Jane Eyre and Tom Chambers!

What a fun day we had yesterday, and a full one!

We set off fairly early for a Saturday morning to the Jane Eyre Behind the Scenes event at Haddon Hall. (This event was so over-subscribed that they are holding another on 23rd October – for more info go to Haddon Special Events or ring 01629 810 912 to book.)

This was totally fascinating, even to John and several others who have not yet seen the latest film… Janet and Jo most entertainingly took us through the whole process from their point of view first and foremost as custodians of a priceless mediaeval building with its contents but also as intrigued bystanders impressed by so much they had witnessed including the ingenuity and skills of the film crew and actors; also the boredom for the actors and onlookers as the same line would have to be repeated dozens of time over. One saw they had picked up some considerable acting skills themselves as they re-played various amusing episodes with great aplomb, having heard them so often repeated.

We shall be away, or i’d be tempted to go back for more on the 23rd. The main impressions, as they come to me at random…the expense (£24,000 on recreating a tree, that eventually wasn’t used) the ingenuity – when the Haddon dovecote becomes from the outside the church where Mr R and Jane are nearly married and the service which takes place of course in the Haddon chapel. We were let into secrets and taken into private parts of Haddon normally kept by Lord Edward for his own personal use when entertaining house-guests, we learnt about a little hitch in the continuity when the book Rochester as/isn’t reading is left on the bridge, were saw the actual costumes worn by the cast, we heard of many amusing incidents but probably above all we were aware  of the anxieties for the Haddon staff who had to be present all the time, to ensure that no damage was done unwittingly by the crew – like one who who genuinely had thought a priceless 16C chest was a prop and attached some curtaining with drawing pins or when the Thornfield fire was horribly convincingly staged (fortunately they had warned the local fire service, who – rather reassuringly – received over 100 calls that Haddon was aflame…) and so on.

So entertaining was it all that we just had to go and have a delicious bowl of homemade soup in the Haddon Hall restaurant to debrief and gather our wits before setting forth for Manchester, and the Lyric Theatre at the Lowry where we had booked tickets for the last night (there) of Tom Chambers in Top Hat.

I had been going to write of the full day in one post but I’ve spent too long at Haddon, so you’ll just have to wait a wee while to hear how we got on in Manchester along with tens of thousands of rather over-exuberant rugby league supporters, not that they were going to see Tom Chambers…

DRCS Shopping Fair 2011

Well, we have held our third DRCS Shopping Fair on Wednesday and Thursday this week (5th and 6th October) and come out victorious…! It’s a lot of hard work, much of it sheer physical slog, but we all reckon it was a very happy and successful one-and-a-bit day event. Customers flocked in, full of smiling anticipation and the buzz was non-stop. Whether the buzz meant less actual shopping was done we do not quite yet know, but the excitement and anticipation was  infectious and judging by the number of colourful shopping bags that left the hotel at least a bit of serious shopping was done.

The Friends’ Committee, helped admirably by their husbands/wives coped wonderfully. Running an event like this is a lot of work, particularly beforehand, so that the actual occasion runs smoothly and apparently effortlessly – in fact, appears miraculously to “run itself’ as one of my  chairmen informed me when I was managing the service and  resisting his suggestions that similar events should ‘run themselves’  monthly and more or less fund the entire organisation without any external effort.

Our treasurer thinks we will have made approximately £5,000 which is wonderful. we are very grateful to the lovely stall holders who filled the Maynard in Grindleford with their colourful wares and tempted money out of many a pocket. Click here to view some of the many stalls, photographed by John.

What a happy event, and a happily tiring two days. The next excitement for us (watch these pages) is the Haddon Hall ‘Jane Eyre: Behind the Scenes’  tomorrow morning, and Top Hat tomorrow evening, at the Lowry in Manchester.

Baking Hot – Catching up with all the news

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.

Jane Eyre – the Film and Behind the Scenes

A little gap, explained by a quick trip to London, where two of our young and many friends live. It is always lovely to go down; to enjoy the buzz and fit as much as possible into the time, but how lovely it always is to get back to the sweet air of Parwich and the Peak District. I always swear that even if I were blindfolded I would always know when I’d reached home.

Anyway, back to the buzz…and amongst other mild excitements I went with Ruthie and a friend to see the new Jane Eyre at the new Westfield Centre. Nick joined us for a delicious Vietnamese meal from one of the nearby eating places (a first for me) and then we reclined  in luxurious comfort in enormous leather (?) seats in the very plush cinema at the very top of the White City shopping centre to watch the film.

Having very recently re-read the book I found it quite puzzling to start at the moment when Jane runs away after a ‘just cause and due impediment’ to Rochester marrying her is declared in church. Thereafter the action darts back and forth, potentially confusingly for anyone whose memory of the story is there but only faintly – possibly better if one didn’t know the story at all.

Mr Rochester (Michael Fassbender – apparently a German born Irish actor) is better looking than he should be although he tries rather unconvincingly to look ugly and brooding; Mia Wasikowska (Australian) and Mrs Fairfax (Judi Dench) were all excellent if slightly unconvincing at times. That’s the trouble when one has both read the book and seen different films in the past., but I thoroughly enjoyed the film and look forward to seeing it again soon.

Knowing Haddon Hall so well made the film doubly fun. I had been wondering afterwards how on earth a film can be shot with all the actors, crew and equipment in a busy hall, which is usually filled with visitors, when to my delight an email popped up on my screen advertising a ‘Jane Eyre Behind the Scenes Tour’ at Haddon on Saturday 8th October at 10.30. You really have to ferret around on the Haddon website to find out any info so here is the link to Haddon Special Events or you can ring 01629  810 912 to book a place (£11.50 per person).

Water, Water, Everywhere? Or Just for Elephants?

I was amused to see that the next film to be shown at the Parwich cinema (otherwise known as the Memorial Hall) is ‘Water for Elephants’.  There are not too many elephants round here, and not too much water at the moment either. When did it last rain?

It can’t be that long ago, but it can’t have been up to much either (must consult the weather gurus on Parwich blog). Overall, we must have had rather little recently. These photos will bear me out.

The first one is of my  brother-in-law and Aileen his wife, on the stepping stones at Dovedale. Admittedly they all have their new topknot now, but still – look how proud they stand out of the water! We happily crossed from one side to the other with no risk of slipping because they were so dry and the Dove so invitingly shallow had we missed our footing.

I don’t remember ever seeing so relatively little water at Carsington, either. I took some photos as I passed today  and here is one – not very good (taken with my phone) but which I hope give an indication of the low level. Then I stopped at the ‘splash’, the ford on the way to Tissington. It was looking as attractive as ever, but the water lower than I ever remember seeing it. There may be a reasonably long stretch of wet, but – especially if you click on the photos to enlarge it – you can see that it is only a couple of inches deep. (It can be well over a foot deep and not quite so mirror-like and still!)

Next time we are tempted to complain about the rain, we must remember this.

Borneo Cruise, Ruthie’s Report

You’ve heard from Casilda Grigg, via her report in the Spectator of 21st September 2011; now you can read Ruth’s long-awaited account…

My friend Casilda offered me a wonderful opportunity, totally out of the blue – to join her as she’d been commissioned to write a travel piece about a cruise for the Spectator.  Initially I thought a cruise? No way!  Like most people I thought a cruise involved extremely overweight people increasing their problem by taking advantage of a 24 hour free buffet and probably playing bridge all day.  Casilda persisted – for which I will always thank her – and my interest was piqued, along with a sense of how rarely such an amazing opportunity lands on your lap.  Very kindly my bosses let me take a trip at short notice, and it was all a bit of a blur of trying to work out flights and packing and clearing the decks so I didn’t have very much time to find out in detail about what lay ahead.  In some ways that was part of the fun.

The journey to Borneo was not bad at all – although it was 24 hours’ travelling in all – because we flew Emirates and they very kindly upgraded us, so we took full advantage of the extremely comfortable beds in Business Class and the Veuve Reserve.  We had a night to recover in a super hotel  then embarked in Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo.  From the off I loved it all.  The Orion II was a small ship in cruise terms (50 cabins) and the people on the trip were all fun, fit and energetic (probably because they were mostly Australian; Orion is an Australian company).

Every day we were off the ship almost all day – often at the crack of dawn.  Our activities ranged from attending a very moving memorial service for those who died in the Sandakan Death Marches to exploring Buddhist Temples and Churches to visiting a modern Rungus Longhouse.  I went diving; I met Orang Utans; I swam in a mud volcano – probably one of the most fun things I’ve ever done as it met my requirement that a perfect holiday should involve some form of regression to childhood.  I went upriver on a sort of water safari and saw amazing wildlife, including snakes and monitor lizards.  And I think I danced back on the ship every night – Casilda and I saw it as our role to lead the charge onto the dance floor – and to be ready for that I had great fun experimenting with what I thought was Cruise Wear.

But there was a reflective side to it all too; it was called an expedition cruise, and for good reason.  We were in a different spot every day, moving at night – and how brilliant it was not to have to pack, and to get back to a luxurious cabin at the end of every (extremely tiring) day.  There was an emphasis on sustainability and helping the communities we visited: we planted trees to make a small effort against palm oil plantation deforestation and visited a school that Orion supports.

It was also about learning: there were experts on hand (historian, biologist, naturalist, geologist) whose brains you could pick whenever it suited you – it usually suited me over dinner and wine.  They were all fascinating and generous with their knowledge.  The food was amazing – I loved it, and managed to have a three course breakfast on all days were time allowed, including an omelette cooked to my direction.  The thing that struck me most though was the Malaysian people we met.  Every single one was friendly, funny, and open, with a wonderful turn of phrase and naughty sense of humour along with a real sense of pride in their country and in Borneo.  I’d love to spend more time there and I would LOVE to do another cruise.  And I think I could even learn to live with a 24 hour buffet too.

North Borneo Cruise Update

Some of you may remember that our daughter Ruthie recenty returned from an amazing cruise round the north Borneo coast, thanks to a very good friend of hers, Casilda Grigg, who had been commissoned to write a piece on this Orion Expedition Cruise for the Spectator. We in turn have commsssioned a short personal account from Ruthie for our Tom’s Barn Blog but this has not yet materialised – she has not been as speedy as Casilda whose splendid article is in today’s Spectator.

Do read her piece! Their trip sounds just the sort of luxury-but-interesting cruise without the cowds that we’d really love too, in theory, not that we are ever likely to be lucky enough to go on one – the ‘starting’ price per person does not even include the flight there and back… The Peak District will happily do for us.

Casilda writes beautifully, and so evocatively; it’s enough to cause writer’s block in anyone with pen in hand (or sitting at a computer keyboard for that matter).  “Keep calm and carry on,” I tell myself as I plug on quietly, trying to remember that at least I am writing, when I do, it is for my own personal pleasure and others’ occasional mild entertainment, not as a highly respected journalist like Casilda Grigg.

John found this rather spendid photo of two Rhinecerous Hornbills, unfortunately not in the wild but in Singapore Zoo which explains the bowl rather conveniently attached to the bough!

Explanation and Apology for a Long Silence

We have been away, away from the seat of power – it’s as simple as that. I had fondly thought I could daily – although possibly still without photos – send posts composed laboriously with one or at the most two fingers on my mobile phone but hadn’t reckoned with the amount of general activity and socialising that kept me almost permanently from the miniature keyboard.

We started the spell away with a memorable birthday party arranged for a very good, very longstanding good friend of ours (not going to say ‘old friend’) who was celebrating a memorable birthday, so things started off well and continued in a very happy and nostalgic vein. We then travelled up to our old hunting ground of Scarborough to stay with another longstanding friend for a few days.

This kind friend had laid on three days of interest and fun, meeting up with old friends, a super visit to Bramcote School where we had been for twenty busy, happy, fullfilled years, a quick nostalgic trip to Scarborough cricket ground and another old family friend then finally, a visit to the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round, where we saw Neighbourhood Watch, the (current) very last play to be written and directed by Alan Ayckbourn himself. (This is the third year running we have been lucky enough to do so; all being well he will have written yet another by this time next year.)

We have seen many of his 75 plays over the years, most of them written and first seen in Scarborough.  His plays are always an imaginative and often quite subtly disturbing mixture of belly laughs and black humour, all enhanced by the perfect timing and delivery of his Scarborough actors.

Neighbourhood Watch was extremely topical, dealing with vandalism and mayhem on the streets; it is how the neighbourhood reacts, with increasing and quite unjustifiable violence itself that is even more disturbing. We all assumed that Alan had dashed off the play since the riots but apparently he wrote it last October which is yet more disturbing; we have still to see how the affected communities do react in the long term.

And now we are safely back in peaceful Parwich, and slowly getting back to normal but I fear it may take several days to catch up properly. Rightly, I should end with another apology…

Using my iPhone to write a post

This is a rather alarming experiment (I know many of you will wonder what the fuss is all about but I am equally sure many of you will sympathise).

So, one finger tapping away. I won’t consider adding a photo -keep that excitement for next time! This is all I am going to say. I’m feeling fairly worn out with the tension. Will it appear?

Facing up to Facebook

I am rather proud of the fact that despite advancing years and general lack of ‘coolness’ we have been on Facebook for over three years. What isn’t quite so impressive is that in those 3 plus years I have done very, very little and have tended only to respond to others rather than initiate anything positive (rather the way I am with LinkedIn now, but I keep meaning to get to grips with that, too).

The pressure is now on. With apparently half the population of Great Britain on Facebook alone, never mind Twitter and all the others, one just has to accept that social networking is part of life already, just as email has become, and mobile phones and whatever else is in store for the future. We have been waking up to this in our little part of the world, helped enormousy by wonderfully inspirational training provided, free at the moment (thanks to European funding) by the ebusiness club which is run mainly I think by the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce for all small/medium sized businesses in the East Midlands.

Not surprisingly, the funding situation is becoming very insecure so we all tend to go to as many relevant sessions as possible while the going is good! The workshops and seminars are all designed to help what may be fairly isolated small businesses keeping up with website design and optimisation, online marketing, social media, wireless and mobile working etc. Most of the Peak District Premier Cottages owners have made full use of all that’s on offer and we have all benefitted enormously.

The emphasis on social marketing has struck home and as a group we have decided all to develop a Facebook page for our own properties, but we also have started our own Peak District Premier Cottages page which is building up slowly. Do please have a look! And while you are on Facebook, please have a look at our Tom’s Barn and Douglas’s Barn one as well and if you are that way inclined, please do ‘Like’ us as well.

Our terrific webman Jeremy Blough has worked hard in not very much time to design our Welcome page which is meant to reflect the feel of our website… Any comments, suggestions and (gently worded) citicisms will be gratefully accepted. We know we have a lot to learn.