Most of Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday continued in the same vein at our peak district cottages with cleaning, jobs around the cottages and new curtains starting to go up.  Forgot to mention that Sally Mosley who organises local walks (I did the chocolate walk with her) came up on Monday to see Chris.  She is going to provide some more information for our website.  Wednesday provided a little break from the cottages with me popping down to Bakewell to get my hair cut and get some provisions for the next few days. Also found time to start researching prices for linen as I will replace my linen again this year.  Will probably keep with existing supplier but always look around. Also my bedding plant brochure has arrived so something else to plan.   In the evening I went with Joanna to the Lathkil Hotel for the Over Haddon WI annual dinner.  We enjoyed the meal and the chatting afterwards.  Unfortunately we haven’t had any sightings of the Aurora Borealis yet but who knows.

Sunday was mainly bright and breezy with some showers at our peak district cottages.  First thing down to Bakewell to get the paper and called into the farm on the way back to see the latest arrivals.  Twins are more unusual in cows but this week a healthy pair of heifers were born, although one is missing a full tail!  (There is just a small fuzz where the tail should be).  The vet thought they might be identical twins, which would have been very rare, but they weren’t. They did look cute, as did the other recent arrivals.  We had to remind ourselves that next year, in spring 2013, these could be the troublesome hooligans!  Back home Chris got round to laying the lino in a cottage without mishap and I caught up on jobs around the house as well as topping up the log stock.  I also scheduled work for the week ahead although it will probably change by Monday.  Monday was pleasant weather wise with more of a chilly feel in the air. One cottage out.  One cleaner up and work continued on spring cleaning the cottages with some carpets being cleaned.  More of my curtains arrived so I will be busy over the next few days.  Chris and the handyman were working their way through their outstanding list of jobs.  As we have a number of arrivals next weekend they want to get as much done as they can before the end of the week.  Despite all this I went down to the Village Hall for a little relaxation and another enjoyable evening of indoor bowls.

Friday was a bit wetter than the previous days.  During the day we had a number of deliveries including the first lot of curtains, a microwave oven, and towel rails.  Sounds more like the Generation Game conveyor belt.  Spent some time on housework as had a friend arrive to stay the night. The dogs had a temporary new best friend as she bought them some dog biscuits so they kept following her around just in case she had some more!  After our guests arrived at 3pm I took her down to Bakewell as I needed to get provisions for the weekend.  In the evening we went to the Bulls Head in Ashford in the Water for a nice meal.  Saturday was a bright and breezy day and a number of things I had freecycled over the last few weeks were collected so Chris has an empty garage.  Friend left after lunch and as it was dry Chris wanted to cut the lino for a cottage.  The only problem was the wind had picked up and as we had to cut it outside the lino was difficult to hold down.  I must have looked very elegant sprawled out on the lino to stop it flapping about!  Have started to notice that the daylight is lasting longer at our peak district cottages which is a nice sign although winter is not over yet and you never know, there may be a sting in the tail.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday followed a similar pattern at our peak district cottages.  Washing and ironing of soft furnishings and other jobs around the cottages.  We are getting there with the list of jobs to do.  Found some curtains on the Internet so bought those and with buying ceramic hobs have discovered you need a special scraper for burnt on bits so bought that too.  Chris has been doing some on line shopping too so there will be a few deliveries arriving over the next couple of days.  Thursday also saw work start on some trees but the wind was too strong to work on one particular tree as the branches needed to be lowered by rope rather than dropped.  Chris’s presentation last Thursday went well and as the usual presenter could not make it this Thursday Chris took the session even though he was a bit croaky.  Although it has stayed cold the hard ground has gone from crunchy to squelchy and its back to paw washing for the dogs.

Sunday was another cold day, a little cloudier than Saturday so glad did walk on Saturday.  Ground still very solid at our peak district cottages so at least not having to continually wash dogs paws.  A quiet day at home but found time to plan the week ahead.  In the evening you could still see the frost on the hillsides where the sun hadn’t reached.  Monday was a busy day for emails, phone calls and bookings which was good although I didn’t get as much done round the cottages as planned.  Another cold day finished off by a trip to Over Haddon Village Hall in the evening for me as it was a taster evening for Indoor Bowls and I thought it would be enjoyable, which it was.  Chris went to Bakewell to the Photographic Society so the dogs had a quiet evening in!

So here we are almost half way though January and it has been very mild in comparison for the time of year and also when you think about what the past two January’s have been like.  On Wednesday I spotted the first snowdrops at our peak district cottages as well as noticing the hellebores are out.  Wednesday started off drizzly but brightened up in the afternoon when I went to Matlock to get some bits from Wilkinson and do a food shop at Sainsbury’s.  In the evening I went to the Over Haddon Village Hall with Joanna for the first WI meeting of the year.  A busy evening for me as I collected the annual subscriptions, refreshment money and the pennies used to decide the winner of our competition.  A full house this evening to listen to our speaker from Chatsworth House talk about Georgiana.  We all enjoyed it and as I have not yet seen the film I learnt a lot about the story of the early Devonshires.  Thursday was a repeat performance of Monday and Tuesday with Chris doing his presentation at Over Haddon Village Hall in the afternoon.  He will be doing  another one next week.  A lovely sunset so an excuse for a walk to the top of our fields to take some photos. Friday was a lot colder with an early frost.  Down to Bakewell first thing to get provisions for the weekend then the rest of the morning was spent in ironing and hanging curtains back up.  Chris and the handyman are replacing the lino in one of the cottages but felt it would be best to level the floor first.  The afternoon disappeared in a plethora of odd jobs and for the first time in ages we don’t have any cottages occupied for the weekend.

I have discovered just how many Internet sites there are on ready made curtains.  Too many.  I am sure there are many home owners out there that have the same problem as me as often older houses have lower ceilings so standard lengths sold by most retailers are either too short or two long.  I usually have to buy the longer lengths and shorten them myself.  I mention this now as I am looking to replace some curtains in some of our peak district cottages and have not found anything suitable at my favourite shop.  So I have resorted to the Internet and gone boggle eyed in the process.  Talking of curtains I have started to take them down in the cottages as a part of the annual spring clean and wash them.  This also means I will have to iron them before they go back up.  So a lot of time on Monday and Tuesday went on curtains and also checking inventories and making a list of items to replace.  More shopping!  Chris and the handyman are keeping busy too as we have decided to replace some of the electric hobs with ceramic hobs.  The cleaners are being kept busy as we pull out appliances and empty cupboards to spring clean. This is all possible as we only had one cottage occupied which arrived late Tuesday afternoon. For a break from all this cleaning I went to the Over Haddon Village Hall committee meeting on Monday Evening.

Friday was the least windy day of the week and mainly sunny and dry.  One cottage arriving later in the day so one cleaner up.  Chris and the handyman took down the Christmas lights and I took down the final cottage Christmas tree as well as some housework.  Cottage arrived about 5pm.  Saturday was another fine day although it clouded over a bit in the afternoon.  Handyman up for a few hours in the morning and he and Chris did a number of jobs in the cottages including starting some more insulation work.  I dealt with some bookings and paper work.  We took a few hours off and went to Hathersage stopping first at the Riverside Cafe for lunch where we were able to get a table seat and watch the birds at the feeding table.  We then went into Hathersage and had a walk round, I had thought of walking up to the church as we have never yet been to see the supposed grave of Little John but it was getting windier.  Never mind, another day.  Sunday was catch up day with jobs around the house and some planning for the week ahead.  Chris is doing an informal presentation at the digital workshop in Over Haddon next week so he spent a lot of the day preparing for that.  A quiet evening in with a busy week ahead at our peak district cottages.

At last, the day I have been planning since before Christmas, in fact I should have gone before Christmas, but never mind, the day had arrived when armed with a long shopping list I set forth for Chesterfield.  In the town centre I visited the regulars such as Instore and Wilkinson where I managed to get some Xmas decorations for next Xmas as well as some general items for the cottages, and in the Co-Op, usually a good source of bath goods, I managed to pick up a kitchen mat I have not been able to find at Dunelm.  I found a nice skirt for me at M&S in the sales before heading to the retail park where I had a look around Currys and purchased a kettle and toaster.  Then of course onto Dunelm where I had a lovely time wandering round before I made my purchases.  Back home I had time to pack away my purchases at our peak district cottages before tea then down to Joanna’s for our first WI committee meeting of the year.  Thursday was another bright and breezy day with one cottage out and one cleaner up.  We have started our annual deep cleaning programme as we are quiet for the next couple of weeks.  After lunch when Chris went down to Over Haddon for the digital workshop, I took down some more cottage trees and decorations an also the ones in the house.  Only one more cottage to go!

Woke up to a dusting of snow on Monday at our peak district cottages.  Not what was expected and not what was needed with all bar two cottages departing.  Luckily as soon as the sun got on it it started to melt.  A busy couple of hours dealing with departures and one cleaner up as two cottages back in later in the day.  Made a start with taking down a couple of Xmas trees at our peak district cottages and some of the decorations elsewhere.  After cottages cleaned did final checks and both cottages here by 3.30 pm, both have been here before.  Time to do more accounts before sitting down for a quiet evening.  The wind and rain kept me awake most of Monday night and the wind and rain continued during Tuesday although a brief respite meant I was able to take the dogs for their early morning walk in the dry.  My main job for the day was to take more cottage Christmas trees down and finalise accounts for 2011 which I achieved.  We also stocked up on logs and I phoned our friends from Yorkshire to catch up on the week.  Bookings are starting to come in for the year which is encouraging and January is usually one of the busiest months for bookings so lets hope it carries on.