Still much to say about autumn activities. We represented Cheshire as their Tourism Experience of the Year 2007 at the recent North West England Tourism Awards, sadly we did not win – we were beaten by the Royal Liverpool Open Golf 2006 so of course, Good Luck to them in the England finals. However, what a marvellous evening we enjoyed, although it might sound corny to say it was the taking part that mattered...it truly was. It was a pleasure and delight to spend this exciting night with Leah and Alice and parents and we all had the most amazing fun. We decided to stay at the Great John Street Hotel and what a treat it was – all tasted a yummy breakfast that I was so glad I didn’t have to rise and prepare! I so hope we might reach these awards next year – we think they should introduce a new category of Most Enthusiastic Attendees – we would definitely score there!
Northern Harvest has supplied me with some of their wonderful, delicious, extra juicy Amalfi lemons for this week's lemon curd, must make a few extra jars since my Mystery Shopper wrote 'The lemon curd was the best I have ever tasted and of an excellent consistency' I wonder if it is our lovely eggs that make the difference? Poor hens have moulted and are on a bit of a 'go slow', I keep slipping them treats of left over cake but I think these dark evenings are tiring them! The last of this year's fruit has been prepared and is in the preserving pan on the aga as I am writing...a quick check and the jam is looking ready to jar now…so we will speak again soon.
Sue
Friday, 14 December 2007
Thursday, 8 November 2007
Guest's photos
Gosh - could this be too much! Now I have remembered my password I have so much news to share!
We had the good fortune to have a photographer to stay during September and Katja was the most lovely guest, so friendly and chatty. I thought some of you may like to view her photos she took whilst staying here at Harrop Fold. Click on to www.katjaphoto.net I am sure many of you will recognise our landscape. Whilst I was preparing breakfast Katja was out capturing the sunrise!
Perhaps if any one else has any lovely photos you would like to send them to me and we could all share them?
We had the good fortune to have a photographer to stay during September and Katja was the most lovely guest, so friendly and chatty. I thought some of you may like to view her photos she took whilst staying here at Harrop Fold. Click on to www.katjaphoto.net I am sure many of you will recognise our landscape. Whilst I was preparing breakfast Katja was out capturing the sunrise!
Perhaps if any one else has any lovely photos you would like to send them to me and we could all share them?
Whoops - only my second blog!
Well, I have struggled with this blog - forgot my password! All sorted now and must keep up to date!
A different kind of summer has been enjoyed by us all this year. I do believe the ducks have enjoyed it but the rest of us….! However, the weather has not been good but the welcome is as warm and cosy here at Harrop Fold Farm as ever! Still, we do not holiday in England to enjoy the weather, our visitors have come prepared to walk and have not been put off. One family in the cottage loved lighting the cosy wood burning fire each evening since it was a novelty to them. The crackling noise and lovely smell of wood made for cosy evenings playing monopoly and enjoying quality family time.
Speaking of family, we have had a lovely summer, we managed a family holiday, which was wonderful, spending time together doing what we do at home – laughing, eating and drinking! Our son was offered a visit to the home of one of our guests from the USA and he enjoyed a week surfing and cooking out!
Alice and I spent a lovely day up at the Chatsworth Country Fair, it was so much fun, just as a Country Fair should be. We bumped into Alan Titchmarsh who watched smiling as we bought four new hens to add to our flock to increase the egg numbers. We struggled abit on the walk to the car; four hens can make quite a noise! They have settled really well and are incredibly tame. One pecked at Alice’s toes, pretty and pink from her holiday, thinking they were cherries!
Geoffrey Peacock has reunited with his peahen, and they are both lying in the garden as I am writing, he is looking lovely although has shed his tail feathers that are now sought after by our visitors. Meeting his real owner last week over a beer in the Highwayman it appears that Geoffrey returns home for tea and ambles back here for supper!
Had great fun with the jam making with fruits beg, stolen and ‘borrowed’ from our neighbours and friends, the decision making over which one to eat at breakfast is now delaying breakfast service. ‘Arthurs’ Damson jam is probably the most popular at the moment. Leah is making the most of the blackberries and her crumbles and pies are being enjoyed by all.
A different kind of summer has been enjoyed by us all this year. I do believe the ducks have enjoyed it but the rest of us….! However, the weather has not been good but the welcome is as warm and cosy here at Harrop Fold Farm as ever! Still, we do not holiday in England to enjoy the weather, our visitors have come prepared to walk and have not been put off. One family in the cottage loved lighting the cosy wood burning fire each evening since it was a novelty to them. The crackling noise and lovely smell of wood made for cosy evenings playing monopoly and enjoying quality family time.
Speaking of family, we have had a lovely summer, we managed a family holiday, which was wonderful, spending time together doing what we do at home – laughing, eating and drinking! Our son was offered a visit to the home of one of our guests from the USA and he enjoyed a week surfing and cooking out!
Alice and I spent a lovely day up at the Chatsworth Country Fair, it was so much fun, just as a Country Fair should be. We bumped into Alan Titchmarsh who watched smiling as we bought four new hens to add to our flock to increase the egg numbers. We struggled abit on the walk to the car; four hens can make quite a noise! They have settled really well and are incredibly tame. One pecked at Alice’s toes, pretty and pink from her holiday, thinking they were cherries!
Geoffrey Peacock has reunited with his peahen, and they are both lying in the garden as I am writing, he is looking lovely although has shed his tail feathers that are now sought after by our visitors. Meeting his real owner last week over a beer in the Highwayman it appears that Geoffrey returns home for tea and ambles back here for supper!
Had great fun with the jam making with fruits beg, stolen and ‘borrowed’ from our neighbours and friends, the decision making over which one to eat at breakfast is now delaying breakfast service. ‘Arthurs’ Damson jam is probably the most popular at the moment. Leah is making the most of the blackberries and her crumbles and pies are being enjoyed by all.
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
June News - 1st blog post!
What an amazing year June 2006-2007 has been! It began with winning B&B of the Year for Cheshire and becoming runner-up for the NorthWest of England. Then this June we won the Tourism Experience of the Year which takes us forward again to the NorthWest regional finals in October. Hopefully the judges will agree that Harrop Fold along with its wonderful creative, gastronomic and aesthetic delights will truly be THE tourism experience of the North!
Only yesterday we received the fantastic news that we have been upgraded to 5 Stars AND with a Silver Award! - How hard we are going to have to work to keep this up, but with all these wonderful guests it is a pleasure to look after everyone! Creating the guest's new garden became a race against time; as guests arrived for tea at 4.30pm the turf was rolled out and laid rather like hoovering in the rain! Guests in the Oak Room may now enjoy breakfast continental style on their terrace in the garden in the morning sunshine - hmm..hmm! - yes, I have seen this weekend's forecast! Speaking of rain we recently had a daily broadsheet journalist staying with us and his comment in the Visitors' Book made us smile ... 'A really lovely family atmosphere, great conversation, and as for the food ...mmm - mmm! Completely forgot about the bloody awful weather! Thank you all'. This has been the latest in incredibly favourable press coverage we have had since Christmas.
The family are all home for the summer now and so there are lots of spare hands to help! Leah has returned North to plan her new business venture from Harrop Fold and is treating guests to a truly delicious regional dinner menu. She was a finalist in the Best Supporter of Regional Food for her new venture here, and speaking of which, she had the pleasure of treating Simon Rimmer of Greens & Earl to a traditional English high tea. He loved it and declared his favourite to be Leah's iconic Marmite and Delamere cheese finger sandwiches! This high tea is a great treat for guests, especially those from overseas; in fact at this very moment she is baking in preparation for our Indian guests eager to sample this very English custom.
Celebrating no 1 son's 21st birthday has been shared with American visitors who flew over the pond to join us. They arrived last year as guests and returned this year as friends - although never before had they experienced an English party and certainly not a Harrop Fold party!
March saw our inaugural weekend residential art course. The structured format was a huge success with the weekend turning into something of an 'artistic country house party', we market Harrop Fold as 'A Quintessentially English Experience' and already we have artists flying in from Greece to join us. For anyone interested our next weekend is running on 28th September.
Other new visitors arriving to Harrop Fold are the 6 new baby calves which are currently being weaned. Guests are really enjoying the experience of helping at feeding time. The doves have produced their first offspring and fortunately Lottie has now learnt that they are for looking at and not a delicacy! The goldfinches have proved a popular ornithological interest and their numbers have evidently increased in this area and we hope very much our swallows and house martins will remain resident and not think summer is over. Geoffrey the Peacock is a permanent resident since he appears to have fallen out with his peahen and our neighbours at the next farm. No amount of coaxing will make him return - we love him, a handsome creature with a splendid tail and a beautiful crest on his cobalt blue head.
Must go back to bed making and baking now, will chat to you again soon. Meanwhile look forward to meeting many new friends as well as all our regular visitors. Thanks to all for your kind words and support.
Sue
Only yesterday we received the fantastic news that we have been upgraded to 5 Stars AND with a Silver Award! - How hard we are going to have to work to keep this up, but with all these wonderful guests it is a pleasure to look after everyone! Creating the guest's new garden became a race against time; as guests arrived for tea at 4.30pm the turf was rolled out and laid rather like hoovering in the rain! Guests in the Oak Room may now enjoy breakfast continental style on their terrace in the garden in the morning sunshine - hmm..hmm! - yes, I have seen this weekend's forecast! Speaking of rain we recently had a daily broadsheet journalist staying with us and his comment in the Visitors' Book made us smile ... 'A really lovely family atmosphere, great conversation, and as for the food ...mmm - mmm! Completely forgot about the bloody awful weather! Thank you all'. This has been the latest in incredibly favourable press coverage we have had since Christmas.
The family are all home for the summer now and so there are lots of spare hands to help! Leah has returned North to plan her new business venture from Harrop Fold and is treating guests to a truly delicious regional dinner menu. She was a finalist in the Best Supporter of Regional Food for her new venture here, and speaking of which, she had the pleasure of treating Simon Rimmer of Greens & Earl to a traditional English high tea. He loved it and declared his favourite to be Leah's iconic Marmite and Delamere cheese finger sandwiches! This high tea is a great treat for guests, especially those from overseas; in fact at this very moment she is baking in preparation for our Indian guests eager to sample this very English custom.
Celebrating no 1 son's 21st birthday has been shared with American visitors who flew over the pond to join us. They arrived last year as guests and returned this year as friends - although never before had they experienced an English party and certainly not a Harrop Fold party!
March saw our inaugural weekend residential art course. The structured format was a huge success with the weekend turning into something of an 'artistic country house party', we market Harrop Fold as 'A Quintessentially English Experience' and already we have artists flying in from Greece to join us. For anyone interested our next weekend is running on 28th September.
Other new visitors arriving to Harrop Fold are the 6 new baby calves which are currently being weaned. Guests are really enjoying the experience of helping at feeding time. The doves have produced their first offspring and fortunately Lottie has now learnt that they are for looking at and not a delicacy! The goldfinches have proved a popular ornithological interest and their numbers have evidently increased in this area and we hope very much our swallows and house martins will remain resident and not think summer is over. Geoffrey the Peacock is a permanent resident since he appears to have fallen out with his peahen and our neighbours at the next farm. No amount of coaxing will make him return - we love him, a handsome creature with a splendid tail and a beautiful crest on his cobalt blue head.
Must go back to bed making and baking now, will chat to you again soon. Meanwhile look forward to meeting many new friends as well as all our regular visitors. Thanks to all for your kind words and support.
Sue
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