Meet Fran!

This is the newest member of our family. 

She's an 11 week old border collie and, after much discussion, we have decided to name her Fran. 

Green Tourism Conference 2013

Yesterday we had an early start, leaving home at 5 am to travel down to Bristol for the first Green Tourism Conference. We arrived just after 9 am and were able to have a look around the various exhibitions prior to the start of the conference at 10 am. 

Following the introduction and welcome from the directors of Green Tourism there were talks from Satish Kumar, Editor of Resurgence & Ecologist Magazine and representatives from Tridos Bank, Ecover, Wrap, Kimberly-Clark, Save Money Cut Carbon and NIBE as well as several case studies from existing Green Tourism businesses.

The day culminated in the presentation of 11 GoldStar Awards, Caldertop Cottage being one of seven self catering businesses shortlisted for an award. We were not successful this time but feel proud that we qualified for the award by being in the top 3% green businesses in the UK & Ireland.

Nature Diary

29th October to 3rd November 2013

Wildlife seen from the cottage:-

House Sparrows, Robins, Dunnocks, Pheasants, Balckbirds (7), Song Thrush, Redwing (2), Fieldfare (2), Wood Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Starlings, Wren, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Magpie, Pied Wagtail, Red-legged Partridge (3), Greenfinch (2), Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Chaffinch (4).

Wildlife seen from the track to the bird hide:-

Snipe (6), Curlew (2), Hare, Goldfinch.

Thank you to Ruth & Jim Wiseman for making a note of these sightings in the Nature Diary.

Garden pond visitors

Mother duck and her ducklings are visiting the garden pond daily for a swim!

Fruitful morning

Had a walk down the lane and picked almost 1 kg of blackberries - now should I make a blackberry pie or a blackberry crumble or maybe 1 of each?

Nature Diary

19th to 24th August 2013

During our stay we saw chickens, hens, cats, a very rude dog who jumped over the wall, great tit, swallow, robin red breast, argument inspiring bird, duck and several ducklings, several species of spider, cows, sheep and pheasants.

Thank you to Phil, Svetlana, Sam and Harry for completing the diary.

Duck and ducklings

We have a duck and 8 ducklings on the farm.

Bird hide viewings

2 pheasants and a lot of crows

Kingfisher sighting

We went for a walk this evening on the Calder Vale Circular Walk. One of the locals from the village was fishing on the lodge so we stopped to have a chat and watched him catching lots of small roach. He told us he had seen an otter on the banks the day before and also a kingfisher a few times. Whilst we were chatting a kingfisher appeared on the opposite bank and flew past us. The first time we've seen a kingfisher in our area. Amazing!

Nature diary notes

27th July to 3rd August 2013

Lapwings, hare, gulls, sparrows, robin, great tits, blue tats, wagtails, magpie, pheasants, partridges, rabbits, curlew, bumble bee, honey bee, lots and lots of butterflies (red admiral, peacock, white ones and blue ones!), kestrel, swifts and swallows.

Thank you to the Kateley family for completing the nature diary during their stay at the cottage

Nature Diary

Sightings during the week 13th to 19th July 2013

Swift, swallow, house sparrow, blackbird, robin, blue tit, great tit, pied wagtail, dunnock, wren, willow warbler, starling, crow, magpie, jackdaw, woodpigeon, pheasant, partridge, curlew, lapwing, oystercatcher, mallard, lesser black-backed gull, little owl.

Swifts are nesting in the roof above the back door.
Bats are around in the evenings.
We've seen hares in the fields every time we've been out - maximum of 6 at once, seen from the hide.

Thank you to the Raymond family for completing the Nature Diary during their stay at the cottage.

Bird hide viewings

100+ lapwings, 1 oystercatcher, 1 buzzard, 4 hares, 20 starlings and 4 pheasants

Making hay while the sun shines!

It's two years since we made some hay. Managed to make over 300 bales today and it's all safely stored in the barn - a job well done!

Nature Diary

Hare on the lane to the cottage.

Curlew calling

After several attempts I have managed to take a photograph of one of the curlews on our farm!

Lapwing chick

We have several lapwing chicks on our land now. Managed to take a photograph of this whilst on a walk round the fields - even though it was very well hidden in the grass!

Greylag geese

Went for a walk this afternoon around our fields and saw these geese.

Green Tourism’s GoldStar Awards 2013

Caldertop Cottage has been shortlisted for Green Tourism’s annual GOLDSTAR award in the category of Self-Catering to be presented during Green Tourism Week 4^th – 10^th Nov 2013. We represent the top 3% of green businesses in the UK and Ireland.

In order to select the winner of the award there is a judging process based on a questionnaire, references, review of our website, our last Green Tourism Report and finally a judging panel.

The winners will be announced at the first Green Tourism Conference to be held on Friday 8^th November in Bristol. 

Shelter from the rain!

Hello and thank you for the shelter.
Duke of Edinburgh walkers

Winter returns

Although the snow drifts are beautiful to look at they do make life hard work. The road to the farm was blocked this morning with 6 foot snow drifts. Steve worked hard this afternoon to clear the road so that the cottage guests will hopefully be able to get here tomorrow.

Lambing Season 2013

The first lamb of 2013 has been born - the lambing season begins! Hope the beautiful weather continues, it's so much easier when it isn't raining.

White morning

Another beautiful morning with a covering of light snow!

Bird Hide Viewings

Saw 5 lapwings.
Ruth & Bryan

Signs of Spring

Lapwings return

The lapwings have returned - heard their unmistakable call this evening. Spring is on the way!

January Snow!

Woke up this morning to find we were snowed in! What a beautiful day!