No snow when woke up but we did have some flurrying about 9.30. Haven’t been shopping food wise for a few weeks and with it looking ominous decided Sainsbury’s at Matlock was the best bet. Did my usual chores before setting off and back in time for lunch. Had planned an afternoon of keeping up straight with accounts but a lot of interruptions meant that didn’t happen. Chris and handyman are progressing well but not as quickly as they planned. Today they replaced the shower which took longer to finish because of a dribble. Finally finished putting all the decorations away and started on the outdoor ones. After dinner collected Joanna for the WI committee meeting. It was very foggy but it had cleared by the time we came back. It was a longer than usual meeting but only because we had a good old natter! Some good news from my sister in that she has finally secured a permanent Radiographers position at Watford General Hospital.

A bright but cold day. It was -4.7 when I got up and reached -2.4 at its peak! Think I am getting used to this cold spell as I found myself wandering amongst the cottages without a jacket! Checked cottages to make sure all decorations were down before packing the final boxes ready to go up in the loft for another 11 months. Also took down our tree today. Spent some time with Chris planing the kitchens in Bluebell and Honeysuckle. Hopefully the changes we are planning will create more workable space too. One cleaner up and another cottage in today. They are here for four weeks as they live on a mobile home park and one of the conditions is that they must vacate the home for four weeks when the park closes, usually in January. Thought we might have to go to Sheffield to get some tiles but when Chris went to the kitchen wholesalers in Buxton he was able to buy some tiles at Focus. Took a few more bookings today but sat down for 8pm to watch County House Rescue, even if I did pop back to the office in the intervals! Have been watching Nicholas Cranes Britannia whilst writing – he visited the cave known as the ‘Devil’s Arse’ at Castleton as a part of his walk.

Woke to a dusting of snow and freezing temperatures again. Have had to take a bottle of water up for the hens every morning for the past few days as the water pipe has frozen. Trouble with snow, even a light dusting, is that after the first car has been up or down the drive can start to get icy. The cleaner decided to park her car at the bottom of the drive on the field but as she did so the dustcart was negotiating it ways very slowly down the drive and the cart was skidding a bit so she moved her car further back! After that Chris went out and salted the drive so our arriving guests and existing guests could get in and out! We have started work today on Bluebell. We are renewing the shower tray and tiles in the shower room then will renew the kitchen cabinets. Guests arrived about 3pm after which I headed to Bakewell, mainly for the bank and to get some food, but also the market. Unfortunately they were already packing up so I will try again next week. Back and cooked an early dinner as Chris was heading to the Bakewell Photographic Society meeting. I started to take down our decorations, two sets of lights failed during the last few weeks so I will see if I can find the offending bulbs. Took a couple of bookings before stopping at 10pm.

Two cottages out this morning with none back in. A trip down to Bakewell to collect the paper after which I spent some time packing up Xmas trees. Took one down on Friday, four yesterday and the final three today. Still have the house and leisure area to do as well as the outdoor lights – but that’s Chris’s domain! Decided at the last minute to go out for lunch and opted for the Smithy at Beeley. It was busy at Chatsworth Park and we thought we might have difficulty finding somewhere to eat but we must have timed it right as there were a couple of tables available. After that we stopped at the Peak Village Outlet Centre at Rowsley before returning home. A few phone calls and emails before I cooked dinner and we sat down for 8pm.

A strange day when suddenly we have empty cottages again. Five cottages out and one back in. One cleaner up to clean a couple of cottages in case of any last minute bookings – I always like to have a cleaned cottage just in case. Cottage arrived just after 3pm, they have been here before. Some time spent finalising the quarters accounts before cooking dinner and sitting down for the evening. Still a little bit of the jigsaw to finish!

Typical. Our friends off back home today and the sun comes out! Chris still feeling poorly so took it easy. One cottage out but none back in and one cleaner up. Bits around the house and paper work for end of year and preparations for next years accounts. After dinner went down to Andrew & Joanna’s for tea and scones then an early night.

Another day, another month, another year. A bit brighter and at least the fog had lifted and the frost gone. Our friends went to Ladybower for a walk but for us it was two cottages out and two cottages back in. One cleaner up to turn the cottages round. One broken oven door and luckily a spare to replace it. A busier day with phone calls and emails and some bookings to start the New Year. Guests arrived between 4&5 pm. An evening in with Chris starting to feel poorly.

A wonderful hoare frost but well below freezing (-6) and foggy so we had to rethink our plan. Plan A had been a seven mile walk based on Dovedale. Plan B had been a six mile walk from here with a pub or cafe stop but as we could not see further than a few yards we had to rethink our plans. In the end we decided to go down to Bakewell for a few hours. First stop was the M&C Motorbike museum, a small private collection of motorbikes and associated paraphernalia which opens usually at weekends in summer. It was very interesting. We had lunch at JR’s Brasserie then wandered around time for a while. It was quite busy. Back home and a relaxing afternoon and evening. We have been doing a 1500 piece jigsaw of Bakewell and we are well advanced but will it get finished before our friends go home? We had a Chinese take away in the evening and saw the New Year in watching the fireworks from London on TV. No fireworks visible from here tonight! Happy New Year to you all.

A bit dull and cold (-2) but up and by 10.30 parked at the bottom of Monsal Dale to do the five dales walk. We did this walk about 18 months ago so it was a little warmer then! In fact the temperature never went above freezing all day. The ground was firm and ideal to walk on. Had a picnic lunch despite the cold but my hands did take a little time to warm back up. Back home by 3pm. A few phone calls and emails to deal with and in the evening we went to the Flamenco Tapas restaurant in Buxton. By then it was quite foggy and had also got much colder. It was busy at the restaurant but we had a good meal.