Sue's News

The final blog - move over to the website!

2009-06-09T05:59:00.000-07:00

Well folks, just so you don't think that I have neglected this blog...the news is that we have had a wonderful new website created for us and built into this website is a Sue's News page. So from now on I am planning on keeping that updated. So please check out the new site on www.harropfoldfarm.co.uk
Hope to see you there!

A sign of warmer weather?!

2009-05-21T23:47:00.000-07:00

An early breakfast this morning for a guest travelling a very long way away set me forward in the day's activities! Lovely to wake to that beautiful chattering sound above the bedroom window, the swallows I think have hatched since occasionally I see a broken egg shell being pushed out of the nest and landing on our bedroom window sill. Their displays over the farmyard this morning are easily seen as I am sitting at the kitchen table, since the weather is once again so damp they are diving low over the courtyard catching the flies.

However, the welcome is not damp on arriving here, in fact it is quite positively spring like with yesterday's guests seeing Leah's beautiful, now legendary cupcakes with little pink piglets on top! If you haven't been tempted to join her Cupcakes Galore day - take a quick peek at Leah's website - www.leahspantry.co.uk and I think you may be then!

The Bluebells have finally blossomed in the woods, and yesterday our guests walked down to Bollington to explore the Bollington Festival, they arrived back at Harrop Fold so excited to tell us all about the beauty of the woods. Their photographs certainly showed the intensity of the beautiful colours. I love seeing these flowers as they always remind me of when the children were small and we used to sit on the seat by the stream looking for the fairies, the boys could be a little unkind to the girls who always, without fail, saw the fairies dancing through the Bluebells!

Last week Northern Harvest brought us the first Cheshire Asparagus - is that a sign of warmer weather? So delicious it was that we bought two grades, one for soup which was divine and another for steaming. Northern Harvest deliver here on a Thursday and so it was Cheshire Asparagus for supper again last night! Perhaps you might like to try some and cook it just as we love it.

Take a bunch of Cheshire Asparagus, steam until it is to your liking. In the water below, poach an egg and in a frying pan toast some breadcrumbs with fresh chopped herbs from your garden. (Here we have parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme growing in the kitchen garden along with some oregano, we chop whichever we fancy).
When it is cooked lay the asparagus on the plate with the poached egg to the side and sprinkle with herb breadcrumbs...um...yummy! This is surely a different take on the poached egg and soldiers!

Last week saw the launch of Taste Cheshire - the Cheshire Foodtrail - another wonderful idea from Visit Chester and Cheshire. What a great evening everyone enjoyed at Spitting Feathers in Chester - who could fail to enjoy an evening in a brewery?! lovely beers and Cheshire Cider along with delicious titbits of cheese and very tasty canapes. The food trail suggests a trail of delicious places all over Cheshire and yes, Harrop Fold is featured in one of the trails. The gorgeous books are available here at the farm and I know the guests who have been here this week have all taken one and visited more than one of the suggested places.

Looking forward to our next evening out with our lovely, lovely friends from Visit Chester and Cheshire which will be the Annual Cheshire Tourism Awards to be held at Chester Racecourse two weeks tonight. Once again Harrop Fold Farm has been shortlisted in a couple of categories: Bed & Breakfast of the Year (which we won in 2006) and A Taste of Cheshire. Our judging felt as though it went well, the judges were so interesting and they put us at ease, so it is down to their decisions...fingers crossed though! We do try so hard to go the extra mile for our guests, but that is so easy due to the welcome encouragement we receive from them.

Time to put the next lot of breakfasts on...I think this morning I will tempted to join in. Who can resist Harrop Eggs, Bacon, Sausage, Cheshire Tomatoes and Mushrooms and some of Jeremy's handmade Blackpudding? Certainly not me this morning! Finished off with some homemade Lemon Curd and Cheshire Rhubarb and Ginger Jam. Yum yum! Oh no! I do have to try to squeeze into my evening dress soon though!

Catch up again shortly,
Love,
Sue xx

The Green, Green Grass of Harrop Fold & Peter Jones' Watercress Soup

2009-04-26T05:05:00.000-07:00

What a lovely few weeks we have enjoyed here at Harrop Fold, we escaped for a family 3 nights away last week, closing the doors and leaving our kind Helen to look after the home and feed the animals.

On our return we were surprised to see the hawthorn had blossomed in the bottom field and how green the fields are looking. The farm animals are becoming broody, one of the doves sitting up in the dovecote on her nest, and one of the bantams has become broody and she is sitting guard over a clutch of her eggs. Mr Peacock is looking to do some courting but cannot find a peahen so he spends alot of time following the hens!

Today George and David have borrowed Rachel's huge tractor and muck spreader to spread the fields before turning the cows out for the summer. I think they are ready for a good run round - the cows not the boys! - but the grass is always greener...as they seem to plot escape routes from the field when they are actually turned out!

I spent a very happy birthday having dinner with the nearest and dearest and was given the most imaginative present from George...two tiny piglets! We have named them George and Pudding since one of them is so cute and cuddly. They are growing at the most astounding rate, and yes they will be enjoyed by us all! They really enjoy living in the cow barns, in their own sty but securely next to the cows who were so interested when they arrived. It is great too to see them enjoy all the cupcakes and various bits and pieces which are actually left...occasionally! The other new temporary residents are 8 Aylesbury ducklings, but they have almost grown into ducks now, their quacking sounds brilliant and certainly confused the dogs!

The Visit Chester and Cheshire Annual Awards for 2009 have been announced and for the 4th year we have been shortlisted in 2 categories: Bed & Breakfast of the Year and A Taste of Cheshire. We are, of course, delighted! Delighted once again that we have successfully reached their standards and delighted too to be going along to their fantastic night of celebrations at Chester Racecourse in June. We must now organise our tickets! And as everyone knows, we just love Chester.

The family all visited the Chester Food & Drink Festival over the Easter weekend which was a brilliant couple of hours spent in the sunshine tasting lots of yummy food! I loved the Menai Oysters - umm just thinking of that lovely salty seaside flavour! however, my favourite treat from the day was Peter Jones' Wirral Watercress. We took home a couple of packets and made the best ever Wirral Watercress Soup - so maybe you would like to try this yourself:

Harrop Fold Wirral Watercress Soup from Peter Jones' farm

Take an onion and a small potato (to use as the thickening agent) chop and sweat in a heavy bottomed pan (putting on the lid) with some Westry Roberts farm churned butter to stop any sticking.
When completely soft - but not coloured, cover with stock - obviously depending on the amount of watercress, I usually use around 2 pints.
When the stock has reached boiling point continue simmering until the potatoes are tender and then add the couple of packs of watercress, cook for around 2 minutes and then using a hand held 'whizzer' whiz until the watercress has blended with the veg and stock. I think the secret is to drop the watercress in at the end for a short time as then you keep the wonderful bright green colour.
Ladle into soup dishes and for an extra treat, drop a dollop of Delamere Dairy of Knutsford creamed Goat's Cheese into the centre of each bowl...yummy!

Whilst for this tasty soup I confess to using Swiss Bouillon stock, (but let's keep that a secret!) when making our delicious Cheshire Onion Soup we do then always make our own stock, tonight we are eating a rib of Harrop Fold beef, and I will keep the rib bone, roast and then boil up in the stock pan with some of our lovely Cheshire root veg from Northern Harvest and this will make the most delicious stock.

So whilst on this food note, I must go and make our lunch - well I say make! Leah has made us a delicious Smoked Salmon tart with some beautiful smoked salmon from the Cheshire Smokehouse and we are being used as an experiment as she has used Cheshire potatoes as the base for a potato pastry case. So mouth watering, I will assemble a salad as the family will be in soon.

Speak soon,

Love, Sue x

A very Good Friday at Harrop Fold

2009-04-10T03:15:00.000-07:00

What a lovely treat we had this morning, when popping out of the backdoor to feed Mr Peacock I heard a familiar chirping overhead and yes, our favourite visitors are back. This morning the first of the swallows have taken up residence in their old nest above our bedroom window. I just love waking to their jolly chirping noises, I never tire of the sound and it does make me think of warmer, (hopefully) sunnier weather ahead.

The other treat we have had this weekend is taking delivery of the first of our Cheshire rhubarb, so on the aga this morning is our 2009 Cheshire Rhubarb and Ginger jam, yummy! Last night I was busy making Lemon Curd with Westry Roberts wonderful farm churned butter and the deliciously romantic Amalfi lemons, all combined with our bright yellow yolked eggs. So this morning the Stevenson children have all been eating lots and lots of hot toast and lemon curd, must lock it away or it will not last our guests!

Busy weekend here, but Leah and I are hoping to be able to go to visit the Chester Food and Drink Festival - cupcakes allowing! Dear Alice and Edward have swotting to do for their finals and GCSE's so I will have to make loads of tasty treats to sustain them.

Before closing, must mention another lovely article with a beautiful photo of Leah, looking very rural with the hens. The May edition of Country Homes and Interiors has run a feature on Harrop Fold and the cookery courses enjoyed here, we do have a few copies around the farm!

Jam is smelling divine, so must go and jar it.

Wishing you all a very happy Easter weekend, and hope to see you soon.

Love, Sue x

Harrop Fold wins Countryside Alliance Local Food Award

2009-02-23T12:02:00.000-08:00

We are the 2008 Countryside Alliance Local Food Award winners for North West England Yippee! And we are going to the House of Lords for the presentation ceremony which will be a great treat I am sure. Regional Director and Head Regional Judge Richard Dodd commented: “Harrop Fold is a business run with passion. A B&B set on a 20-acre farm, at Harrop Fold Farm you can take a tailored foodie break weekend and watch your supper being cooked, which is an approach I had never heard of before. Leah Stevenson is passionate about cooking and local produce and encourages guests to take part in her demonstrations. I don’t think I have ever heard of this approach and think it will do wonders for food education as well as enjoyment of local, seasonal produce in a beautiful rural setting. A real one-off, and I hope the national judging panel is as enthused as I am!”

We are really proud as we have always championed local produce, David being the son of a farmer and me being the daughter of a butcher it has been second nature and something we have always shared with our guests and now to receive this credit is fantastic!

Leah is having a fabulous time; this month saw a wonderful article in the BBC Good Food Magazine, along with a lovely photo of Leah in action teaching Caroline her tricks of the trade! Today Leah has been nominated for the Cheshire Woman of the Year Award 2009, which means another lunch, this time at Eaton Park, Chester. Oh...how enjoyable food is!

Snow has been the topic of conversation here at Harrop Fold...lots of it. Fortunately the good folk at the Highwayman offered their car park to our guests and we ferried from pub to farm in the Landover. We were so glad when the thaw came and found poking up through the garden were the first pretty little snowdrops, I love that little promise of spring.

My friend Brenda, from Red Oaks Farm, delivered to us half a lamb which was delicious and again made me think about spring and the tasty, tasty spring lamb which will be around quite soon, can you imagine anything tastier than Cheshire lamb and Cheshire Asparagus? We are coming to the end of our Cheshire fruit jams, but we do have one kilner jar of Tayberry left and then I will be making a fresh supply of English Rhubarb and another pan of gorgeous Amalfi Lemon Curd, yummy! David’s Mum makes the best marmalade, but unfortunately David is very possessive over this!

Fortunately, the hens have started to lay again and this evening we are having a practice run of pancake making...and the first are on the table...so must go and feast again!

Speak again soon,
Sue x

Leah's First Awards...From September to our first snowfall!

2008-12-05T01:39:00.000-08:00

All my good intentions to keep this blog up to date...and it is now December! Another good couple of months have been enjoyed here with Leah winning the Cheshire Rural Woman of the Year Award for her contribution to food and drink; I was a very proud Mum and clapped very hard indeed to see Leah walk up to collect a lovely clock, some beautiful flowers and of course, the all important certificate! November saw the Cheshire Awards for Tourism Skills, another fantastic party night organised by Visit Chester and Cheshire, at Tatton Park, and once again Leah was successful in being presented with another award, this time for Best New Entrant to the Industry. There is going to be abit of competition here between Mother and Daughter I feel!!

Talking about Awards, we had a fabulous evening at St George's Hall at the end of October for the NWRDA North West England Tourism Awards. Sadly we did not win, however, being a part of this prestigious event for the 3rd year running is indeed an achievement. 2006 saw us there with the B&B and we did receive Highly Commended, 2007 with Painting at Harrop Fold Farm and then this year we were representing Cheshire with Self-catering Holiday Experience with Mellow Brook Cottage here at Harrop Fold Farm. The cottage looks beautiful following its complete redecoration and refurb, and guest's feedback is brilliant.

We have had our first substantial snowfall this week; on Tuesday morning David had to bring out the tractor to pull out two of our guest’s cars! It adds to the adventure...so I am told! What is so funny is that just 2 miles down the road there was no snow at all! Anyway, it arrived quickly and left quickly...much to Edward’s disgust as he quite fancied a couple of days off school.

Leah began her Christmas Cookery Demonstrations and Dine yesterday, it was really well received, and the dining room looked beautiful with the Christmas tree in situ. Perhaps this weekend will see us decorate the other tree in the cottage. The family are enjoying all this seasonal food especially the turkey as Leah keeps trying many different recipes out on us...I really must try to exercise or I will not be fitting into my Christmas party dresses!

Mincemeat has been on Leah’s mind as she has been making the most delicious mincemeat over the last couple of weeks, and so today’s job is making a few more mince pies for this weekend’s visitors. Oh the temptations I am faced with...will anyone notice how many I actually made?!

The animals are all well, the peacocks have settled and now entertain the guests over breakfast, I am not quite sure whether they are admiring themselves by viewing their reflections in the windows or are hoping for treats from guests! Emmie is delightful and so good, she has loved seeing her first snow this week, she made everyone laugh when she jumped onto the wall not realising of course that she would then skid along it and land on the ground! Arthur has taken to his job of patrolling the buildings looking for anything interesting (and tasty!) and spends a great deal of the day in this way.

The cows came in for the winter after the bonfire party, I love hearing their low mooing sounds when I wake up in the morning. They are so happy when they first come in, but by spring start trying to break out again...the grass is always greener...!

Must set to now to prepare the rooms for today’s guests and then start to organise our Christmas orders to ensure we have plenty of delicious food to offer our guests.

Catch up again very soon,
Sue x

Whistle stop tale of summer!

2008-09-30T06:13:00.000-07:00

Oh Golly Gosh....it has been so long since I have written, I am so sorry. For many reasons...the obvious busy summer...but the few weeks prior to that was a funny old time really. In looking through my diary I have found the following entry at the end of June...

‘It has taken me a week to be able to think about how I address our ‘blog’ with our exceptionally sad news. Firstly last Friday week the lovely resident peacock, Geoffrey, was run over and although the children rushed him to our vets sadly he had to be put to sleep as his leg was broken and nothing further could be done for him. The flowers in our house are acting as a shrine as each of the children has put in one of his feathers…but on a brighter note, they are so beautiful and are a reminder of his colour and magnificence. I do miss his hooting and mimicking the telephone though, and he always recognised the children coming home and would warn us of their arrival (whatever time of the day or night- made for some interesting stories sometimes!). I have made enquiries and I hope we will be introducing a young peacock to the farm very soon.

‘The weekend continued in the same vain when Alfie, the black pony, seemed off colour on the Saturday evening, by Sunday morning sadly he had died. It is thought he had either ‘grass sickness’ or a form of colic. It was such a traumatic day as poor Harry was missing his chum, never having spent a minute apart since birth. Now however, he is the most spoilt pony in the world and Alice was found with him in Mum’s cottage with Harry standing in the kitchen looking for a bite to eat! We are rather thinking that as ponies are herd animals it might be quite nice for him to have a new companion in form of a rare breed sheep. We have not had any sheep ourselves here at Harrop and they may be able to introduce a new dimension to the dinner menu in spring!’

Sad end to June...However, July arrived brightly with George’s graduation at Liverpool University and we were all very excited. The ceremony was held at the Philharmonic amongst lots of very proud parents…and siblings and grandparents!
After the Departmental photos in Abercrombie Square surrounded by beautiful architecture, we all walked in the sunshine to enjoy lunch at 60 Hope Street. We certainly enjoyed a taste of Liverpool’s Capital of Culture experience. We return to Liverpool in October for the North West Tourism Awards at St George’s Hall, which promises to be another exciting evening.

Moving on through summer, which was a mad whirl of wonderful visitors, children and plans for summer. We did have lots of brilliant days out ourselves making sure we visited places before recommending them to our guests to explore and the school holidays ended after we enjoyed our family break.

Moving on I am delighted to report that we now have a new peacock and his peahen. They are only a year old but are quite tame; we are however, trying to think of names. Anyone with any good ideas please let me know! Our good friends, Brenda & Alan Buxton, of Red Oaks Farm, Bollington bred the peacocks and no doubt will keep their eye on them when they visit! Another new addition to our home is our new puppy...a springer spaniel named Emmie – after Emma who bred her. She is so beautifully kind natured and Lottie is really enjoying her playmate as is Arthur who sleeps in the dog basket with her!

I feel now I have moved us quickly through the months...I will go now and take the dogs down the lane to pick some blackberries to jam this evening, the strange weather pattern with sun and snow in spring lost our damsons which is a shame as we all love damson jam! We have been very successful with our apples though and are tiring of apple crumble; I must try to be more inventive! Leah was at her friend’s home on Sunday and picked lots and lots of cherry tomatoes and has now started on chutney; the aroma in the house is gorgeous! David did well with his vegetable patch – the cows broke in just the once! We have enjoyed our first taste of Harrop vegetables for quite some time and had the yummiest egg Florentine the day before yesterday. The dogs are getting quite impatient; I think they have heard David on the tractor moving the silage up from the field. I think this is the latest we have silaged, but thank goodness it is now finished and wrapped...so must run,
Speak again soon,
Love Sue x

A Hat Trick of Awards for Harrop Fold!

2008-06-10T09:53:00.000-07:00

Cheshire Tourism Annual Awards 2008 - The Winners!

Self Catering Holiday of the Year 2008 ~

Mellow Brook Cottage at Harrop Fold Farm

The judge said;

“This was the only self-catering unit we saw with a special magic – nothing to do with plasma tv screens etc, more to do with imaginative restoration of the cottage, making the most of natural materials and beautiful simplicity.”

We all had simply the most exciting night last Friday at the beautiful Chester Racecourse. Visit Chester and Cheshire put on the most glamourous Awards ceremony which was organised by the happy and lovely Nicola Said and her very able team. Harrop Fold was shortlisted for 4 awards - yes! 4 awards! - B&B of the Year, Tourism Experience of the Year, Self Catering Holiday of the Year and Taste of Cheshire. We won the first 2 in 2006 and 2007 and are totally delighted to win the Self-Catering Holiday Award this year.

How wonderful it is to be rewarded for all the thought and consideration we all really do put into the business to ensure our guests have a truly memorable time...from David's vision in building the barn and his unbelievable skill in keeping the barn true to its character - so many guests comment on the original plough 'bit' and the horse harness found under the hay when beginning the conversion - to Leah offering the finest local produce - to Helen and I 'charring' and making the cottage look welcoming to guests. And of course, Edward's lawn mowering and weeding skills! and must not miss out Alice's and George's help in the holidays. All in all a damn fine Team!

...and of course this gives us entry to the North West Development Agency Award's Ceremony in October, and we all just love that night too!

All this celebrating and more lovely guests to care for gave us an exhausting weekend! Bollington celebrated the Cheshire Year of the Gardens 08 with its wonderful Floating Garden Festival on Sunday where we all gathered to wave off Bollington's own floating garden to wind its way over to Middlewich - what tremendous weather the crew will have enjoyed.

Speaking of the weather, it is fantastic, David and I had a stroll on Monday evening to pick more rhubarb for our jams and enjoyed a quiet few moments watching the sunset and the view was so clear we could see right over the Cheshire Plain to the Welsh Mountains.

The lovely weather is encouraging the wildlife to 'perform well' for our guests, our visitors in Mellow Brook Cottage have been treated on several evenings to playful visits from the badgers and on one occasion this beautiful creature was so close he could have been touched! This morning the Kites are to be seen soaring over the bottom meadow.

Waxing lyrical about nature is not going to help with this morning's jobs. We have an art course running and I have cakes to bake and lunch to prepare - so off to the Aga I must go, first on the list is preparing some Cheshire beetroot, which I think I will make into soup, it always looks so fantastic being such an incredible colour and with a dollop of contrasting Delamere Creamed Cheese tastes divine...feeling peckish now too!

Speak soon.

Love, Sue x

The change from blue and yellow to Green - rambles after a hectic Bank Holiday!!

2008-05-27T04:07:00.000-07:00

A great weekend has been enjoyed at Harrop Fold, busy, busy, with many lovely guests and loads of delicious foods. Reasonable weather too – windy, but dry and warm.

Leah baked 150 cup cakes last Sunday to take to Reaseheath College for their Open Day and returned with…not one! This weekend we had to keep up to date with cakes since it was Alice’s 20th birthday and she requested blueberry cup cakes complete with candles! All the family were home for the weekend so it certainly was a full house. Alice’s uni exams are finally over and George has now completed his finals, we are looking forward to graduation – do Mothers still wear hats? Poor Edward has school exams next week and so has to revise this week – a sleepy boy today after a very exciting day at Wembley yesterday with his school friends and one lucky father, cheering on Stockport County!

I collected my smoked salmon order on Thursday from the Cheshire Smokehouse. Leah and I arrived there just after lunchtime, having missed our lunch due to pressure of bedroom changing, however, just in time for last orders in the lovely Smokehouse café. We enjoyed a delicious lunch of their famous smoked fish and decided that this is something we really must do more often – purely, you understand in order for us to recommend to our guests where to go to eat! On a serious note, we do recommend the Smokehouse as a brilliant visit to buy what we offer on our menu; we have a fridge in the Homestead for guests to store their goodies until they return home – with their souvenirs of their visit to Cheshire and Harrop Fold Farm. Big Thanks to Barbara Stephenson of the Smokehouse for the extra goodies she sent me home with to try on our breakfast menu – this morning I served the kippers and they were divine – I sneaked some on to my breakfast plate. Yes, you will be offered these on the new breakfast menu.

Over the last month my thinking has changed from blue and yellow to green – thanks in part to Dr Douglas Gyte of the NWDA. I had such a fun night sitting next to him at the Enjoy England Tourism Awards at the beautiful St George’s Hall in Liverpool – our Capital of Culture, appropriately on St George’s Day. I was bemoaning various environmental issues I imagined I had, and kind Douglas made me see the light! A tremendously sensible attitude towards our environment he has, I have never, ever, thought of myself as any form of an ‘eco warrior’, but now I see us as a snowball rolling down the field getting bigger and bigger, only not really covered in snow but really collecting more and more ideas of helping with the environment! I have always thought about the world changing especially for our children but did not think I/we could really make a difference, but now…oh boy, do I have ideas…only simple ideas…but every little helps! Take a look in the guest rooms at our suggestions – ah ha, you will have to visit to see what we have in store – no sneak previews on line!

Must go, time is approaching midday and I need to ring Northern Harvest with this week’s shopping list. The lemon curd all went over the weekend and so must order more Amalfi lemons, and as for the Cheshire Asparagus – the most delicious ever and even enough for some very, very tasty homemade soup. However, watch out Northern Harvest, our friend Simon delivered us some of his veggie plants and David spent the weekend digging out a new veggie plot (with the help of the digger!) and so who knows, maybe this year the cows will leave our baby vegetables alone and the ponies will not play ‘chase’ amongst the potato plants! Perhaps we ought to consider new fencing?

Speak soon,
Love Sue x

Wild Times at Harrop!

2008-05-07T02:53:00.000-07:00

A number of wild happenings here at Harrop Fold…firstly our wild visitors. This weekend our golden pheasant has been spotted criss crossing the field, he lives in the woods near the brook and is certainly a spectacle to be seen. Other golden visitors returning have been the Goldfinches, last year they nested in the ivy on the barn wall, they obviously were so happy they have returned with friends. This year they are continuing to nest in their old spot and their chums are nesting in the ivy on the house outside our bathroom window! Let’s hope this year they will entertain our visitors again at breakfast time – better than a cabaret was one comment on Sunday morning!

The house martins have also returned and this morning their antics were delightful as they were diving around me as I pegged out the sheets on the line to dry. David also spotted the buzzards in the bottom meadow and on Monday morning we saw the bottom meadow resembling a scene from Monarch of the Glen as around 10 deer from neighbouring Lyme Park joined the natives for bed & breakfast. They are such grand beasts and we were able to photograph them looking up at us from the old Oak tree – hopefully we will work out soon how to add photos to our blog!

Continuing with a wild outdoors theme David, Edward and I were guests at the Preview of the inaugural Tatton Park Biennial on Friday evening. We enjoyed a glass of champagne and canapés in the beautiful Tenants’ Hall prior to roaming the gardens in search of the specially commissioned artworks, some hidden and some easily found. We set off exploring ourselves, led very ably by Edward who fancied rather more of an orienteering experience rather than the footpaths! The shingles sculpture is so wonderful – one could imagine spending a lovely evening overlooking the lake in this beautiful structure – I wonder if Tatton are thinking of b&b! Seriously, it is fantastic and we are looking forward to returning to see the structure erected overlooking the Japanese garden that is a particular favourite of ours. This trip will certainly be recommended to our guests.

Our wildly exciting end to the week was being visited and reviewed by Judith from Good Housekeeping – yes THE Good Housekeeping magazine! Judith stayed Thursday and Friday night and enjoyed a day of watercolour painting on Friday with Mike. Leah enjoyed cooking and serving some delicious treats – ah! Judith was a dream to share the dinner table with! Do please remember to buy the September edition to read about Judith’s visit…her comment in the visitor’s book reads…
‘The perfect family and delicious stay. Thank you!’
Along with a little picture and the words… ‘What Mike taught me’
Good Housekeeping.

Our wildly thrilling surprise has been to be announced as finalists again in the Cheshire Tourism Awards for the 3rd year running, so fingers crossed please, and let’s hope we win another award to make a hat trick!

On a final wild note, Sunday evening was so beautiful we decided that after such a busy few days we deserved a stroll up to the local inn for a beer and a viewing of the most beautiful sunset of the year. Yes, this could have been enjoyed from our gardens but I needed some rhubarb to make more jam for this week’s visitors, so stopping in the field on the way home we whiled away a few minutes pulling the beautiful spring rhubarb, having just prepared it now I must nip off as it is ready for bottling. Next on the agenda is to make a fresh batch of our lovely Amalfi lemon curd – combined with this glorious weather the smell and touch of these divine Amalfi lemons have put me in the mood for a holiday….and hopefully you too may wish for a holiday...here at Harrop Fold!

Speak again soon.
Love, Sue x

Our first Swallow has arrived!

2008-04-22T04:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Spring!
Today we have had the arrival of Very Important Guests – our first Swallow has arrived at Harrop Fold Farm. Yes, I know one swallow does not make a summer – however it is certainly the beginning of the arrival of the beautiful birds swooping and diving over the farmyard. Our young kitten Arthur, has not experienced their antics before and is lying mesmerised on the wall with one paw in the air! I love waking in the morning hearing their chirps and cheeps as they nest over our bedroom window frame.
Leah is at home today preparing for the launch of her new website and it is always a treat as she makes our lunch and lots of lovely cakes for afternoon tea – today’s lunch is a lovely Spring Vegetable soup which will be enjoyed with Mark Beeley’s gorgeously soft and delicious home baked bread. Hope David doesn’t notice that Leah and I have pinched the fresh crusts! For later we have some decadent Rocky Road Cakes…must remember to wrap one up for Edward on his way home from school.
Speak again soon.
Love from a gloriously sunny Rainow,
Sue x

From Green to Bronze!

2008-04-17T04:22:00.000-07:00

Harrop Fold is trying to become Greener…and have succeeded in becoming Bronze!
We believe we are the first Cheshire b&b to be awarded a Green Tourism Business Scheme Award. Prior to Easter we were asked to join the scheme and were visited by their inspector. We know we are strong in certain areas…local food, local shopping (and an excellent local shopping service is provided to our self-catering guests), the walking is excellent as is the wonderful wildlife around the farm; we collect visitors from the railway station whenever we can – and when we can’t, guests can take a taxi from the station. After all, that is good for our local taxi drivers! Cheshire County Council have placed recycle boxes for paper, card, glass and cans actually at the farm for our guests and ourselves to fill. We are trying to become ‘greener’ in our cleaning processes and our lovely Helen is very keen on us using vinegar and baking powder in our daily cleaning chores, she has now suggested that we consider making some of our cleaning products ourselves! And she kindly squirrels away plastic containers to recycle in her village recycle point.

However, certain areas are not as strong…public transport - buses, sadly I believe there are only 2 a working day, one on a Saturday and none on a Sunday and this makes it difficult for visitors to travel by bus! I have thought very hard and very long about the guest products and since I know guests love Molton Brown we have decided to keep this ‘extravagance’! We do invite our guests to share ideas with us regarding environmental issues and we are always eager to learn the ideas of others.

Talking of green…we woke this morning to a sprinkling of the white stuff – the hills were dusted with snowflakes, it looked as though Leah had been out with her icing sugar and sifter! We cannot believe that the day before yesterday we were out in shirtsleeves looking at the garden and this morning – brr! On the way back home from the school run I noticed that Rachel’s ewes had begun lambing in the top field – Dry Earth. A wise ewe had made her bed under the trees along the side of the drive and had just delivered one lovely little lamb, a couple of minutes ago I walked past and there was another suckling with its sibling along with a very proud looking mum!

I love this time of year, the flowers are budding and blossoming and there seems so much to look forward to. David was walking around the fields on Monday and for the first time this year heard and indeed saw the curlews back at Harrop Fold Farm. I know the guests especially love hearing the sound of the sheep and watching the gambolling lambs, hopefully David’s flock will be lambing shortly and the sun will shine on them, welcoming each little creature to the world!

Today’s treat on the Aga is some lovely Cheshire Jerusalem Artichoke soup for David’s and my lunch so I will go and check the seasoning and no doubt we will enjoy this over today’s crossword!

Speak again soon.
Love, Sue

Press, Press and more Press!

2008-04-11T01:39:00.000-07:00

One thing that always makes my toes curl is drawing attention to our newspaper coverage – don’t take me wrong…we are always first in line at the newsagent on the day of publication to buy enough copies to read, keep and give to family! However, I seem to remember as a child being told not to boast! But due to pressure from certain guests (and you know who you are!) here goes:
Thanks for all the lovely comments from our eagle eyed guests who spotted the wonderful half page article in The Guardian. We had the treat to host Sally Shalam of the Guardian Travel to an artistic break prior to Christmas. A beautiful photograph accompanied the article, which pleased young Alice!

Sally loved her visit to Harrop Fold where she enjoyed dinner, bed and breakfast and a day painting with Mike. 'I’m utterly absorbed and hours go by in a flash. This is such fun. …it’s my brushwork and I love it.’ She also makes mention of our delicious food ‘I’ve done my best to squirrel away Cheshire Smokehouse cod with freshly laid egg, and toast with home-made gooseberry jam …naturally, I stuffed myself at dinner the previous night – Canapés, Delamere Dairy goat’s cheese and dressed leaves, then lovely beef from the Stevensons’ own herd’.

Also with Sally was Sophie Hazan of the Yorkshire Post who fell in love with Lottie the spaniel or did Lottie fall in love with Sophie? They were never far apart, including when Lottie sneaked her way onto Sophie’s walk, I received a phone call from Bollington – ‘Please can you come and collect Lottie, we haven’t got a lead!’ We are looking forward to reading Sophie’s piece as soon as it is published.

January saw a full page on Leah in YQ Magazine, Talent Scout – Leah Stevenson, Chef. As a very proud Mother I loved it and I think we have a magazine in each room of the house!

The Sunday Times Travel in February placed us within the World’s 20 Cool Pads! How fab is that? Cool it certainly was in February but this morning I woke to a beautiful sunny morning that actually tempted me to jump out of bed and put a spring in my step. Just as well really as we have a residential art weekend running this weekend and I think I will require a lot of spring! Leah is at the helm on the food front and I think I have just spotted Mike with an armful of paintbrushes going through to set up the studio.

Must nip off now and check the cakes in the Aga…Speak again soon,
Love, Sue x

Leah's Delicious Dinners

2008-02-10T05:01:00.000-08:00

Last weekend saw the first of 2008’s Saturday night delicious ‘Taster’ dinners. We were once again treated ourselves by the company who chose to stay with us and I felt I had to add to our diary the special poems sent to us by Mother and Daughter.

In Praise of Harrop Fold Farm

If you need a haven
To escape from your cares
Try Harrop Fold Farm
In the Valley of Hares

Sue’s welcome is charming
The view is divine
Conversation just flows
Like so much good wine

There are ponies and cows
And a kitten who’s dotty
A fine clutch of hens
And a doggie called Lottie

For Lovers of food
There’s much cause for cheer
For it’s breakfast by David
And dinner by Leah

If it’s new inspiration
That your’re looking for
Discover your talents
And paint with Mike Moore

So if you want spoiling
With comfort and style
Try Harrop Fold Farm
And tarry a while…

Not to be outdone… our delightful youngest guest sent a gem too…

Harrop Fold Farm,
Has such a charm,
The animals are funny,
Even little bunny.
The food and catering,
Even the painting all have such a charm…
It’s Harrop Fold Farm!!

However, we cannot leave out the Birthday boy! His scribbled note in the book read:

‘Thank you for making my 37th birthday such a surreal and beautiful experience!’

Our reply to our guests has to be Thank you for visiting us. Without you we would not be here!

Hope to see lots of old friends (well, I don't actually mean old - I mean guests and friends who have visited before!) and meet many new to share our dinner table (and wine cellar!). Do give me a ring if you would like to join us.

Must dash, the sun is shining and the countryside looks so lovely, I think I must go and busy myself outside - or for those into the joke 'bustle'!

Love, Sue x

Happy New Year!

2008-01-15T09:10:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all and hoping you had the Merriest of Christmases. We had a lovely Christmas, for the first time ever, shared with bed & breakfast guests who were visiting the area from Europe. Never before have we enjoyed breakfast with our guests in our dressing gowns…but…it was Christmas morning and jolly relaxed and enjoyable it was too – maybe the Champagne helped! We closed for New Year and had a family break in colder climes. Mulled wine and snow was enjoyed by all.
Now, back home relaxed and ready to welcome our 2008 guests.

A little sadness just before Christmas when John, the cat, unexpectedly died. He had a great life and will be very sadly missed. Lottie did pine, looking everywhere for her pal. However, the children surprised me for Christmas, I was made to sit down and was blindfolded before this little fluffy ball was placed in my hand – on close inspection it was the most adorable tabby kitten and following our theme of King’s names, this tiny ball of trouble now answers to the big name of Arthur. Lottie once again has a chum, we think really she now imagines herself as Mum, but frequently forgets and is found rolling round the floor with the kitten attached to her long floppy ears!

Rain, rain, rain seems to be the weather for the present, we brought the cows in today for the first time this winter, really because the land is so wet and to rest the fields. For the cows it was just another adventure as they ran around the farmhouse with their tails in the air! The ponies were looking a little jealous at the attention lavished on the cows and began to charge around their field but it is amazing how a few carrots calm our boys – well the four-legged lot! The two-legged lot require much more food preparation, speaking of which, must go and put the pastry round a steak and kidney pie, our footballing school boy will be home very soon, and no doubt starving – as usual!

Speak again soon.

Sue

Autumnal Activities

2007-12-14T11:07:00.000-08:00

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

Guest's photos

2007-11-08T03:52:00.000-08:00

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?

Whoops - only my second blog!

2007-11-08T02:52:00.000-08:00

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.

June News - 1st blog post!

2007-06-27T04:46:00.000-07:00

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