All quiet on the Bolehill front. Our Australian guests who arrived on Sunday left today. Although we do not get many overseas guests, Australians make up the majority. They are always very interesting guests. I went down to Bakewell in the morning and the cleaner came early afternoon to turn the room around and clean the public areas. I managed to get some accounts done and as the weather was better than expected I did some extra loads of washing. With a number of quick turn arounds this week I need to keep on top of the laundry. Our next guests arrived about 5pm bringing with them the first shower of the day. A quiet evening in followed by the ususal tasks before bed ; lay table, put on washing, porridge for breakfast, bread machine on, walk the dogs.

First day for a long time I have had to wear the rain coat to walk the dogs. After breakfast we said goodbye to one set of B&B guests then went to Buxton. Chris had a meeting with the Head of Tourism to discuss various issues. That left me with time to wander around Buxton. It was the first time for a long time I had a real good look at the place. It is on the up. The crescent will be a spa hotel in about two years, more shops are opening (Waitrose opening here last year helped) and I found a little arcade with a number of nice shops. There is a good range of places to eat – we must try some more – and there are a number of nice arcades of architectural interest, just let down by the modern shopping precinct like so many other places. Buxton has the annual Buxton Festival and an annual Gilbert & Sullivan Festival. Looking at where we are situated we are within easy reach and we do have guests who stay with us during the various festivals.

We had a spot of lunch before heading home where I found I had locked the cleaner out by leaving the key in the door she uses. We did a turn around of one of the B&B rooms then I turned to the emails and phone calls that had been left in the three hours we were away. One was cancelling a booking for the Bank Holiday week. A regular customer, her father is seriously ill, but they will return again. Another was a regular customer making a booking, she has just lost her sister to a serious illness, and is bringing her sisters family here for a break. I had hoped to get some accounts done but never mind. Our new guests arrived and after dinner I sorted out paper work so I could hopefully get more done tomorrow.

For the first time last Thursday we had a blocked drain. Chris got out the rods and the offending item was a plastic bag of sanitary rubbish that had been flushed down a toilet. This had caused waste to back up so toilets could not flush away. We do have notices in all bathrooms asking guests not to flush items down the toilet. We are not on mains drainage and our soak away pipes are narrow. Today Chris had to get the rods out again as water still seemed to be backing up. Hopefully he has now fully cleared the problem but we will have to wait and see.

Other than that a quiet day. Wit no-one due in or out I had hoped to catch up with outstanding jobs outside but I only managed to get about half an hour of gardening bits done what with having to help with the drains. It hadn’t helped that Chris had also hurt his foot and was having trouble putting weight on it. Still it was better than nothing. Only other matter to report is that I found a bat in the laundry room in the evening. It was hanging from the wall and we had to use a fishing net to remove it.

A bit fresher this morning with ominous clouds in the distance, This morning our two B&B couples left and with new guests arriving in both rooms later in the day it was down to us to turn them round. First a quick trip to Bakewell to get a paper and then a coffee before starting. Both were finished by lunchtime then a quick check on the cottage where guests were also due.

After lunch we did some catching up with paperwork and all our guests arrived within a short time of each other. We had an early dinner and had hoped to sit down early but as usual we got side tracked by various issues. Never a dull moment.

Another bright and sunny start – could get used to this! Most guests were gone by 9.30 and with one cleaner short this enabled a good start. Knowing that some cottages were going to be arriving late (and one tomorrow) the pressure was off for a quick finish. This also meant I could defrost three freezer compartments and Chris was able to get some odd jobs done, put up a cot, as well as test out a digibox in one of the cottages with a view purchasing more.

The first guests arrived at 2.30 and the cleaning was finished at 3.00. By 3.30 half the guests were in with the next lot arriving a couple of hours later and the final guests arrived at midnight – although we had already gone to bed.

I opted to cook although we could have got a take away.

A Friday with no-one in or out is a rarity. We did have someone leave a day early – sometimes guests find they are invited to weddings etc after they have booked so may arrive a day late or leave a day early. I was hoping we would be able to go for a walk after lunch but Chris had a telephone conference call scheduled for 3pm. He had put up a new door on the courtyard outbuilding which needed painting and I busied myself with various jobs and managed to cross off another from my to do list.

After Chris finished his call it was still early enough to do a short walk. For a long time we have been meaning to try and find a footpath that runs along the top of Lathkill Dale. We cannot find it on any maps – even the newer ones but we have been told you get wonderful views of the dale from it. We parked at the unofficial car park at the head of the dale just outside Monyash just as the last of the cars were leaving for the day. Perhaps this is the best time to walk at popular spots? (I still have Thorpe Cloud to climb yet preferably without hundreds of others!)

We found the footpath in access land without any problem and began the ascent. At the top we walked along and were able to see the source of the Lathkill. We reached the point where we had to decide to take a footpath down and back or carry on and walk home (and return to collect the car later). This would make our intended short walk nearer three miles but it was still warm and light so we went on. If you go up you have to come down and the way down at the other end was a little tricky but it brought us out onto a footpath we use regularly. This leads out of the dale and up to Haddon Grove. We were back home about two and a half hours after setting off. We admired the hot air balloons in the distance before collecting the car. We had a late dinner al fresco – still warm enough to eat outside before retiring to bed and me to put lotion on all the insect nibbles I had collected!

They had began the harvesting the wheat yesterday but the combine broke down. They managed to finish today and they also did a second cut in a couple of fields.

Today both B&B rooms left and new guests arrived in both. This should be ‘a day off’ but it has been postponed. The rooms were turned around and I spent some time putting things away from yesterday before I went to Bakewell and got the weekend provisions as well as having my hair cut.

Most of the morning went in usual bits and trying to catch up with bits I hadnt done so fa this week. After linch I popped into Bakewell which was busy and it took me longer than ususal to get back home.

Late afternoon we went to Makro in Sheffield. We had a good run – whether it was because of the school holidays or just good timing – we go every 2-3 months to stock up on consumables and any other item which we need that they sell (we have got most of our hoovers from here). We call it the ‘bog roll run’ because the item we come back with is usually a couple of hundred toilet rolls. We have to get them both for the cottages and B&B and try to get enough to last a few months. Today was the usual shopping basket of washing powder and cleaning materials etc before we did a second run for all the toilet rolls. We also stopped for a quick bite at their cafe. Makro is for businesses only whereas Costco down the road from Makro is also for the public. The one at Sheffield opened last year and we paid to be business members but we have not bought much from them. We also stopped off at B&Q in Sheffield on the way back but they are extending the store and we couldn’t find what we wanted so left. Home about 8.30pm. Now I have got to put everything away!

Forgot to mention a possible fawn in one of Andrews wheat field yesterday. A local farmer had spotted a roe deer with fawn in one of the fields and knew the field was likely to be harvested soon. The roe deer would probably run off with the commotion but the fawn would stay put until it was too late. It is very unusual to have deer here.

The day started bright and sunny and I had to take the dogs on an alternative walk as the cows had been herded to the top of the field for spraying. At this time of year the cows need regular spraying because of the flies. As Andrew was not well our handyman also helped.

I had planned to go to Bakewell then on to Chesterfield but as I had enough for breakfast for tomorrow and I could do the banking in Chesterfield I decided to skip Bakewell. The aim was to leave here by 11am but by the time I finished and had an early lunch I did not leave until 1pm.

There are a lot of outdoor jobs still to do this summer but sometimes it is dependant on guests being out. If they remain in then we don’t want to do any of the noisy jobs but sometimes we have to or nothing would get done. A lot of guests comment on our peacefulness.

I had a good run into Chesterfield and found a space to park with no problem. I thought my usual car park might still be closed as it is close to Somerfields whose roof recently caught fire.
My route today was Rosebys, M&S, Co-op, Poundstretcher, Argos,(DVD player) Woolworths, BHS and Wilkinson. I also bought a skirt from a small store but forgot the banking. I then went onto Dunelm which was open again but the layout was different. Then onto Morrisons and home. When I got home I found that the Tourist Information Center had found us some B&B guests to fill a gap of a couple of nights.

The good weather means we have now filled the last of our vacancies for the summer. Just as I was about to finish for the night one of the guests reported a bat in the games room. We left it to its own devices and it soon flew out. A busy day.

A quiet day. Said goodbye to the B&B couple who have been in for 6 nights. When couples go who have been in for nearly a week it is like saying goodbye to friends. It used to be more common for guests to stay for B&B for a week but these days 2/3 days is the norm. Also a couple in one of the cottages went home. Nobody in today so time to catch up on jobs. It was lunchtime before I finished the usual bits but this also included showing a couple around who then made a booking. In the afternoon I sorted out the linen and towel room which is actually a small bedroom in our side of the house. It is where I keep all the B&B linen and towels plus spare linen and towels and spare duvets and bathmats. Having recently replaced most of the B&B towels I was able to put the old towel into the spares and put to one side some older towels for recycling or dog use.

One cottage reported a broken glass. We don’t get as many breakages as we thought but this last week we have had a few. We don’t charge for such breakages as our philosophy is that accidents happen at home so they will happen on holiday. As it is I dropped and broke a glass this evening! Also one of the cottages reported a DVD not working and Chris checked this out and found this was the case. Again we expect to have to replace a number of electrical items during the year and we were advised that toasters would most probably be the item we replace most but in fact we have had to replace more microwaves than toasters!

We had a power cut in the evening for about half an hour. This is only the second real power cut we have had – we have the occasional ‘blip’ – but as it was still light hopefully it was only a minor inconvenience to most! I finished cooking someones spaghetti on our hob! It was very ominous in the distance and we could see some flashes of lightning and hear some thunder. Luckily it never reached us. We did have a shower over night. Our first rain this month.