The first snowdrops of the year at Orchard Farm

Both photos were taken today, Wednesday January 19th – the first full moon of the year, and much more significantly, the first snowdrops of the year at Orchard Farm.

Aren’t these snowdrops lovely?  And would you say they were flowering? Certainly almost, and it is a very heartening sight to see all these clusters of snowdrops by our front door competing to show their beautiful faces and send their promise that spring will come eventually.

John took this photo this morning, and on the way back from Derby by the light of the full moon (at 5.30pm!) we stopped the car for him to take another photo, of the moon over Carsington Water. That too looked very beautiful.

We had paid a quick visit to Derby to buy various things for the barns (champagne flutes for both barns and new kitchen chair cushions for Tom’s Barn amongst other rather bulky items). Rather more excitingly, we also met up with some friends to see The King’s Speech in the very super-plush new cinema in the Derby Westfield Centre. We don’t often go to the cinema apart from Parwich’s own in the new village hall, but this was a real treat. We thought the film quite excellent.

All the while I am resisting mentioning the tax (still not done) and the email crisis (still not resolved) but both things are receiving attention.

The sun shone, but not such a good day for some

The snowdrops are ALMOST out. One could call it out, but they aren’t quite in full bloom.That’s the good news.

Now for the rest. Not such a good day today. I got up at 5.30 to finish as I fondly hoped our tax accounts for the end of the year (deadline end of Jan but they have to go to our lovely accountant, Yvonne, first; every year I think I will get them all done for her by May at the latest and every year we reach January and do them in a stressful flurry…).

Full of remorse, recriminations and some optimistic hopes (see above) I switched on the computer to check emails and get going. No emails, no calendar, no contacts, no address book, just a gushing welcome to me as a new much valued Entourage member (the Mac equivalent of Outlook) with a warm invitation to watch a video to see how to get started and make the most of Entourage. Not what one wants to see as a seasoned user, and at 5.30 in the morning.

And yes, I have set up an ongoing backup system now (talk about stable doors and bolting horses). But please, if you have sent an email and get no response, please try again, or better still ring, on 01335 390 519.

Somehow, somehow, I had done something last night (what, I do not know) to erase absolutely everything off Entourage. As one can’t normally even delete one email without being asked if that it really what one wants to do, how can anyone unknowingly, without any warning, delete absolutely everything without a single warning that this is what is gong to happen? And what did I do?

I couldn’t even email our computer support team at Dove Computers in Ashbourne, so had to wait until 9 this morning to speak to Aaron. Needless to say, Aaron  is as perplexed as we are, but has been able to re establish our email account, and emails (some emails) from the last few days came flooding through. He also managed to restore old contacts etc (I had not backed up recently;  I always will from now on. Let this be a warning.

So far, things are half better but very very far from good. Very fortunately our online booking system and all emails coming from there are unaffected, coming through a completely different route; I can send emails but only receive a few. On my Blackberry I am getting most which is a great relief, but typing longish responses is not so easy on a mobile phone…

So here I am, feeling better than this morning (a jolly evening with my book club did a lot to restore equanimity) but far from confident. Aaron meanwhile is hoping to get some help from Microsoft about our problem so I trust, no doubt after a few  more lengthy remote sessions, things may look up a little. I may never restore all the old emails; I only kept important ones but they were neatly filed – and were important –  so my total efficiency in the immediate future is going to take some extra effort!

Marmalade

It’s that time of year again, although I must admit since our bright idea of popping a jar into the barns for our guests we have found ourselves making batches every couple of months throughout the year.

Failing Seville oranges we’ve used grapefruit, limes and lemon which does make a delicious marmalade.

However, there is nothing to beat marmalade made with fresh Seville oranges, and even better – organic ones from Spain via Riverford. We have been hard at it, and will be making several more batches to keep up with the barns supply plus our own and the family’s consumption.

It’s amazing how quickly a pot can go down. It all tastes so fresh and almost bitter – it’s better to forget how many kilos of sugar go into each making.

Last Minute Availability

LAST MINUTE AVAILABILITY Mon 17 to Fri 21 JAN!!

Can you drop everything and come tomorrow for a last minute 4-night midweek treat for £245 (was £315)? We don’t often reduce prices so this is a one-off opportunity!

We don’t often have last minute availability but we have this week – Mon 17 to Fri 21 Jan  – that is, four nights starting tomorrow, in Douglas’s Barn…!

Jason our decorator has been doing  some routine touching up in both  this week  but will be finished by tomorrow lunch time;  the fridge that temporarily but very definitely gave up the ghost on Christmas Eve is due finally to be repaired tomorrow morning sand it suddenly looks as if the midweek slot will easily be available and we can advertise it with confidence..

How anyone could possibly turn their life around quickly enough to come away at such short notice would beat John and me, but we know that some people just are that efficient and speedy at taking up sudden chances and acting on them. It will be interesting to see if anyone can be tempted – and find it possible (a different thing altogether)  – to take up this opportunity. In fact, if anyone is that organised, we’ll be happy to leave them a bottle of superior fizz as well, as a prize for being impressively efficient.

if nobody has responded by late tonight we’ll take the date off availability -we need to know by breakfasr time tomorrow so we can get everything shipshape in time. (If we weren’t in the middle of rather feverishly doing our tax returns and making mammoth amounts of marmalade, we’d be very tempted to move in to Douglas’s barn ourselves.)

Pink House Pool

Sadly, sorry to disappoint you, but this is not the latest addition to Tom’s and Douglas’s Barns but we certainly wish it was, this grey and dismal January day.

Son Nick has sent us this enticing picture. He is in Tobago on, I must grudgingly admit,  a well-deserved holiday, staying with a friend whose mother lives there, and whose pool this is…   Meanwhile, Nick’s mother is sitting at the computer in an outdoor fleece (we’re getting a bit careful with our oil consumption these days, as you may gather) trying to feel pleased for him and not green with envy.

Our logburner downstairs is going merrily however, so it is perhaps about time to nip downstairs, shed the fleece and accept a glass of cool white wine. One can always pretend!

Meanwhile, his next stop is Surinam so all being well we may have some more interesting photos to share with you via his mobile. (Before you ask, I don’t know but will endeavour to find out). And if anyone does know anything about Surinam it would be good to find out.

Interesting Facts & Figures or Useless Stats

It is traditional at the start of a new year to look back over the past one, so for those that like such things, here are some stats for 2010, with due credit to SuperControl which has supplied most of them…

Occupancy: Tom’s Barn 98%; Douglas’s Barn 97%  Apart from three unbooked /cancelled short breaks, our barns were full all year during 2010.

Visits:    129 in all, Tom’s Barn 63; Douglas’s Barn 66 (Useless stat: given that it takes approximately 4.5 hours at least on average to get the barns as spotless and fresh throughout as we want each changeover, that equals 580.5 hours of cleaning (not including the washing and ironing). I will not say how much that costs because it is unseemly to see it in print.

Returning guests: Tom’s Barn 24%; Douglas’s Barn 24%. Some have returned more than once, I’m not sure that our stats can cope with that.

Online Bookings: 84;   Admin Bookings 55 This is fascinating, a real indication of how things have changed. We enrolled with SuperControl online booking system in August 2009, sure we were doing the right thing but unaware how quickly it would catch on and how many of our guests obviously find it easier and much more convenient. We worried about the loss of personal contact, but that comes later with ensuing emails and sometimes phone calls.

Advance bookings for 2011: 52.1% (last year it was 43.8% and we were pleased with that). 233/356 days in Tom’s Barn are already booked, mainly but not exclusively by dog owners who are so happy to have found a lovely Five Star cottage that also welcomes dogs. Douglas’s Barn which also has a loyal following but is strictly pet-free has 147/365 days booked already.

Where do you all come from in this country? Intriguingly, this year has a southern/eastern bias but the geographical definitions are inevitably a bit random – London 12; South East 19; Midlands/East 41; North East 20; North West 5; Wales 2; Scotland 4; South West 15; plus some from abroad. We’ve had some really lovely people from Scotland and Wales, do hope we can conjure up some more for 2011!

These are all statistics; our guests are all real people. We feel privileged to welcome you here and love the contact with people from all over who choose to come here to the barns we love to the area we also love.

1/1/11

There is something very pleasing about the simplicity of the date today – it will be even more pleasing on the 11th November and more significant still when we come to the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month…

Anyway, Happy New Year to all our friends, guests and supporters. May 2011 be a good year to us all, in spite of the gloom of the weather today and the rise in VAT (we’re not ‘Vatable’ but the increase will hit us all) and the ongoing surge in oil prices. All the more important that we enjoy and appreciate all that we do have.

Looking ahead: our new brochure has at last arrived after about six weeks at the printers. Our new website will go live, hopefully, next week.  I still have a lot of work to do on that… Apparently Country Homes and Interiors is going to do a little feature on the barns  – or one of them – in their February ‘The Place to Be’ page. We’re always very flattered when this happens. Often we know nothing about a review in the press until the time it comes out; when we are given advance warning but not told what has been said it is intriguing and just slightly anxious-making. Anyway, we’ll soon know and do have a look if you see the magazine (towards the back, apparently).

Finally, there’ll be some looking back in the next post but meanwhile, our two barns are over half fully booked for next year already 52.1% actually.

The Last Few Days of 2010

2010 began in snow and shows every sign of ending in snow although the current forecast is for slightly warmer weather, causing fog and mist, but basically ‘staying cold and damp with some patchy light rain’.

Meanwhile on a more domestic front, Nick had to be back at work on Boxing Day so set off at about 6.30 am and returned safely, in  time… We were sad he had so little time off for Christmas but can’t feel too sorry for him as he flies to Tobago for New Year, poor chap. Ruthie had a couple more days here which was lovely but she too had to return early, as she goes to Burgundy with some friends for New Year. We meanwhile remain, less excitingly but very happily in Parwich, enjoying a gentle round of local parties, walks and get-togethers.

About 35 of us enjoyed a wonderful walk to Tissington and back on Christmas day, stopping to enjoy a picnic lunch of mulled wine and Christmas goodies in front of the Hall before setting off back home. The scenery was beautiful, the sun shone, the skies were bright blue and the snow was dazzling. We all agreed how very grateful we were to live in such a lovely part of the country – one could go far to find somewhere as stunning as it all looked on Christmas Day. (In the photo on the right you can just – with very sharp eyes – make out Orchard Farm in the background.)

Finally, a gentle reminder to any would-be-guests who are thinking of booking a holiday next year – 2010 prices finish on the first stroke of the clock at midnight on New Year’s Eve…!

Salad Days

Another post that will only be of any use for people in London (sorry, we will do something a bit closer to home soon) and before Jan 11 when the show  closes; howeevr, if  you are in London and able to go, Salad Days at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, is an absolute must! The blurb says ‘A sure-fire cure for your winter blues’ and how right they are.

Eight of us went after the family wedding mentioned before, and it ended a wonderfully happy day on a truly magical note. Everyone, and not just us, came out of the theatre with smiles on their faces and their feet tapping. I would have loved to have sat through the whole performance again.

The atmosphere is set as you enter. The entire cast is amassed at the door, in academic garb. The ‘chancellor’ solemnly hands everyone their degree scroll impressively rolled up and tied with red ribbon and congratulates them on their tremendous academic achievement… Then they all rather surprisingly break into dance and the fun starts.

Salad Days was written in 1954 but seemed to hark back to the 1930s and the era of the Charleston although there was a bit of rock and roll and jive. The theme however was very topical – it is all about a young couple, freshly graduated from university but unsure of what lies ahead. You even have the two mothers singing rather plaintively that they don’t understand their children.

The singing and dancing and comedy is superb. The audience sits facing each other across the stage in the middle. It is all very relaxed and intimate, with no sound system but the strong voices carried perfectly. Most of the cast are very young and freshly out of music or drama school but I feel sure they will go far.

I would simply love to find an excuse to go down to London, snow permitting, to see it again before January 11th, unless of course one of the big theatres takes it up.

English as she is Spoke

…This report will be of more practical interest if you are in London, or planning a trip before the end of April.

We are not often there ourselves, but when we do go try to make the most of any spare time available to visit art exhibitions, the theatre or other interesting things that are on, and even perhaps indulge in a little bit of window shopping (there’s nearly always a birthday or Christmas coming up, or we are on the look out for some new little treat for the barns…).

We went down to London last weekend a day early for a family wedding on Saturday 11th. On the Friday before son Nick and I went to ‘Evolving English’ at the British Library (very conveniently near St Pancras for those of us whose main station that is).

Pardon me for not having the pleasure of knowing your mindset before making you this offer and it is utterly confidential and genuine by virtue of its nature.

If you are at all interested in English, this is fascinating. It is so easy to assume that although the English language has continually been influenced over time (if nothing else think of the time after the Norman Conquest when for several centuries anybody posh or official spoke French) that the English we speak and have been taught now – and some of us have even taught – is how English should remain forever more.

But of course that is simply not true. Even a short spell at the British Library shows one that the language is alive, permanently developing and changing fast. From audio headphones dangling everywhere one can listen to examples of English spoken by people from earlier times, different walks of life and other countries; rap music, slang, texting, official business jargon, the accents and idioms of the millions who visit our country… These are all ‘English’ and all influence our language whether we like it or not.

I can’t resist adding a quote (see the bit in bold on the right) taken from some kind bank manager from Ghana who was  writing ‘to solicit my assistance in a funds transfer deal’ involving US$3.5M profits made by his bank during the last two years).

If the majority started writing like this so-called bank manager or pronouncing a word ‘incorrectly’ or writing ‘you are’ as UR does that make it correct?  Who is to decide which of these changes is good or simply not acceptable?

You can record your own voice, which will be used as part of their research into the various influences which affect the language and what the majority are now doing. You can even  record your voice online although Nick and I did ours while we were there.