A miserable start but it brightened up quickly with showers later in the day. Four of our peak district cottages out with seven back in to our dog friendly cottages. In fact there are dogs in seven of the cottages. Three cleaners up and no problems encountered. Bid some of the odd jobs from yesterday afternoon included defrosting two fridges and washing some curtains so there were plenty of follow up jobs this morning as well as usual checking and minor jobs, eg a broken vase, a loose plug. Also put up new curtains in one of the cottages. Ready by 2.45 when the first guests arrived. They have been here before and are good friends of our former neighbours in Herts. Their friends who are staying in one of the other cottages arrived about an hour later Three other cottages arrived in the next hour, one has been here before. One cottage arrived about 5pm, they have also been here before and final cottage arrived about half an hour later having been to the Tramway Museum at Crich – this is well worth a visit and we plan to go again ourselves. After dinner finally sat down about 8.30, satisfied that everyone was settled in. All we can hope for now is better weather!

A damp start but it did eventually improve even though there was plenty of rumbles! Three of our peak district cottages out today with one back in to our Bakewell cottages. One cleaner up to turn two around. A quick trip down to Bakewell to get bits for the weekend. Back and both cottages completed without major problems and two inventories completed as well. A number of odd jobs planned but cottage arrived too early for me to get anything done – they will have to wait. Andrew moved the young cows across the road and luckily they obliged by going where they should. Had planned to plant up the first of the hanging basket plants that have arrived. Had a minor problem with one of the dishwashers that sprung a leak but Chris sorted it out. In the end I settled for doing odd Jobs in the empty cottages and getting things ready for tomorrow. After dinner finally sat down about 9.30.

A miserable day weather wise. Had hoped to get the curtains finished this morning but emails and keeping web vacancies updated took longer than I thought. Was chatting to Chris in his office when I noticed a van driving slowly past. I then realised there was a cow on the road so Chris tried to get hold of Andrew but as there was no response he got in the car and went down. A van came up to tell us there were some cows out on the road so I realised the situation was more serious. Phoned Chris who by now was with Andrew down at Green Cowden Farm where they had caught up with a couple of cows. I saw one come back and jump over the wall back into the field with her mates, by now I realised these were the youngsters who were having their first taste of fresh air and a few minutes later another cow came trotting up the road followed by a line of cars. The trouble is if the cars slowed down the cow would have slowed down and it could have been caught more easily. A few minutes later I saw Chris and then Andrew drive past and they finally caught up with the cow on the road to Sheldon and brought her back. She jumped over the cattle grid (they can do that) and joined the older girls who had rushed down the field to see what was going on. Its just as well he did not do this on Sunday as it is the Chatsworth Horse Trials this weekend! Remember last year! Andrew couldn’t believe the cows had done the same as the youngsters did last year. I reckon last years cows told this years ones ‘when you get out into the field jump over the wall and turn right and see how far you can get down the road to Bakewell before they catch you’! Finally finished my curtains in the afternoon so they are ready to hang up on Saturday. Took a few bookings for our peak district cottages, went and had a chat with one of our regular guests and after dinner made some phone calls. By the time I had finished what I needed to do it was 9.30 so I sat down.

A quiet couple of days with Tuesday spent taking up some curtains and a trip down to Bakewell. Had a visit from a DEFRA rep (actually a local farmer) to check the land shown on the maps they had tied up with fields we are paid SPS (Single Payment Scheme) for. Went to Buxton on Wednesday and bought strawberries for the WI tea we had in the evening along with our meeting. No speaker as it was Resolutions evening where we discussed the resolutions going forward to the WI AGM. Then a couple of quizzes and strawberries and cream! Pity it wasn’t nice enough to sit outside.

A sunny but breezy day. Two cottages out with three back in our peak district cottages and one cleaner up. No problems encountered and a few odd jobs done along the way. Guests arrived at hourly intervals from 2.30, one has been here before. In between I spent a lot of the afternoon answering phone calls and emails. Most emails take a couple minutes but sometimes they can take a while to put together, especially if further information is required. Chris got a call from Geoff at Chelmorton who was having trouble with his TV so Chris went to hep. I did a little housework and cooked dinner when he got back. Geoff called around later so I recorded Ashes to Ashes, meaning I’ll have to catch Heroes later.

Five cottages out of our peak district cottages with five back in – should have been six. Chris took the dogs for their walk and with one early departure cleaning got underway quickly. Chatted to some guests before departure and showed some others around some more cottages before they left. Discovered some more guests read my blog so hope you enjoyed Leek! Three cleaners up altogether and no problems encountered. We managed to get some odd jobs done too. Four of the cottages arrived between 3 & 4 pm, one cottage are regulars. Caught up emails and paper work before final guests arrived at 7pm. Had a pizza from Ricci’s in Bakewell (best pizza in town!) before sitting down at 8.30 pm. Noticed it was still light at 9.30. Sign that summer is on its way – just need the weather to go with it!

Yesterday was quiet with only the new fridge being delivered so more spring cleaning. Today a lot more was going on. Up and took dogs for walk while three cottages were getting ready to go. One cleaner up to turn round two cottages and we checked some inventories whilst we were at it. Went down to Bakewell to get provisions for the weekend and do banking etc. One cottage back into our derbyshire cottages arriving just before 4pm. Just after then I had a phone call to say one of our regular guests who was supposed to arrive tomorrow had been taken into hospital so they had to cancel their booking. We have put the vacancy on the web site and hope we can relet a part of the booking so we can refund them a part of their payment. After an early dinner went to Buxton to see ‘Thriller Live’ at the Opera House. It was a biop of Michael Jackson and some of the singers and dancers were very good.

I guess now that we are getting into the season, and with no B&B there are going to be more ‘all quiet on the blog front’ days. Today is one of those days. Caught up with some laundry and did some spring cleaning and personal paper work. Forgot to mention on Monday a former guest called in. He was on his way to his sisters and he stayed with us a few years ago. He dropped off some information about the charity work he is doing as he is raising money by climbing the nighest hills in every county. After dinner went down to Joanna’s for this months WI committee meeting. Back to watch the weather program about Snow, which showed the notorious incident of snow at Buxton in June 1975!