Friday and Saturday were lovely days.  It will be a shock to the system when we get back to normal temperatures.  We have seen guests in shorts!  Noticed blossom on some of our trees.  That wasn’t there on Wednesday.  They say the bluebells will be early this year.  One cottage out and two back into our peak district cottages on Friday.  Three cleaners up to get cleaning up to date.  Chris well enough to get up today and finally all outside painting finished!  Both cottages arrived just after 3pm so still had the rest of the afternoon to do more in the remaining cottages.  One has been here before.  Saturday saw one departure with four cottages back in.  One cleaner up.  No problems encountered and with time to spare put out the parasols with the patio tables seeing as the good weather should hold for a few more days.  Chris also gave the grass its first cut of the year. Had lunch on the patio, first time this year.  Three cottages here by 4pm.  Two have been before.  Final cottage arrived about 6pm just as the Tesco delivery turned up for one of the cottages.  Took the dogs for a walk before sitting down as it was such a nice evening. With any luck the cows will start to come out later this week.

A few days spent doing things around our peak district cottages and grounds.  Tuesday was mainly an accounts day both Bolehill and WI together a quick foray down to Bakewell for some provisions.  One cottage out.  Wednesday was a glorious day.  Chris spent most of the day in bed laid low by some kind of flu like bug.  One cottage out and spent the morning doing bits around the cottages.  The first of my plants arrived so spent the afternoon out in the gardens and greenhouse.  Handyman still working way through cleaning and re painting patio sets etc.  In the evening went to this months WI committee meeting.  Thursday saw Chris in bed again for most of the day.  One cleaner up to keep up with cleaning.  More jobs in cottages for me in the morning and in the afternoon a trip down to Bakewell to get provisions for the weekend coming back via Over Haddon to drop some WI stuff off.

Sunday started dry and sunny and quite pleasant but the forecasted showers waited until mid afternoon before they appeared.  One cottage out.  Chris not feeling too well so did bits around the house and spent some time chatting to guests who were enjoying the sunshine.  Noticed shoots are appearing on trees.  Monday was a little more cloudier with two cottages out and one back in.  One cleaner up.  A quiet week ahead at our peak district cottages so plan to do some bits in the cottages before the Easter holidays start.  Chris out at Photography Circle again in the evening so housework before sitting down.

A busy Friday with one cottage out and three back in our peak district cottages.  Three cleaners up to keep up with cleaning but no problems encountered.  First cottage here at 3pm with second one arriving about 5pm, they have been before.  Third one didn’t arrive until much later but we knew that and they let themselves in.  Also had a flying visit from my sister with one of my nieces.  She was having a quick look at Sheffield and Manchester Universities before making her final decision as to which offer to accept.  They stayed overnight.  Saturday started dull but soon brightened up. Three cottages out with three back in and one cleaner up to clean those that needed doing. Two of the cottages have been before and there was a staggered arrival from 3 to 7pm.  The daffs are starting to come out and lambs have started to appear in the fields.  Cows should be coming out this month but the farmers need more rain for the grass to grow!

Thursday dawned bright and breezy.  Friends departed for home as did two cottages and we had an early departure for the Pavilion Gardens in Buxton where the Visit Peak District and Derbyshire Tourism Conference was taking place.  We wanted to attend this year as there were a number of speakers from Visit Britain and Enjoy England as well as from our own tourist board and with many changes in the pipeline (and spending cuts) we wanted to hear what they had to say. We had a number of videos, including a draft promotional one for the area which should be ready for July and all being well we should be able to have a link to it on its release date.  Even Chris thought it was good.  Last year the area had a staggering 32.7 million day visits and 3.5 million overnight stays. This was worth £1.4 billion pound to the local economy and resulted in employment for 25000 people.  Enjoy England promote England within the UK and Visit Britain promotes the UK abroad.  England is the 6th most visited country in the world and Tourism is in 3rd place for income it brings in (behind Finance and Pharmaceuticals).  The Olympics next year may actually be a double edged sword as it will bring in a lot of visitors for the games but may put off some tourists who may think the country could be too busy because of the Olympics.  Also the Royal Wedding will help tourism this year.  Lunch was also included in the price we paid and this year an area was set aside for the Leaflet Swap to run along side the Conference.  I remembered to take plenty of bags!  The conference finished late afternoon and we had a quick walk around Buxton before returning to our peak district cottages.

The trouble with the clocks changing is number of clocks we have to change!  Chris spent an hour or so going round the cottages and house making sure they were all moved forward.  One cottage out and one back in and despite the gloomy start Sunday turned out quite nice.  Guests arrived about 3pm after which I took the dogs for an extra walk in the sunshine before doing the Census and the form we had for the holiday cottages.  I always find that the Monday is the worst day after the clocks go forward so I got up early to go to Bakewell Market.  In fact back before guests departed from our peak district cottages.  Two cottages out but with no cottages back in still had a cleaner here to keep up to date.  Usual Monday chores too.  Whilst the weather is holding Chris and the handyman have been doing some cleaning and painting of the outdoor garden furniture.  Realised I haven’t filled in the form so we can still have our rubbish collected to something else to do.  Thought it would be a good day to do some accounts too but with phone calls and a friend dropping in for some advice from Chris on computers the afternoon soon went.  Also got a call from a friend who will be coming to stay for a few days unexpectedly.  In the evening Chris went to the Bakewell Photographic Circle and I did some housework.

Sorry about the lack of news from our Peak District Cottages.  We have been overtaken by events (nothing serious!) and I will post details of what has been happening soon.