Saturday was a much brighter day and felt warmer.  Three cottages out and four back in with two cleaners up.  No major problems but I do seem to have gone through a phase of losing tea towels and oven gloves due to them being left too close to hobs etc. All arrivals have been before so spent a lot of time chatting to them when they arrived and all were here by 5pm.  Sunday got off to a misty start and took longer to clear, not that it mattered to us, we had the VAT returns to finish off.  One cottage out and when we had finished the work mid afternoon we treated ourselves to a trip to the Chatsworth Farm Shop where we had tea and cake sitting by the window in the restaurant admiring the view towards Edensor church.  Of course I had to have a wander around the farm shop itself, especially now the Christmas Marquee is up. The forecast of fine weather had now disintegrated into mild but misty weather with a threat of something more wintery at our peak district cottages towards the end of the week!

Thursday was another pleasant day at our peak district cottages after more rain overnight.  Better to rain at night though. Two cottages out and one back in.  One cleaner up and after she had finished I took her to Buxton to see the house and also pick up some shopping.  Blue was excited to see me and left some paw marks on my jumper in his enthusiasm.  Back in time for guests arrival just after 3pm, they have been before.  Friday started quite misty but by mid morning it had lifted.  Three cottages out with one back in. One cleaner up.  I nipped down to Bakewell later in the morning to get provisions for the weekend.  Guests arrived about 5pm, they have been before.  After an early dinner we headed to Over Haddon where a performance of Zulu Traditional was given by a group of Zulu natives.  This was brought to Over Haddon by Live and Local which is a non profit arts organisation and brings professional shows to local venues in the Midlands. We had a couple of hours of singing and energetic dancing that was enjoyed by a full house.  Couldn’t use flash photography so only managed one not so blurred photo when they finally stopped moving!

Monday was a pleasant day with a few light showers at our peak district cottages.  No departures but three arrivals and one cleaner up. Everything ready for first arrival just after 3pm.  They have been here before.  Second cottage arrived shortly afterwards and final cottage just after 5pm when I was on the phone to my friend.  After dinner Chris and I abandoned the dogs with Chris heading to Bakewell for the Photographic Club and me heading to Over Haddon for the Village Hall Committee Meeting.  Tuesday was a sunny day although it was breezy and it had rained overnight.  Not as windy as 25 years ago!  (Only day I never made it into work because of weather conditions during the 20 years I worked in London).  The day went in odd jobs  and later in the afternoon another cottage arrived.  They have been before so we have a full house at the moment and some pleasant weather in the days ahead.  On Wednesday I finally got my shopping trip with friend and we opted for Leek.  En route I noticed how nice the Roaches looked in the autumn sunshine. There were a lot of roadworks in Leek but knowing where to park made it easy for us so we had a fun few hours shopping and having lunch.  In the evening we had a busy time as the AA had to come and look at one of the guests cars as the alarm kept going off for no apparent reason and some members of the Bakewell Photographic Club used the leisure area to select photos for a competition.

Wednesday was a busy day of sorts.  Had planned to go shopping with a friend but that fell through so as Chris needed some bits from Chesterfield and I needed to return something to Bookers we went there . One cottage out and one cleaner up to keep up with cleaning.  Headed to Chesterfield via Darley Dale where I dropped of the WI accounts for auditing (having got them signed by the President en route).  Bookers first then into town via BandQ.  A bit of lunch then a wander round the shops with a call into Dunelm for good measure on the way home.  In the evening I collected Joanna and we went to the village hall for the monthly WI meeting.  Our speaker was a gentleman from REMAP.  I cannot remember exactly what the initials stand for but my best interpretation would be Retired Engineers Make Anything Possible! Basically there is a network of retired people who adapt everyday items to make the lives of those with disabilities better.  These aren’t for commercial purposes, each case is dealt with on an individual basis but some devices have gone on to become more commercial.  It was a very interesting talk.   Thursday was forecast to be very wet at our peak district cottages but in the end although it stayed overcast the rain didn’t arrive until late afternoon.  Two cottages out and one cleaner up and most of the day was spent on catching up with work in the in tray.  Chris managed to blow the leaves out of the car park before the rains arrived but you wouldn’t have known by Friday morning!

Sunday started a bit foggy but it lifted during the mourning and the sun came out. As it was a nice day and we haven’t had a day off for a while we made the most of it.  I had suggested a walk but Chris suggested we went to Chatsworth to see the sculptures.  We usually go during the week so going on Sunday meant it was going to be busier but once we were in the gardens the crowds seemed to melt away.  This year the sculptures were all by the same artist and I’m sure you’ll recognise some of them as they are permanent fixtures.  I had hoped we would be treated to some colour in the gardens but perhaps it was a bit too early still.  We spent a couple of hours walking round the gardens viewing the sculptures before a late lunch.  We also went round the house later in the afternoon which we more or less had to ourselves!  Called in at the farm shop before heading back to our peak district cottages.  A nice break so enjoy the photos.

Thursday was another fine day at our peak district cottages.  One cleaner up as one cottage due in.  Needed to go to Morrisons so went over to Buxton early afternoon to check on progress at house and get a few things in Buxton before heading to Morrisons.  Got back just after guests arrived, they have been before and at least had a peaceful evening.  Friday was a busy day with four cottages out and two back in.  Two cleaners up.  A trip down to Bakewell to get provisions for the weekend.  Both cottages arrived between 3 and 4 pm, one has been before.   My new linen for the single beds arrived.  Saturday was another pleasant day with one departure and three arrivals.  One cleaner up as most cottages were ready.  Cottages arrived between 3 and 5pm.  One has been before and one has been before we arrived.   A quiet evening in.

September weather stats:
highest temp of 22 deg C on 9th which had warmest night but warmest day was 8th
lowest temp of 4.1 deg C on 22nd with night of 21st coldest and 23rd coldest day
total rain 3.88 (9/2011 2.21) with .91in on 25th and .83 in on 24th

I thought you might like to see these photos from Saturday morning when I took the dogs for their walk around our grounds.  The blue sky sets off the changing colours nicely I think.

Wednesday started bright and fresh at our peak district cottages.  One  cottage out.  Plan for today was to go to Bookers in Chesterfield as I needed to replenish stocks.  I also needed to do some food shopping.  I had hoped to set off in the morning but it wasn’t until after lunch that I finally set off.  After Bookers I went to Dunelm but didn’t have time for Morrisons as I had a WI committee meeting in the evening and wanted to get back to get things ready.  I was just unloading the car and chatting to some of the guests when the power went off.  We have the odd blip with power but after a few minutes I phoned the electricity suppliers but they said they had no records of an outage but took my details.   When the power goes off and things start beeping it spooks the dogs.  Blue went upstairs and Smudge tried to jump in the car but couldn’t as I hadn’t finished unloading so he went and sat in the car park for a while!  A few minutes later Joanna phoned as they had no power and had not long started milking and then our neighbours at Haddon Grove Cottages also phoned.  I then got a call from the electricity suppliers who said the situation had rapidly escalated and they were now aware of nearly 200 properties without power.   The very helpful chap said he would phone me back and update me.  Chris was at Buxton as he had gone on an evening training session so I had to get all the emergency kits ready.  I went round all the cottages and updated them and luckily, just after 7pm, two hours after losing power it came back on. At least it meant I didn’t have to hand out the Tilly lamps!  Had a quick bite to eat and fed the dogs before Joanna and Lynne arrived for the WI meeting.  They were still without power at the farm so had used a generator to get milking done.  We were just about to conclude our meeting when the power went off again, but this time only for a few minutes. Unfortunately I didn’t have a torch handy but knew where one was so I had to feel my way around the walls to get to it!  When Chris came back he had to adjust a number of manual timers which he will have to do again in a few weeks time when the clocks change.   Was glad when the day was over and could fall into bed!

(We were lucky as the farm did not get it’s power back until the next morning and we lost power again temporarily during the night.  This was due to the engineers manually reconnecting other properties but sometimes they have to disconnect some to reconnect others so they told me.  They did phone on Thursday morning to check everything was OK and apparently the problem was called by an isolator going bang big time – it even took the top of the pole off!)

Monday was a busy day at our Peak District cottages.  One cottage out with five back in.  One cleaner up as some of the cottages were already cleaned.  The day was fine with a few light showers.  Four of the cottages arrived between 3 and 4pm.  One was a German family so that  completes my European complement for the time being!  The final cottage had to delay their arrival due to ill health. In the evening Chris went to the Bakewell Photographic Society and I kept the dogs company.  On Tuesday I was up early to take dogs for a walk before Chris took me with Joanna and Lynne down to Bakewell.  Here we caught a coach to Derby organised by one of the other local WI’s for the Derbyshire WI Autumn Council Meeting. On the coach I had the chance to chat with a lady from another WI which is always interesting.  I’ve not been to one of the Derby meetings so it was a new experience.  The large hall at the Assembly Rooms can hold over 1000 people and there were hardly any empty seats.  In the morning after a rendition of Jerusalem there was the business part, eg accounts before the mornings speaker.  This was Jan Meek, a lady that lives up to the WI motto of Women Inspiring Women.  This lady has rowed the Atlantic, trekked to the Magnetic North Pole and Geographic North Pole.  She gave a very enthralling account of all her expeditions.  Time for lunch and we headed from the Assembly rooms and walked round to the Westfield Shopping Centre where we found a cafe for a light snack.  Back to the venue where I caught a glimpse of our afternoon speaker signing books.  He was one of the reasons I had wanted to come to this event.  After various prizes were handed out Adam Henson gave us his talk.  He told us about his early life and how he got into farming, he talked about his farm and the Rare Breeds Park set up by his father and how he got onto Countryfile.  There were a number of farming based questions from the audience and his views on current and future farming practises were very interesting.  After the conclusion of business and singing the National Anthem we caught the coach back to Bakewell where Chris picked us up just after 5pm.  By now it was raining and with us both not being here during the day there were quite a few emails and phone calls to respond to so it was gone 9pm before I sat down.