Who reads my blog?

Who reads my blog? The surprising answer this week is that people in Saudi Arabia have been reading my Lake District blog in their hundreds. I've no idea why, and it seems like a one day spike, but thank you Saudi readers.

News from the Lakes is that this summer has seen an influx of visitors, with many of the shops, hotels and tourist attractions reporting high volumes of trade. After the desolation of Storm Desmond this is very welcome, and it's a credit to all those who have spread the message that the Lake District and the whole of Cumbria is open for business and looking forward to welcoming visitors.

If you haven't visited the Lakes for a few years you would notice some changes. The landscape obviously remains the same, but there are subtle changes in the towns and villages. Our son, (who grew up here) was recently visiting from London, and commented on the plethora of excellent new cafés, delicatessens featuring wonderful local produce, bars with local craft beers, shops selling proper local crafts ( not tat or tut), musical events, theatre and a general good buzz about the area.

If you have a week free from 27 August, you can still book to stay at Brockstone, our Grasmere cottage with amazing views. This week has bee reduced from £890 to £790 for last minute bookings. The added bonus is that you would be able to visit Grasmere Sports on Sunday, 28 August. 

 The ground floor of the cottage has been completely refurbished this year- here are a few taster pictures.

and the kitchen is new too

If you can't fit a break in in August, our next available dates are from 8 October. October half term and New Year are already booked, but we have other dates free throughout the winter, when we are happy to offer short breaks rather than the usual one week stay.

Is Brockstone Cottage the most perfect Lake District Holiday Cottage? Amazing views, traditional cottage, away from neighbours yet within a mile of Grasmere village , all modern conveniences, yet still retaining the special characteristics of a 200 year old cottage................ ? We think it's pretty special, and so do our guests.

We were delighted when the lovely guests who stayed last week told us "we have stayed in many cottage over the years, and Brockstone is without doubt the best we have ever stayed in"

You can find Brockstone Grasmere Cottage on Facebook, and on the HomeAway website (you won't now find us on Holiday Lettings/Trip Advisor as they are very keen to persuade guests to book via their site and charge them extra for that- we don't like that policy so we've pulled out)

Our Grasmere Cottage is now fully booked until 13 September.

We've found the perfect match for the two weeks we still had available in July. A family of 3 who wanted to book at the last minute for those exact weeks have snapped up our Lakes holiday cottage at a great rate. Smiles all round.

The next week which we have available now is from Saturday 13 September, which will be £750 for the week. We then have the week from 18 October, also £750.

These are the only two weeks we have available between now and November. If you would like a cosy cottage stay during the winter months, the rate is just £490 per week from November to March. (excludes Christmas and New Year)

Here's a snap I took in winter of the view from Brockstone Cottage terrace. If there is any sun going, you'll get it at our cottage overlooking Rydal Water. Here you can see Wetherlam and the Coniston Fells, lightly coated in snow.

Barbecue time at our Lake Holiday Cottage

It's warm and sunny, perfect weather for a barbecue. Some time ago we bought a lovely new barbecue for our Grasmere holiday cottage. We thought that maybe that was something our guests would love that we hadn't provided.

However, it seems that guests are just too busy walking, boating, sightseeing and having fun around the Lakes to want to spend time with the hot coals. As yet, no one has used the new barbecue!

If you haven't booked our cottage with amazing views yet, your next chance would be for the week beginning 19 July, or the week beginning 26 July. We've reduced the week to £750, which we think is great value for a family holiday in the school holiday period.

For more info and reviews (5 stars) click through this link.

Just 6 weeks still available in our Holiday cottage until November

Our Lakes Holiday Cottage, Brockstone is nearly fully booked from now until November.

Our Grasmere holiday cottage has amazing views, is perfectly located for walkers, and has all the facilities you need for a great Lakes holiday. It's not just me that says that ( I would, wouldn't I?). You can read our reviews on Trip Advisor Here . If you discount the odd nutty review ( you can't please everybody all of the time, obviously) you'll see that our holiday cottage is very popular. Could it be perfect for you?

We can offer the week commencing 31 May, and the week commencing 7 June, at the special reduced last minute rate of £590 per week. If you could stay for two weeks, we would offer a two week stay for only £1080. What a bargain!

The next weeks we have are the weeks commencing 19 July and 26 July. We have reduced these school holiday weeks from £870 to £750 per week. If you want to book the two weeks, we can offer that for £1,400. We think this is a great rate for high season.

After that we have the week commencing 13 September for £750, and the week commencing 18 October for £750.

That's all we have until November. If you would like to take advantage of any of these offers, we'd love to hear from you.

Here's a photo I took on Saturday, looking out of the twin bedroom window at Brockstone. You can see Wetherlam , Coniston on the horizon to the left, and Sergeant Man, Grasmere on the right. The wire you can see again the background of the fields full of May blossom is bringing your free unlimited broadband to you at Brockstone cottage.

Last minute reduction for a week from 17 May in our Lake District Cottage

Brockstone Cottage is available from 17 to 24 May, and we have reduced the rate to just £550 for the week.

We've just checked the weather forecast and it's looking pretty good. The Lakes are looking amazing. My brother, who is a horticulturalist says it's a "mast year" when all the elements combine to give greater abundance than usual. This explains the amazing number and colour of bluebells, and the wonderful blossom and flowers on the camellias, magnolia, azaleas and rhododendrons.

If you can take advantage of our last minute special offer you'll see the Lakes at their colourful best.

Here's a photo I took last week in Rydal Village, just a beautiful short walk from Brockstone Grasmere holiday cottage.

If you have a spare minute, please could you visit our Brockstone Lake district holiday cottage page on Facebook and give it a Like please? Thank you.

Special Offer 11 - 18 April in our Grasmere Cottage

We have reduced the rate for this week to just £590 if two of you are staying, or £640 if there are 3 or 4 guests.

As a further offer, you can stay free of charge on Thursday, 10 April, or arrive early on Friday 11th ( usual check in time from 4pm)

We've started a new website for Brockstone, our Lakes cottage with amazing views. It's still being built, but if you'd like to take a look and maybe leave a comment , or share it ,that would be great.

I've put some pretty pics of rhododenrons on there that I took last year in May. They could well be early this year.

Here's one I took earlier.

This from our neighbour's garden at Heugh Folds, just along the road from Brockstone. It is an amazing garden in spring.

I love Pegging Out

I don't know what "pegging out" means to you, but in my native Lancashire it refers to the time honoured job of pegging the washing out on the line.

Why do I love pegging out?

I thing there are 3 main reasons.

1. It takes me back to my childhood, to the days before tumble dryers, when the world seemed a very simple place ( as it does to most young children I think)
2. I love the idea that I'm saving money by not using the tumble dryer. All those Kilowatt hours being saved from the clutches on British Gas.
3. If I'm pegging out, it must be a dry day in the Lakes. It is probably even a sunny day in the Lakes. Every dry , sunny day is something to feel very happy about. Especially in the Lakes, as it does sometimes rain here (no rain, no Lakes as we say)

Here's today's washing on the line.

It's bath mats, towels and hi tech wicking garments on my line today- not exactly the strange flannels and woolies you see on Call the Midwife  (I love that programme- they are big fans of Pegging Out ).

It's another really lovely Lakes day today. If you want to visit, our cottage, Brockstone, is available for short breaks. You can read about our Lakes Holiday Cottage on Trip Advisor here.

It's a sunny spring day in the Lakes

Looking out of the window this morning, the sky is blue, the sun is coming up and the birds are singing. All thoughts of sitting at the desk catching up on paperwork have gone. It's a day to get outside.

We're promised several days of glorious sun. Usually we'd be getting ready to open White Moss House for our bed and breakfast guests, but we're having a break this year. We are still letting our wonderful Lakes holiday cottage, Brockstone, and it is available for short breaks in March and early April. We might spend today in the garden up at Brockstone cottage.

It's such a sunny spot it's an absolute joy to "work" up there. It's just a few hundred yards from White Moss House by footpath ( though it's over a mile by road). It's also a few hundred yards by road (well, track) from the next nearest cottage, but it feels quite remote when you are there as you can't see any other buildings and only walkers and their dogs go past. I'll take my camera, but meanwhile, here's a photo of Brockstone in the autumn. It could be you opening that gate to a wonderful Lake District break in the next few weeks!

WiFi comes to our Lakes Holiday Cottage

BT permitting, we should have free unlimited Broadband at our Lake District holiday cottage by 3rd April.

Guests have always been welcome to use the free WiFi at White Moss House, but for even greater convenience we have persuaded BT that they can put a phone line into our cottage. The engineers have not yet been out to check where the cottage is, but we are optimistic that the lovely people at BT will not be daunted by the (relative) isolation of beautiful Brockstone.

Those of you who follow this blog (and there must be quite a few, as we've had over 21,000 visits) might like to know that we've started a new blog for Brockstone, our Lake District Cottage with amazing views .
Much more to come here. You could bookmark the page and come back from time to time.

This is the photo , taken by me in January 2012, that I've edited to make the banner heading. Not bad eh? It is, of course, Helm Crag and Grasmere taken from the shore of Grasmere, just 10 minutes walk from our holiday cottage and White Moss.

For more circular walks from White Moss click here.

Remember the weather in March last year?

I've just been looking through photos from last March. Here's one I took at Brockstone Cottage on 24 March 2013. Those of you familiar with the walk from Grasmere to Rydal will recognise the gate with the unusual fastening. It's just below our Lakes holiday cottage. One day I'm planning to write a blog post with photos about gates and their fastenings- there so many different types - I find it fascinating. Maybe I'm a bit of a sad case.

Rydal Water from our Lakes Holiday Cottage March 2013

Snow, grey skies, grey lake in March last year....quite a contrast to the one I took and posted on our blog yesterday.

If you are reading this post and have a moment to spare, please can you visit and give a LIKE to our Brockstone Cottage page on Facebook? Thank you. Please click here to get to our Facebook page.

A welcome cup of tea overlooking Rydal Water on our Lakes cottage terrace

Our Lakes Holiday Cottage, Brockstone, doesn't have any guests staying this week, so we've taken the chance to do some gardening there- mostly pruning and cutting back. Everything seems to be growing there right now, (including the snowdrops which are lovely, and the daffodils that are just coming out.)

We took a very well earned cup of tea on the terrace. You can see Rydal Water down below in the background. You could have this view next week! The cottage is available at just £290 for a 4 night midweek stay, or £290 for a 3 night weekend stay. If you can stay a week, it's £450.

Not great photos technically, but you get the picture!

Easter in the Lake District 2014- our cottage is still available

Easter is late this year so we're hoping that it will be warm and sunny. Our Lakes Holiday Cottage, Brockstone, would be a great place to stay for your Easter break.

The days will certainly be long. My research tell me that there will be 14 hours 13 minutes of daylight on Easter Sunday. In the Lakes, the sun will rise around 6 am and the sun will set around 8.15 pm.

This means that with a little luck,  you will be able to sit out on the terrace in the morning having breakfast watching the sun come up over Rydal Water, and then you'll be chilling after a day's walking having supper and a drink watching the sun set over Wetherlam, the Coniston Fells and Silver Howe.

Here's a photo of the view from our Lakes Holiday cottage terrace in winter. You can sit for hours watching the shifting light and clouds. The views are amazing . You can read some of our reviews here.

A week at Easter either 12- 19 April or 19-26 April is just £790, all bills included.

Why not contact us and make a booking?

Can you spot our Lakes Holiday Cottage in this picture?

I set off from White Moss in the sunshine this morning. From Loughrigg Terrace you can look back to White Moss, and if you lift your eyes and look, you can see our Lake District Holiday Cottage, Brockstone. Can you see it in this photo? It's right in the middle, on the side of Nab Scar, in a clearing between two sets of trees.

If I swing the camera down a little you would see Grasmere Lake to the left and the River Rothay running by.
Here's another view .

And here is more of a close up view. All these are taken on a great little walk, which you can do from the door of our Lakes Holiday Cottage.

You can stay here in March for just £290 for a four night midweek break, - one of our last minute offers. You can read more about walks from White Moss and Brockstone Cottage here.

Words by the Water, Keswick, March 2014

Visitors to the Lakes in March 2014 can join enjoy the wonderful Words by the Water Festival, taking part in the Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, from 7 - 16 March 2014.

Those of us who live in the Lakes consider ourselves very fortunate to have this event on our doorstep. Billed as a "Festival of words and ideas", it features a wide range of authors , broadcasters and all round very interesting people.

I'm keen to hear Joanna Trollope, A. L. Kennedy, Philippa Gregory and Penelope Lively.
Or would I like to hear Melvyn Bragg ( again), who is President of the Festival?
Maybe Jeremy Paxman? George Monbiot? Michael Rosen? This is an outstanding programme.

Here's a link to the Words by the Water Festival so that you can see for yourself the great range of speakers for 2014.

If you don't live in the area, you could rent our Lakes Holiday Cottage and drive the very scenic 20 minutes to Keswick to hear your choice of speakers. A week in March is just £490 if you book during January ( usual rate £550) Here is a link to more info about our Historic Grasmere Holiday Cottage with amazing views .

On Silver Howe, March 2011- Grasmere Village and Dunmail Raise in the background.

March can be a great time for walking in the Lakes. The days are already quite long, and the weather can be good ( but no promises!) Here's a photo ( a rare one of me - I usually take them) taken on a sunny March day. It was so warm I didn't need a jacket, even on the top. It's taken on Silver Howe, which is a walk than can be done directly from Brockstone, our Grasmere Holiday Cottage. In fact, you can see Brockstone from the top of Silver Howe ( and vice versa of course)

Grasmere taken March 2011 on Silver Howe walk

Here's a photo taken on the way to Silver Howe on the same day. Lovely.

Book our Lake District Holiday Cottage for March at special rates.

If you book a week now in our Grasmere Holiday Cottage, a full week ( arriving Saturday) will be just £490. This includes all linen, towels and central heating. No extra bills.

You can see more about our Lake Holiday Cottage, which is called "Brockstone" ( brock is the local name for badger- you may see one), by clicking through this link.

You can also look at the pages on the tabs at the top of this page, though this is a work in progress...