Romantic cottages for two in the Peak District
Romantic cottages for two in the Peak District
There has been a lot of talk of holidays, but it hasn’t been all play. We and others have been hard at work too, behind the scenes in our relentless quest to keep our two holiday cottages as fresh and clean and lovely as we possibly can. You could say, but of course we wouldn’t know, that it is a bit like an respected beauty doing all she can to remain as fresh-faced and attractive as ever.
Tom’s Barn is nearly twelve years old now, and Douglas’s Barn nearly 6 but there is not much that hasn’t been replaced, restored, improved over that time. 
However, we hope and believe all the basics that people love both barns for are timeless – the warm, welcoming, relaxing atmosphere, the feeling as someone put it once that you are in your own little slice of heaven. And of course, our particular setting in the Peak District is a wonderful bonus, in such wonderful countryside with so many walks, beautiful sites and good pubs.
Before I get completely carried away, back to the hard slog, the nitty gritty. While we were in Yorkshire, Jason Fowkes repaired and repainted all the exterior woodwork with our favoured (Finnish, extremely environmentally friendly) Valtti paint.
If we had changed the colour it would have been instantly noticeable but because we so love the grey/green/blue (what colour is it? Valtti rather prosaically just use a number) you would probably not even guess anything had happened at all.
Since then Jason has completely ‘touched up’ the interior of Douglas’s Barn and has done Tom’s Barn this week, when – shock! horror! a carpet has been laid up the stairs and in the bedroom in response to a directive from above that we must upgrade the floor/flooring in Tom’s Barn upstairs (see How Friendly is Dog Friendly?) for an explanation. What do you think? Actually we are rather pleased. It is nice to walk on and looks great; perhaps we’ll soon be wondering why we didn’t do it years ago.
Other improvements this year include lots of custom made oak furniture in Tom’s Barn, a new telly and hi fi in Douglas’s Barn and several more minor additions – the latest being a very nice wok/stir fry pan from John Lewis in each kitchen. I have very recently bought one Magi-Mix Micro food processor which we will experiment with at home to see if we think it would be a useful addition to our cottages or just make more clutter and mess for our guests (there must be a thin line – somewhere – between anticipating your every need and overdoing it).
The only other major thing I can think of is a dramatic rearrangement of the use of storage space in the Douglas’s Barn kitchen. I think it is much improved and shall be interested in feedback. Tom’s Barn kitchen is more compact, with its 3 sides, so I suspect there is less need there but I await any suggestions.
After a truly wonderful spell in North Yorkshire it is still lovely to get home again. Autumn is creeping up, but the grass is still growing and there is still plenty colour in the garden. John had taken lots of photos recently, and a small selection can be seen in our gallery ORCHARD FARM GARDEN: Autumn 2011.
Isn’t this red acer beautiful (although I must confess since John took the photo heavy winds almost stripped it bare…).
Lots more colourful pictures to be seen… Meanwhile, this is pretty short and sweet as we are off to London first thing tomorrow morning for what should be a fun weekend, starting off with a cricket club reunion lunch for John and eight other members of a successful Trinity College Dublin cricket 1st X1 side. In case you’re wondering, two can’t come…
Fortunately wives are included and as most of us have known each other a very long time now it will be a fun occasion, with much nostalgic reminiscing and no doubt leg-pulling if any of the team start dwelling too long on their own particular contribution to the team’s success.
Then tomorrow evening Nick has arranged a supper party for ‘sisters, cousins and aunts’ and has tickets for something on Saturday. We have yet to discover what!
Which all points to a roundabout way of preparing for perhaps another delay before the next blog post, when I hope to write briefly about the pleasures of being on the other side of the holiday cottage fence, as guests rather than owners… Watch this space!
What a wonderful spell of weather we have been enjoying!
As luck would have it I spent much of today in our kitchen churning out Bakewell tarts and also the coconut ‘Lincoln Tarts’ (guests may recognise!) for the Derwent Rural Counselling Service (DRCS) Shopping Fair tomorrow. The apparently burnt offering at the back does not look so bad in real life, I promise!
2011 DRCS Shopping Fair, at the Maynard, Grindleford, S32 2HE Tues 5th Oct 6pm-8pm; Thurs 6th Oct 10am-4pm
Then we had spent the previous two days indoors too, escaping outside to enjoy the balmy October sunshine whenever we had a break – we’ll be writing about snow next…! We had been attending the Premier Cottages AGM, which rather conveniently for all of us us in the Peak District is usually held just outside Stafford, so a much easier drive for us than those poor Premier Cottage owners who come from the far north or Cornwall.
It is always a very pleasant affair, with lots of stimulating discussions both formal and informal and interesting presentations. These included one by the CEO of VisitEngland, and another about star gradings and inspections for holiday cottages by Pam Foden, the VisitEngland Quality Controller, who warned that inspections would become (even more) robust. We all had a nervous turn about this when John and I reported back to Janet this evening: we take the cleanliness so seriously anyway and already it often takes every single minute of the five hours we have between visits to tackle everything, however clean and tidy the previous guests have (almost invariably) left it.
In our experience the ‘robustness’ of inspectors has never been in question – it is more the puzzling inconsistencies…
Finally, to end on a more positive note, here is another happy photo, of umbrellas: the Peak District Premier Cottages (PDPC) group has commissioned an umbrella with PDPC Logo for a bit of cheerful and useful PR.
Our daughter Ruth is back from Borneo, having had a wonderful time. She has promised to write a short account for our blog, so watch this space – we won’t pre-empt her news. Here is a photo of her waiting to dine at the captain’s table!
We can’t compete with cruises but last Friday we enjoyed a splendid evening with some fellow DRCS friends and supporters, at Haddon Hall. Matlock Rotary organised an ‘Evening Extravaganza at Haddon Hall” with all proceeds being shared between three local charities, one of which was the DRCS (Derwent Rural Counselling Service). The dress theme was ‘Dress to Impress’ and you must admit we did pretty welll?
To our disappointment most the other guests had obviously not taken the theme to heart but we felt pleased – and just a teeny bit smug – that we had! We haven’t yet heard how much the Matlock Rotary are going to dinate to DRCS but our party – all involved DRCS supporters – were very glad to support the event.
Throughout the weekend we have had the delightful company of our daughter Ruthie hot from North Borneo via London where she works, and Douglas and Beverley, two very good friends who used, a long time ago, to live in Parwich but Douglas’s work has taken him from here to South Carolina and now North Yorkshire!
You may be 50, but the dishes still need to be done...
They too were here for the weekend, the excuse being to help our friend Debbie ‘American Deb’ celebrate her 50th. Of course our Australian contingent, Sara, Derek and Tom, couldn’t be here nor Nick who was working all weekend; Allie Webster flew back from the states just in time to be at her mother’s birthday celebrations, barely – but successfully – escaping the hurricane .
Apprehensive?
Totally relaxed!
The final little bit of personal activity to report is a trip today to the Eden Day Spa at Hoar Cross Hall with Debbie, Allie and five other of Debbie’s friends, to continue to celebrate her 50th birthday with a day of self-indulgent pampering ‘treatments’ and swimming, saunas, steam rooms, massages, facials even ‘nail treatments’ etc.
I hasten to reassure, we didn’t all do everything but we had the greatest fun and finished the day feeling totally self-indulged and relaxed (and quite exhausted, strangely!).
Thus ends our August Bank Holiday weekend news roundup: not a typical weekend by any stretch of the imagination!
The ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ creeps upon us. Blackberries are ripening, courgettes are turning into marrows while one’s back is momentarily turned, the plums on our old tree are turning a beauiful golden red and are already as sweet as honey, the apple tree can hardly cope with all the apples and the damsons are darkening by the hour. We’re all going to have a busy time and it doesn’t stop with the picking. After the jam and chutneys, the apple puree and damson gin, what to do with all the courgettes?
Soup (lovely), chutneys and pickle (also lovely) chocolate and courgette cake – also sounds very lovely. Riverford Farm have the recipe which you will find the link to here but also in their recipe book, page. I tried it yesterday. It smelt delicious but it certainly was a tad on the heavy, somewhat squadgy side. Perhaps 1lb of grated courgete is askig a bit much, and rather more likely, I perhaps should have left it in the oven a little longer. It was compulsive eating though, I kept trying yet another bit, just to reassure myslef that it was really deliciousl. I wonder what our guests’ reaction is… – I hope they will let us know. Meanwhile, here is the link to the recipe, courtesy of Riverford. Do let me know what you think if you make it. i shall certainly try agai as my first attempt was not an unqualified success (and I usually have quite agood success rate with cakes although i say it myself).
It is hard from the outside to make our two lovely holiday cottages in the Peak District look anything other than what they once were – cattle barns on a working farm!
Orchard Farm is not a listed building – in spite of its age and general loveliness (beauty they say is in the eye of the beholder) it is not deemed of any great architectural merit by the powers-that-be. However, we are in the Peak National Park and we are in a Conservation Area so there were many restrictions imposed when we converted the barns, many but not all of which we understood and accepted. After some ‘discussions’ the planners did accept that our guests would need some daylight upstairs and they agreed to our choce of colour for the woodwork instead of their originally stipulated ‘black or drak brown’.
Crucially, our romantic cottages for two had to stay looking like barns from the outside, however romantic/contemporary the internal modernisation…
Other than that, all we could do to suggest that they are no longer cattle sheds is to put pots of flowers outside! So, when it comes to producing enticing external photos for websites and the Premier Cottages brochure we are a bit stumped to make them look in the slightest bit inviting, or suggestive that inside might be quite exciting and fun!
John and Jeremy Brough our webman/friend have nearly fallen out of upstairs windows with me clinging to their legs as they try to get a moderately enticing shot (see the first photo, taken by John). A couple of years ago Jeremy also happily allowed himself to be strapped to a pallet on our neighbour Mick’s ‘cherry picker’, gamely aiming his camera above his head as he swayed and wavered in the breeze up high (see his photo of Orchard Farm on the left).
Last Sunday Mark Nunnerley took several excellent shots with his camera on top of a pole; he meanwhile had both feet safely on the ground as he directed his camera via his laptop. Both sets of guests were game enough to allow themselves to be included in the shots, as they sat outside in the sunshine studying maps and drinking cups of tea (it was too early for the wine that came later). So our barns still look like barns in his photos but one can also see signs of life and also one can see our rural village setting, with open countryside immediately behind.
Mark Nunnerley sent six photos which you can see in our blog photo gallery; there are also two that John took of Mark taking them. See what you think. We are very pleased with them; so a big thank you to Mark and also a big thank you to our involuntary ‘extras’ who were staying last week! By the way, all the photos look better if you click on each one to enlarge it.
Another embarrassing delay for the blog output, but we have been busy and down to London… and today was changeover day, and tomorrow is the first day of Parwich Wakes so there have been other priorities.
And it is nearly midnight now but I just wanted to bob my head up again and briefly break the silence. ‘Went the Day Well’ in St Paul’s went very well, and more of that to come, tomorrow I hope. London was good; Wimbledon was on and the Pensions strike was on so we expected the train and things generally to be more crowded. Everywhere was littered with policemen but we saw and heard nothing of the march other than two decidedly nearing pension-age teachers in the tube, looking very clean and orderly, proudly sporting badges asking us to protect their pensions.
There was another incident which we completely missed and John didn’t even know about until I arrived late at our planned meeting for lunch on St Pancras station (who would have dreamt ten years ago that lunch on the station could actually be a treat? In the past all one could have was a greasy burger and chips, with a rather distinctive smell of artificial flavourings and slightly stale hot fat, which the (myriads of) pigeons would do their best to pinch off you).
This other incident was a ‘fire alert’ at King’s Cross. Those of us in the tube hoping to dscend at King’s Cross for St Pancras were told in an announcement – fortunately repeated ad nauseam because it was almost incomprehensible at first – that because of the said alert the tube would not stop at King’s Cross and those that wanted to get off there should descend at Euston. Fortunately I was in good time (train-catching if not lunch-wise) but there were numerous very harrassed looking passengers hurtling along the pavement, pulling behind them suitcases-on-wheels which were lurching wildly from side to side and toppling over in their owner’s haste.
On the road were ambulances and fire-engines and police cars… Whether it was a real fire or a ‘fire alert’ – whatever that technically is – or a training exercise I have no idea. Anyway, I got to St Pancras without any problem, too late for lunch but with several minutes in hand before our train left. Since then we’ve heard nothing more about the incident; it’s almost as if I dreamt it all (which I did not!).
Back to Parwich. It’s always the same: you open the car door and instantly smell that lovely fresh, green, sweet air and hear all the birds. Tomorrow with the Oddfellows’ March, a band, a’village market’ on the green, a mini fun fair (if maxi-noisy) for the children and young at heart, a fancy dress parade and lots more, the centre of Parwich will not be peaceful; up here on the edge of the village peaceful it will remain, but the jollity is not far away for those that want it.
I am told feeding on demand is now (once again) the fashion and preferred choice for many mothers and professionals for human babies but it would apper that this is nature’s way too.
We have already shown but will again here on the right let you see John’s photos of our little trio of blue tits who wore ther parents out with their constant open mouths always, always wanting ‘More’ with not a hint of a please or a thank you.
John has just been down to see Patti B’s swallows, lodging in one of their stables. Just look at their open, demanding mouths in the photo on the left. He will shortly be putting up more of these in our photo gallery but I just thought these were rather fun. Meanwhile, to finish off here is a photo of a goldfinch baby being fed. You can’t see his open mouth but you can see why they open them so wide. The parents have to put their entire beak right into the baby’s mouth.
I 
am sorry to have neglected the blog for so many days. We have had a very busy time recently wearing all the different hats that we do and there hasn’t been much ime for anything, let alone gentle ramblings at the computer.
Busy? Pimms on the lawns at Haddon Hall with mediaeval music in the background, followed by a delicious dinner in the Haddon Hall restaurant…? A terrific reward for some previous business…
Many of you who peruse these gentle ramblings from time to time may remember that at times in the recent past we were struggling over the fairly rigorous application process for the EQM, followed by a two-hour ‘Verification’/Inspection visit. Some of the difficulties were because we were the first batch of applicatnts to undertake the online application; as part of the pilot process for the revamped scheme we did not have to pay a registration fee but were helping iron out any glitches in the system. It is reassuring if totally unfair, to be able to blame a new system for all form-filling difficulties one experiences!
Anyway, in spite of that neat disclaimer it was a very well thought out process and it has certainly helped us understand more of the responsibilities we all share for protecting the environment and supporting -in our case- the Peak District – and everyone else who lives and works and visits the area.
The Award Presentation and Dinner at Haddon was a delightful experience. After a full day on Wednesday preparing – chopping herbs, grating limes and fresh ginger and squesing the limes and cutting up thousands of cherry tomatoes, for the DRCS charity luncheon at Over Haddon on the Thursday (since you’re wondering, “Jubilee Chicken” quite delicious and I may share the recipe soon!) salad, new potatoes followed by strawberries and chocolate brownies with creme fraiche in the beautiful new village hall at Over Haddon it was lovel to go seamlessly after a quick change in the (in my case) Ladies to becomae a guest with no duties.
Lots of our local Peak District Premier Cottages friends and colleagues were there, many already EQM Award holders, and several new ones, like us, so it was all very jolly and social. We got back here at 11.30 when i had to start baking cakes for our guests and the Flaxdale Open Gardens…
There’s a real horticultural feel to this coming weekend; let’s hope the weather is kind so that all the visitors can enjoy in comfort all the treats that lie ahead.
The first treat is a one-off event, when Mike and Gill Radcliffe of Flaxdale House are opening their garden all day to raise money for the DRCS, a charity very close to my heart (I managed it for ten years and am now a trustee and a member of the very active Friends of DRCS Fundraising committee but this event is organised entirely by Mike and Gill ). All the proceeds are to go to the charity; Gill and several local artists will be exhibiting some of their paintings, and they are giving 25% of the total price of any sold to the DRCS (so with my DRCS hat on I hope plenty get sold!!).
There’s a host of exciting gardens waiting to be enjoyed this Sunday in Parwich (including Flaxdale again – Mike and Gill will be on their knees come Sunday evening) many of them are particularly impressive and most of them normally hidden from public view. The village has many interesting gardens and many highly knowledgeable and keen gardeners. Then there are some (or maybe it’s just us) who just love 
gardens and flowers and the scent and colour… but lack much horticultural know how. However, we are lucky enough to enjoy the much appreciated services of Sue whom many of you have met or at least seen at Orchard Farm on a Thursday morning, busily putting everything to rights, and tactfully instructing us about what we should be doing.
John will cut the grass and make sure things look as tidy as possible but that is as far as it goes – we take a perverse pride in not doing anything extra or special, mainly because it would take months and more time and expertise than we have but also it takes some of the pressure off what would otherwie be an impossible situation. Those who knew Orchard Farm of old will testify that the ‘garden’ did not exist, apart from a plum tree near the house, a honeysuckle by the front door and the lovely yellow ‘Parwich rose’ which flowers for two weeks in June.
The wider garden was, literally, a dump. Tom the previous owner had allowed farmers and builders to deposit their rubbish there so it was a perilously sloping tangled mound of everything from breeze blocks, broken bits of asbestos, old bicycle frames and tractor and various animal skeletons. It took someone with a digger and big truck three whole days to clear, before we had to start on the docks, nettles and brambles. John has some very telling before and after pictures, not that the after photos show any great development year on year!
Meanwhile, lots of photos taken yesterday morning and the day before are viewable in the Photo gallery ‘Orchard Farm Garden: Flowers’
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