Live!: News

We’ve been busy refurbishing Manesty’s kitchen and have installed a lovely new wood burner in the old inglenook fireplace.  There’s now a comfy sitting area by the fire as well as toasty underfloor heating, new tiled floor and a brand new cooker, fridge and separate freezer.  It now really is the heart of the home!

We’ve also replaced Cocklety How Stable Loft’s front door.  Where before there was wibbly glass and painted wood there are now lovely big glass double doors opening onto the patio.  You can now see right across the valley!

We’ve had a very late spring, but the advantage has been the long bluebell and blossom displays – the best in years – and the rhododendrons have yet to peak.  Our guests were blessed with glorious weather for both the long weekends in May, and the birds are nesting all over the grounds – wagtails, robins and swallows to name just those I can see from the office window!  And as well as our resident tawny own, we’ve had a barn owl patrolling the field opposite Manesty.

We hope to see you here at Manesty soon.

We would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

For those of you who have visited this year or who have booked for next year, thank you very much for your custom and we look forward to welcoming you again.

For everyone else, what are you waiting for?! Our family has been welcoming visitors to Manesty for the generations and we know what makes a Lake District holiday. Manesty has an unrivaled position with breath taking views sweepng across Borrowdale and there is immdeiate access to high fell hikes, riverside rambles and leisurely lakeshore strolls and the bustling market town of Keswick is just 5 miles away. We hope to welcome you soon

With our best wishes for 2013,

All at Manesty

We said goodbye to October with a deluge of rain yesterday, but today has welcomed November with a sunny morning, some blue sky and a lovely dusting of snow on the tops .

Our most exciting new at the moment is our new (and seemingly regular) visitor to our beck, a fishing heron! We are not sure how long it will stay as we weren’t aware that there was much in the way of fish in the beck, but it seems pretty keen, stalking up and down the banks and then standing for ages in the pools hunting. We can’t see it very well when it’s actually fishing, but here’s hoping it’s getting well fed!

Autumn has done us proud, with fabulous colours and mists and even a day warm enough to picnic outside earlier this month. With the snow today and the sight of many leaves piled on the ground instead of gracing the branches we are starting to look towards winter, although so so enthusiastically that we would wish autumn over already! But there is something to be said for crisp cold winter days.

We are working hard on our facebook page at the moment, where you can find news, photos and special offers updated everyday. Take a look at www.manesty.co.uk/facebook and click like so you don’t miss out on anything!

Its been a busy summer, mostly becasue in the middle of our very busiest season we decided it was time to buy, furnish and start letting our very own shepherd’s hut, Tommy Bit!

Made from all English wood (oak and larch) and delivered on the back of a VERY big truck at the beginning of July it opened for our first guests a couple of weeks ago. Weekends are booking up fast and the first few guests have found it very comfortable (we did forget to put a mirror in, but quickly resloved that!) . One guest has even commented that the bed is even more comfy than her bed at home, which is a bit of a relief for us as the cosy dimensions of the hut meant that we couldn’t fit in a shop bought folding bed, so we had to design and make one ourselves..

Have a look at the webpage for more details and get in touch if you are interested

Contrary to what seem to be happening in much of the country, it has been largely dry and sunny here for the past few days. Makes a change. With lots of experience of flooding and heavy rains here in Borrowdale, our thoughts are with those who have had too much recently.

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.

Snow on the tops today! Lots of pairs of birds on the bird table this morning, particularly special to see 2 long tailed tits and 2 goldcrests (perhaps brought by the snow) among the usual great tits, robins, chaffinches and coaltits. Also a bumblebee spotted on the apriocot tree flowers in the greenhouse! Spring is certainly here, despite the snow.

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.

Phew! We have finished Manesty Band’s new kitchen, laundry room and downstairs w.c.. With the discovery of a huge fireplace behind the kitchen tiles which had been blocked up on at least 2 separate occasions and was full of rubble, the deadline of finishing for this week’s guests who arrived on Saturday was a little tighter than planned as we had to make quite a few last minute adjustments to showcase our find! Attached are a few phone camera pictures taken at the end of last week, and proper photos should be up on the website sometime in the next few weeks.

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.

We hope that everyone has had a great Christmas break and would like to wish you all the best for 2012.

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.

September is going out with a bang, with temperatures reaching a glorious 25deg C. Today looks to be even warmer, so why not consider a last minute trip to the Lakes this weekend? We have availability for different group sizes and can promise a great last minute rate whatever your party size. Call or email us directly and tell us you are responding to our news post for the best rates.

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!

All in all, the summer so far has been pretty good. We have had lots of lovely warm and sunny summer days and the barbeque has been seeing lots of use! We had a very early blackcurrent crop this year, no doubt down to the warm dry spell in spring, and the plums are now starting to ripen which means the deminishing jam store will soon get a boost. There is a mewing baby buzzard around which is lovely to watch soaring in the summer sky. The red squirrels are making great use of our squirrel feeders, and we are topping up their monkey nuts regularly.The lambs have just been weaned and now look at home munching away at their lush green grass.

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.

I had not realised it had been such a long time since our last news update! Spring, it would seem, has passed us by…

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.

Fans of ITV’s ‘The Lakes’ will have already seen this, but for everyone else out there, Keswick and it’s local businesses and business owners were featured on this week’s episode of ‘The Lakes’. Lots of familiar vistas and interesting tales. Enjoy!

The snowdrops are out in full force and the daffs have more than just poked their stems above the ground, although they are yet to flower. The lawns are showing signs of their first growth, the magnolia and the jasmine are promising to flower soon, and the early flowering heathers in the garden have already brought a riot of colour to the year. The garden birds are more active and this week we saw our resident red squirrel on the feeder for the first time this year. The ewes are noticably in lamb and are spending more than the usual amount of time lying down: all in all sure signs that Spring is definitely on is way, despite the recent scatterings of snow on the tops.

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.

Well, a week in to 2011! We hope you all had a restful and happy break over the Christmas season, and would like to wish everyone all the best for the new year. We had a lovely family Christmas here, depsite a few delays due to the snow in Germany preventing flights. One highlight had to be circumnavigating Derwentwater and visiting St Herbert’s Island on ice skates. A first for everyone in the family, even Alan who skated on the lake as a child. Another has been falling asleep listening to the cricket, with the house reverberating to the sound of Test Match Special and the exhilarting Ashes series going on in Australia. It should culminate tonight (if the rain goes away!) with an England win down under for the first time since 1986! So, all in all, definitely a Christmas to remember.

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.

It seems hardly a moment ago that we were last blogging about the wonderful seasonal winter weather, yet here we are again! Snow has been lying for over a week now, having first snowed on Friday night, and although there is a thaw promised for Thursday, our long term weather forcast suggests that it will only be brief. We have had the sledges out and are hoping to skate on the frozen lake tomorrow. A quick walk today up to Rigg Head Mines was an exhilarating alpine experince, particularly surreal for this west coast temperate climate. The beautiful cold days look set to continue and it’s a real treat to get up day after day.

Our winter work continues well: alterations in Cocklety How Stable are on schedule. Electrics, joinery and plastering are finished and we are now decorating and about to put in the new flooring. We have also developed a new interactive prices and availabiliy page for our website, which is this week to be intergrated in to the website and should be going live within the next week. It will make finding and enquiring about your ideal break away more intuitive and informative, dispaying night by night availability as well as specific prices for each week for different party sizes. We’d love some feedback, so will definitely be letting you all know when its ready for action!

We can only emphasize now what a wonderful wintery period we are having in the Lakes at the moment, and what a special time it would be to take a break here and experience the beauties and splendor of a snowy Lakeland. Before last year we had not had weather like this for years, so make the most of it: escape the fesitve build up and make time for a few idyllic days away.