A quiet Friday with one cottage out and one back into our peak district cottages. Saturday was a bit more hectic with seven cottages out and three back in. I went down to the Farmers Market first thing. A number of cottages were reluctant to leave on time which hindered cleaning. Three cleaners up with the aim of cleaning as many cottages as possible. No major problems encountered luckily. The required cottages were ready for the arrival of the first cottage just after 3pm. Remaining cottages arrived about 4.30, one of which has been before. Looks like November will arrive wet and windy!

Even with the benefit of an extra hour the day soon went. A trip down to the bottle bank and pick up the paper. Chris had to go and change all the clocks in the cottages and house and leisure area. Phew! A lot of the day went in clearing space for the bits we will be bringing back from York, we still haven’t sorted all the stuff from my dads yet. One cottage out of our Peak District Cottages later in the day. Cooked a roast dinner then picked up Andrew and Joanna to go for the film night at Over Haddon. A small group at the showing of ‘Sideways’. The brief write up had not sounded appealing but it was a warm and funny film and we all learnt a bit about the Californian wine business!

A pleasant day weather wise which was good for the four cottages due to arrive today. Two cottages departed from our peak district cottages and two cleaners up to turn cottages round. No problems encountered and cleaning completed on time. Time for a number of odd jobs and usual Monday tasks. First two cottages arrived about 3pm and remaining two cottages arrived about 4pm, one of which has been before. Lots of phone calls and a number of bookings kept me occupied in the afternoon and after dinner Chris went down to Bakewell for the Bakewell Photographic Circle.

A quiet day at home with better weather for our peak cottage guests. A lot of farm machinery seemed to be going by so I guess the farmers are getting ready for a second cut. Final cottage arrived just before midday.

Weather stats for July: Coldest day was 30th with lowest temperature 8.1 deg C early on 31/7, with 30/31 being the coldest night. Warmest day 1/7 with a high of 26.6 deg C with the night of 1/2 July being the warmest. Wettest day was 7/7 with .69 in and a total of 6.29 in for the month which was more than Feb/March/April combined. In July 208 we had 2.87 in.

Hello August! Hello another wet day. Hope this isn’t a sign of things to come. Six cottages out with seven due back in although one will arrive tomorrow and one here for a second week. Most cottages out on schedule and three cleaners up today. No problems encountered which was helpful as trying to clean cottages when it is raining is hard. It means I get wet shoes as I leave them outside to save walking the wet in. First two cottage arrived early and as we hadn’t quite finished they waited for a few minutes before I showed them in. This week we don’t have any returning guests but we do have a number of dogs in our dog friendly cottages and one German family here for two weeks, in fact two cottages arriving today are staying for two weeks. Rain ceased by late afternoon so took dogs for a walk in the fields which are quite soggy. Weather stats to follow in the next day or so. All cottages in by 5.30 pm so unlike last week able to relax in the evening despite guests ringing the doorbell at 10pm.

Decided it was time for a day off! One cottage out today from our Bakewell cottages. Haven’t had a good walk for a while so I opted for Lose Hill. Drove over to Castleton and chose a circular route that involved the climb up to Hollins Cross (phew!), then along the ridge to Back Tor and on to the summit of Lose Hill. Obviously some lovely views of both the Hope and Edale Valleys and we stopped for lunch in the lee of Lose Hill enjoying the view. Back to Castleton through fields and passed the back of Losehill Hall. We took the opportunity to wander around Castleton and explore some of the quieter streets we normally don’t get time for. We also called in at one of the B&B’s who we communicate with on one of the accommodation providers forums. Nice to put a face to a name. We stopped at Hope on the way back and called into the butchers and picked up some provisions, including their scrumptious black pudding. Once back had dinner and caught up with emails and phone calls as well as preparations for tomorrow. Will post some pictures in the next day or so.

Had our first night away (excluding the funerals) together from Bolehill since we arrived here! Our friends who usually stay with us for a few days over Christmas or New Year were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary but didn’t know we were going to join them. As they don’t live far from York we combined this with a trip to see Chris’s mum. Originally we had planned to visit Chris’s parents then join our friends for a surprise meal organised by another couple and drive home later that night but we decided to stay over and spend some extra time with Chris’s mum. We also dropped the probate forms into Sheffield as we go through Sheffield on the way there. We came back Wednesday afternoon, the weather was horrible which impacted on the traffic. We stopped at Makro to break up the journey on the way back arriving home late evening. Oh and the Met Office have finally confirmed that we won’t be havving a BBQ summer after all. I’ll put my sundress away for another year then. Not good news for the cottage guests in our peak district self catering cottages either.

Friend left Sunday morning together with a belonging left by one of last weeks guests who will collect it from her. Quite a few bits left behind this week. We always notice an increase of left property during the school holidays. Weather could have been better but could have been worse. Monday went in usual chores, rubbish not collected as lorry broke down so hopefully it will be collected tomorrow as wheelie bin is already full. Much more pleasant today. Even made time to potter around the garden. Still about a dozen geraniums left to go out – sometime this week in between the showers!