We heard the cuckoo for the 1st time yesterday Do you know the Borrowdale cuckoo story? Read on to find out how we tried to achieve eternal spring in Borrowdale…

Each year in the Borrowdale the pleasant and luscious spring is heralded by the cuckoo. The locals of old wanted to perpetuate this bountiful and happy time of the year and believed that if they could keep the cuckoo then they would also keep the spring.

They built a wall across the valley, perhaps at the Jaws of Borrowdale, perhaps at Grange, from the top of fells on one side, to the tops on the other. They built it as high as a they could to keep the cuckoo in, and then spent a happy season safe in the belief that they had banished the cold hard winter seasons.

When the time came for the cuckoo to leave Borrowdale as was its annual habit, the locals in Borrowdale watched their wall in anticipation. To their dismay, the cuckoo cleared the wall by only a course of stone. If only they had put on one extra level of stone, they lamented!

Luckily, the cuckoo did not take offence at this attempted capture and still returns each year to let us know that spring is well and truly on its way. Even now, we still say that if you are born in Borrowdale you are a ‘Borrowdale Cuckoo’.

Did you know that our common cuckoo here in Borrowdale is a brood parasite, as are many cuckoos? This means that instead of building a nest a rearing their chicks themselves, they actually lays their eggs in other, smaller birds’ nests and leave the chicks to be reared by a different species of bird! The baby cuckoo is much bigger than the ‘adopted’ parent that feeds it – have a look at this picture of a reed warbler feeding a cuckoo chick from the wikipedia page.

You can find out more about cuckoos and their breeding habits on the Cuckoo wikipedia page.

We have started our final refurbishment for this season, High Seat’s kitchen/dining room, hallway and back porch.

We’re really excited about the solid oak flooring planks that we are going to use: local trees from a local sawmill in Appleby. Sneak preview of flooring (oiled and unoiled), cupboards, worktops (oak and Lakeland greenslate) and the tiles are below.

We have done our best to use as many local and natural products as possible. We have used local Lakeland stone worktops mixed with solid oak butcher’s block worktops. The slate is from Keswick’s Lakeland Slate Co, and complements our exposed stone walls (previously rendered outside walls) in the new laundry room and w.c. and our reclaimed skirting tiles made from 2nd hand slates we had in storage. The new kitchen cabinets are from Howden’s Joinery, a British company with a depot in Keswick who are commited to sourcing sustainable timber and to British manufacturing. All of our tradespeople are based in Keswick, so we are able to keep supporting our local economy which is important to us.

Manesty Band can now dine up to 12/14 guests and will be available to book this year with Manesty (sleeps 6/7), Manesty Dairy (sleeps 2) or High Seat (sleeps 3/4/5) for larger groups who want to dine together.

Our winter work is going well and we will soon be able to offer dining accommodation for larger groups in Manesty Band, when booked with either Manesty or High Seat, for up to (hopefully – we haven’t bought a table yet!) 14 people. It is really exciting for us to be able to offer even more flexible accommodation, and make Manesty available for a wider range of visitors.

The winter so far has been rather warm, pretty windy and a little bit wet… (have a look at the weather station records). Despite this, some of our regular guests who were here for 3 weeks over Christmas and New Year managed to walk on every one but three of their days here, a testament that the Lakes can be enjoyed to the full whatever the weather!

We would like to thank everyone who visited us in 2011, and hope to see many of you again over the next 12 months. If you are planning your holidays now then have a look at our prices and availability page to see if we have anything that will suit you.

Despite the cooler end to August and beginning of September this year there are only a few early signs of Autumn around. The bracken covered fells have turned a rusty red and the red squirrels are busy with the nuts, but the leaves are still green, the grass is growing at an alarming rate and bizarrely some confused rhododendrons have actually poked a flower out or two! Regardless, the weather is definitely reminiscent of the summer and we are enjoying walks and barbeques while we can.

We are also looking ahead to our winter renovations. In addition to the usual painting and redecorating, kitchen and bathroom refurbs and general maintenance, we are also looking at an exciting project to help accommodate larger groups at Manesty.

In the past we have been unable to accommodate parties of more than 7/8 people who want to socialise and dine together because we do not have a place that can accommodate more than 8 people dining at once. By increasing the dining area in Manesty Band (rearranging the kitchen/dining room and adding an extending dining table) we aim to create a dining area that can accommodate up to 14 people. Manesty Band will then be available to let with either High Seat or Manesty or Manesty Dairy for larger groups for short breaks in the low season and full weeks in the peak season. During the peak season also we hope to accommodate larger groups of up to 10/11 people for short breaks by offering Cocklety How Stable Loft, Cocklety How Byre and Cocklety How Studio together, with an area to dine in either the Byre or the Stable Loft.

We will let you know as soon as we have finalised our plans so you can start thinking about your holidays!

As mentioned in our previous post, after the popularity of the short breaks in our newest cottage, Cocklety How Byre, we are now offering short breaks (Fri – Mon & Mon – Fri) all year round for up to 5 people in Cocklety How Stable Loft. The Stable Loft operates on a sliding scale of prices depending on party size, so smaller groups are accommodated without having to pay for accommodation they don’t need. We have also introduced the sliding scale of prices to High Seat for weekly lets from Saturday – Saturday. We are now able to accommodate a wider range of holiday options, so should have something to suit everyone! Up to date prices and availability for the next 52 weeks are available on our dedicated interactive webpage.

For those of you looking for a weekend away in the Lakes we have written a leaflet for a perfect weekend at Manesty, specially orientated to those of you wanting to leave the car at home. We will publish this on our home page soon, so watch that space! If you’ve booked a weekend with us already and would like to see this then drop us an email and we will send you a copy of the current draft.

We still have a few summer breaks (short breaks and full weeks) available this August and into early September, so there is still a chance to come and enjoy the summer yourselves. If you want to miss the busier summer season, then why not consider an Autumn break and see the Lakes at their most colourful. Visit our prices and availability page to find a time that suits you.

Finally, for all of our guests, past and future, who are in London, we hope that you remain safe during the current unrest and that the situation gets back under control soon. Our thoughts are with everyone in the affected areas of the capital.

With a long period of warm dry weather about a month ago, we were battered with some strong winds and rather a lot of water last weekend. Happily, the sun has come out in force for the end of the school half term week and we are basking in glorious temperatures today (the thermomoter is currently reading 27 deg celsius). Blissful. The ash trees (always the last to green up) have finally put their leaves out and the bracken has poked new green shoots up over last years brown, so we know that it really is time to say goodbye to the spring.

We have got demanding baby blue tits being fed on the bird table by frazzled looking adult birds and the wagtail nest in the jasmine outside the bedroom window is getting a bit noisy for 5am in the morning. There have been casulaties: two tiny new born chicks were respectfully disposed of after (we can only assume) they were stolen from their nest and dropped mid flight on the gravel. We are keeping an eye on the slightly dopey blackbird that has chosen to nest practically on top of the tap we attach the hose to. It seems to be going strong!

The azaleas have finished their colourful blaze of glory but there are still rhododendrons keeping the gardens colourful. Have a look at our facebook album for photos of them in their prime. We have taken use of the good weather to assess the damage of the winter freeze on the more frost tender plants (we don’t really have any, but the winter was pretty exceptional!) and the good news is that more of them are recovering that we had initially hoped. We are giving them a chance to recover and will reassess in the autumn.

Our favourite thing about this time of year has to be the long light evenings and bright early mornings. With the longest day under 3 weeks away, it is barely getting fully dark at night anymore. It’s a great time for getting out and about, and we are trying to make the most of it by going for a walk after work has finished for the day. We had a lovely walk from Whinlatter above Bass Lake to Barf and Lord’s Seat last weekend, albeit a bit windy! We are toying with the idea of a new set of leaflets to complement our Walks from the Door. The idea is Secret Walks from Further Afield. Any ideas would be welcome, of course.

Things have not stood still over the past few months. We have painted all of the exterior of the cottages (tricky – not only is it a huge area, but the paint can’t go on if it is too cold or too hot or too wet…) and have also chosen new carpets for Manesty and Manesty Band, which will be fitted in the next few weeks. Our new leaflet for the gate with a summary of the accommodation we offer should arrive next week, and we are working now on updating our brochure. We also have a new initiative to encourage you to recommend us to your friends: departing guests are given a voucher which they can pass on to friends and family. When they book friends and family who present the voucher are entitled to a free hot tub, as are the guests who passed on the voucher when they come back.

We have fixed the weather station which was experiencing increasingly intermittent faults. We couldn’t pin down the exact problem, but replacing the hardwear that stores and uploads the data to the website has thankfully done the trick. We have also installed a second broadband line for our Manesty Holiday Cottages network, which should increase the speed of the broadband available. We are still somewhat limited by our rural location, but hopefully speeds should be more reliable now.

And finally, we are fairly confident that we will turn another of our cottages over to the popular Mon – Fri, Fri – Mon short break scheme that we trialled this year in Cocklety How Byre. We think that it will be Cocklety How Stable Loft, which will allow us to accommodate larger groups for short breaks, but we welcome your idea about this if you have any. Just drop us an email or put a wall post on our facebook page. We have last minute breaks and summer holidays available, so if you are looking for some time away have a look at our availabilities page and get in touch.

Our winter work went well: the work in Cocklety How Stable is now finished and the first guests to stay in it have been and gone. Its new layout and sliding scale of prices for different sized parties is proving popular with families and couples alike, and we hope that the added flexability this gives will mean we can help more people find that special time in the Lakes, away from the hustle and bustle of daily life.

With the better weather on its way and the longer days providing more time for outdoor work, we are now turning our thoughts not only to the annual calls of the garden, but also to the rather mammoth task of pressure washing the exterior of the buildings in preparation for a paint job. We will of course be staying with the original warm apricot colour that Manesty has been for a long time now, and even better, we have been delighted to finally source the Snowcem paint that gives Manesty its charactieristic darker hue in the rain, brightening the sometimes grey weather that the rain can bring.

Our lower season prices this Spring are as favourable as ever, and as well as the usual part week availability in the Studio and the Byre, we are also happy to be able offer part weeks for larger parties (and for smaller parties if the Studio and the Byre are booked) in some of the larger cottages. Prices and dates for these breaks are available on request and reflect demand and the proximity of the desired period.

If you would prefer to see the Lakes in the peace and quiet, awakening from its Winter slumber with daffodils, lambs, fresh Spring growth and all the other wonders of the new season, get in touch (by phone or email) and we will do our best to find you that perfect ‘get away’ break.

Our alterations in Cocklety How Stable Loft have gone well, and the photos of the new bedroom and sitting room are now up on its webpage. We are now refitting the kitchen, which will be completed in the next few weeks. As ever, photos will be up on the website soon after.

We have also finished and trialled our new interactive prices and availability page which is now totally integrated on the website. It shows day by day availability and should make searching for your ideal break more intuative and informative. Let us now what you think: drop us an email, give us a bell, or join us on facebook or twitter and make a post.

Finally, it only remains to say that the new year has brought us the usual flurry of booking so we are as busy as ever! Our new cottage, Cocklety How Byre, is proving popular and we hope it will become a favourite get away place for some of you, as so many of our other cottages are. We hope you will consider Manesty Holiday Cottages for whatever holidays you are planning at the moment: get in touch and we will do our best to help you.