26 Nov 2012

Coach House Comments

Here are the latest comments – October 2012 Wow! What an amazing cottage! We all had a truly fantastic stay. You really have thought of everything, from tea lights to luxurious bedding to logs for the fire….I have been looking at your cottages online for about 3 years and have finally saved up to come for our 21st wedding anniversary and it fulfilled all my dreams. …The children loved using the trampoline and the full use of your beautiful gardens as they used the torches here to search for hedgehogs and moles. Thank you so much for everything. We will definitely be back. September 2012 Our third visit and as good as ever cottage. A real home from home. In fact better than home…. Hope to see you next year. September 2012 Gorgeous cottage with a lovely welcome of yummy treats. Had a great holiday…so much to do. Kids really enjoyed the trampoline and the garden. Thanks so much. September 2012 Delighted with the Coach House and the marvellous facilities plus Noelle’s little extras especially ‘high tea’ and home made bread. A wonderful reception on our arrival plus ‘extra’ conversations during the week…. September 2012 Our fourth visit. Yet again everything was perfect….We’ve had a lovely holiday thank you very much. August 2012 What a wonderful place, both the cottage and the area. The cottage is perfection. Everything we wanted and more. Thank you Tim and Noelle to all your extra effort in making this such a special place to be… We visited lots of places and it was lovely to return here every evening. We would love to join the crowd of repeat visitors to the Coach House and hope to return as soon as we can… We expect you to enjoy the Coach House and will work to orientate you in this lovely area if you wish. In the summer we found out about quoits matches that would be good to visit – the locals hurl huge iron rings 25 yards onto an iron peg set deep into a square of clay. It's an unusual sight which is to be seen in the north east but especially on the Moors and Dales. We directed other guests to fishing trips from Whitby and yet others to drives round the Moors and villages taking into account the poor mobility of one of their party. Horseriding opportunities, photographic locations and entertainment for younger people have been the foundation of print outs and later items for the itineraries on the website. We enjoy pointing guests towards some of the excellent eating places in the area and also high quality food shopping. While parents relax in the cottage garden the younger people can work off excess energy on the trampoline. During the late spring and summer the grasses and wildflowers grow up and we mow paths around the paddock to explore and hide. The ‘bendy house’ of woven willow is a private place to hide away and watch the sky through a ceiling of leaves for both large and small people. The trees at the top of the garden are a more natural habitat for a variety of wildlife, we had a hare’s ‘form’ a young owl in the trees getting used to flying and plenty of pheasant and a few rabbits. We encourage you to sit quietly in the hide to watch the larger residents but we need to be a little discrete. The cottage has its own drive and parking area as well as a hut for safe bike storage. The Coach House has all the usual characteritics of one of Noelle’s Cottages. Old bits and modern facilities. High quality beds and bedding on the double and two singles - which can be made into a double if you let Noelle know in time. The comfortable sitting room has a woodburning stove, original artwork and photographs, some books and DVD’s and underfloor heating. There are antiques in most rooms particularly in the dining room. Noelle sat at the dining table exchanging secrets with her ever more ancient Dutch granny. The kitchen is modern and equipped to a high standard. “You have thought of everything’ There is fast and free Wi-fi and a landline until we can fix a VOIP phone. We have fitted it out to a standard we would like to find on our holidays but sometimes don’t. It’s likely you will enjoy your stay and want to return. Your welcome will be even warmer!

25 Nov 2012

Autumn gardening

There is plenty to do at this time of the year despite the weather. Our friend at Trailblazers says there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. Mmmm. The soil is more welcoming though for the bulbs that Noelle planted under the watchful eye of her garden advisor Stephen Bean. He has been responsible for the overall feel and appearance of the cottage gardens and the modifications to the main garden. Tulips from Roger's Nursery have been sneaked into gaps throughout the garden and introduced into the areas of long grass around the lawns. Tim is making metal frames for some of the roses and clematis plants. We have an artistic nephew staying at the moment who is wrapping Sandsend rocks in copper wire donated by our local scrap metal man. The effect will be a mix of rusting iron, verdigris and the roses bursting through the support. The wood store next to the garage now has its flat roof complete and awaits aggregate and soil onto which we will plant a wild flower 'meadow'. All we need to do then is throw a sheep up there once or twice a year to mow it...The garden is covered in a richly coloured mat of fallen leaves which will soon turn to a slushy mess so they will be blown into various corners and left to rot in bins we have yet to make out of chicken netting. We have planted plenty of buddleias in the paddock in the hope we can encourage the dwindling population of butterflies and the almost absent bees and bumble bees. Something is happening to our garden visitors. The bendy house put on a lot of wood and leaf over the summer thanks to the damp conditions. For the first time it was occupied by bloody aphids. Red ones that is. This attracted a huge number of wasps to drink the honeydew so both play and maintenance had to wait until they had finished their feast. The result is that it now looks more like Amy Whitehouse's hair than the neat igloo we strive for. Tim enjoys his orange mower that turns on a sixpence and drops the grass back where it came from so that the fertility of the lawn is maintained. It encourages regrowth of the wildflowers in the grass - as we like to call the daisies and speedwell that others may consider weeds! The yew hedging is growing well and is now ready for the shaping that was intended three or four years ago when it was planted. We strung two Vietnamese hammocks in the garden in anticipation of rewards for retirement but they got precious little use beyond incarcerating our very pregnant daughter in law early in the year. Maybe next year we will sit in the garden, or perhaps the year after...