Another busy day with the weather behaving like summer! Down to Bakewell with friend for a quick dash round the Farmers Market. Managed to say goodbye to most of the departing guests from our peak district cottages and three cleaners up to turn round the cottages for today’s arrivals. Seven cottages arriving with one here for the second week and no problems encountered. First cottage arrived just before 3pm with four more between 3 & 5pm. Two have been here before. Large gap before final arrivals and with weather holding had dinner on the patio. Haven’t done that for a while! 6th cottage arrived at 9pm and final cottage at 10pm! Full House!

A quiet few days with a chance to catch up, or at least try. On Wednesday Chris went to York with a freind, who has come to stay for a few days, to see his mum. I have been trying to negotiate a completion date for my dad’s place but no news yet. On Thusday went to Bookers in Chesterfield as starting to run low on some items. Called into Chesterfield as it was Flea Market day so a nice selection of stalls to browse around. Today bits and piece with a trip to the Peak Outlet village. One cottage out of our peak district cottages and one cleaner up to turn it round. Busy day tomorrow.

A damp day and a day to catch up on paper work and pop down to Bakewell. Realised that I haven’t finished yesterdays blog as I meant to add a bit more about Buxton. The Buxton Festival is currently on. The Sunday Times describes it as ‘the UK’s most unpretentious and best value for money opera event’. There is a fringe element as well as lectures from a range of speakers including Kate Adie, Rabbi Lionel Blue and David Cameron. Work continues on the crescent development with archaeological survey confirming no problems to delay the project moving forward. Buxton is one of Britains two entries in this years European ‘Entente Floriale‘ after receiving a silver award in last years Britain in Bloom. So a lot going on in Buxton and a quiet day at the cottages near Buxton, well about ten miles from Buxton!

A bright and pleasant day and no rain! A usual Monday morning (laundry, bins and some odd jobs) and after lunch a trip to Buxton. Haven’t been to a supermarket for weeks so the cupboards are looking a bit bare! Had a few other bits to get and after dinner actually sat down for 8.30!

A quiet day with time to catch up from yesterday. Went to Bakewell to get the paper. A bit of a showery day so washing stayed in. Took a number of bookings and we are now fully booked until the August Bank Holiday. Had a cancellation though but sure will relet. Finished off last quarters accounts by filing the paperwork, paying the VAT and paying our tax bills! Exciting! Also had a look at what we might do for next years Peak District Visitors Guide as we have to have our advert in for our peak district cottages by the end of the month. One cottage in about 8pm and sat down to watch Top Gear, one of the funniest programs on TV.

A damp start with better weather forecast. Six cottages out with six back in to our peak district cottages and one arriving tomorrow morning so three cleaners up to do seven cottages with one already done in the last few days. Most cottages away by ten and no problems encountered. Chance to do a number of odd jobs in the cottages. Two cleaners here this morning and one in the afternoon. Chris had to spend time collecting leaves from the courtyard and mowed the back lawn which looked more autumnal with all the leaves and twigs from last nights wind. Strange arrival times today. Two cottages arrived by 2pm (one by arrangement to drop baggage off) then it wasn’t until 3.45 that the next guests arrived. Two of the cottages have been here before as has the one arriving in the morning. Final guests arrived just before 6pm. They are from Germany. Called round to see Geoff and Margaret as we were supposed to meet up with them yesterday.

Went to York on Thursday for the funeral and stayed overnight returning on Friday. Thank you for the emails and cards with wishes.

A busy couple of days caching up on laundry paperwork etc. Had a surprise Tuesday morning when went to the chicken shed. Our last hen died last Thursday but when I opened the door there was a bird in there and I thought it was a young grouse who had accidentally been locked in but in fact Chris had left it as a surprise as there were two bantam hens in there courtesy of Green Cowden Farm. No longer laying they can spend their retirement days here at our pet friendly cottages.

Some of the day went in gathering papers to start sorting out bits for Chris’ dad but we found time to go to the open day at Thornbridge Hall (www.thornbridgehall.co.uk) This is a private stately home near Ashford and they have recently started having an annual charity day. Will add some pics soon. Will be going up to York tomorrow and then I will be going down to Herts on Thursday and back next Monday so it will be a week again before I return to blogging.

Up extra early to take dogs for walk before guests depart. With guests leaving anytime (usually) from 8.30 I wanted all my usual chores out of the way asap especially with no Chris around. With one cleaner on Bakewell Carnival duties I organised extra cleaners to be safe so four happy ladies reported for duty between 9&10 am to turn around our eight peak district cottages! Luckily no problems were encountered and cleaning completed by 1.30 gave me time to have lunch and do my bits. I had bought some new lights for one of the cottages but when I opened the boxes I found they needed assembling so I did not have enough time to get them ready for today. I had managed to get hold of most of the guests arriving today to let them know that some roads in Bakewell would be closed for a couple of hours because of the carnival and a couple of cottages turned up just before 3pm to beat the road closures. I had almost finished so letting them in a little earlier was not a problem today. Two of the cottages have been here before with a further cottage coming back after a visit about 15 years ago so they could see the changes. Another two cottages arrived between 3&4 pm with a further two arriving between 4&5 pm. Chris also came back with plans to go back at the beginning of next week as the offices he needs are closed for the weekend. One cottage arrived about 6pm and the final one just after 7pm. By now the weather had deteriorated. Had dinner then sat down.