.
Our average for Tom’s Barn was 90%, and 91% for Douglas’s Barn.
I have had the pleasure of managing Tom and Douglas Barns for 10 Years and felt it was time to enjoy a bit more of my retirement. The barns will continue to be holiday cottages and will be maintained to the standard that all previous guests have enjoyed. The only change is that Sykes Cottages […]
The weather is a bit mixed but we are still getting sunny days. A perfect time of year to come and stay for a few days and have a walk in the lovely countryside, take a bike ride, visit one of the many attractions that all stay open or just relax in Tom or Douglas […]
The weather has been so wet but our barns offer a cosy retreat in beautiful countryside. Why not pack a bag for a few days and have a break . We have extended our spring prices until mid June and reduced our summer prices. It would be lovely to see you for a few days […]
