Barks: self-catering holiday cottage accommodation near Alton Towers

Mrs Duck says it's spring at the holiday cottage

Mrs Duck celebrated spring by laying her first egg of the year. The first of many I hope. My son sells them to the holiday cottage guests for 30p per egg - they are great for baking but I prefer our hen's eggs for my boiled egg breakfast.

Mr Duck is also affected by the arrival of spring, feeling a greater need to chase the hens off 'his' patch. He is very aggressive with them. Stewart, the cockerel, is no match for Mr Duck's temper.

stunning video of Staffordshire Peak District

Here's the proof of how lovely it is around here! Expertly captured by @terrybnd (as found on Twitter). I think Terry is better at photography than selecting music . . .Enjoy.

Alton Towers Spa reopens for 2012

Now I do love a spa evening and it is very spoiling and indulgent for me that Alton Towers is less than 3 miles from here. Even more luxurious is that during the winter season when Alton Towers theme park is closed there a many fewer tourists here and the spa is blissfully quiet of an evening. (Obviously, the fact that Alton Towers is closed has an impact on our holiday cottage bookings because we are having to rely solely on people coming walking in the Churnet Valley.)

Anyway, the Alton Towers spa is re-opening today after a few days closure for a refurb. Yippee!!! It was time for a spruce up! I hope the price remains £12.50 because that is affordable for an occasional treat for me and in the range for the holiday cottage guests who want to pamper their tired walking legs after a day hiking the Churnet Valley hillsides.

If you are looking for a spa break - this might be an option. A short break at Barks Cottage for 3 nights - come back from the spa and put your feet up in front of the log fire. How about it?

Sounds of spring in the Churnet Valley

Walking back from the depths of the valley this morning I heard the unmistakable sound of the woodpecker. I understand that the male woodpecker bashes his head like a pneumatic drill against tree trunks to impress female woodpeckers. Bizarre ritual when you think about it, but lovely to hear echo through a misty valley and a sure sign that spring is on the way. When I reached the top of the hill the sun was shining and the frost was melting and all was right with the world.

Holiday cottage near Alton Towers 2012 availability

Some people are super organised. They know the place they like and they make an early commitment. I look forward to a change of scene from our lush, hilly countryside and love a few days by the sea - and I am happy that we are already booked in at our favourite spot in north Norfolk.

Similarly, we have taken bookings (some of them repeat bookings from this year) from families looking for a change of scene at our pet friendly spot on the doorstep of Alton Towers and Trentham Gardens etc.

Five bookings made so far for 2012 and it is still November, so we are happy about that. 10% of the whole year sorted!

Please check our 2012 availability page if you are looking for a particular week for your self-catering holiday near Alton Towers.

Alton Towers Fireworks - Barks holiday cottage availability

Have you ever been to the Alton Towers fireworks - absolutely fantastic! We have Barks self-catering holiday cottage accommodation available:

29th, 30th, 31st October is available at £275 for the 3 nights mini break
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Nov is available midweek for an Alton Towers firework break for £225 for 4 nights
5th, 6th, 7th Nov is available for an Alton Towers firework break for £225 for up to 3 nights

Thanks to someone else's effort (much better than my own!) here is a YouTube clip to entice you

Holiday Cottage New Terrace for 2011

Holiday Cottage terrace

The holiday cottage terrace is a lovely south facing spot. On sunny change over days I really enjoy having lunch there, just for a change. In the hot spring sunshine I sat on the bench with my coffee and thought it was more like North Africa than North Staffordshire. Now the new garden beds are flowering (need new picture to show you) there is a more English rose look. And just over those trees, across the Churnet Valley, nestles an enormous theme park, Alton Towers. You wouldn't even know it was there unless you were one of our many guests who'd booked a stay after googling Self catering near Alton Towers or similar.

We have had families staying over the summer and the parents relax on the terrace while the children are larking about on the area we call the playing field.

One of the reasons we put the terrace in is to make the most of the winter sun. I love to take every sunny opportunity to perch in the sun for 10 minutes with a mug of tea, simply to take stock of my day.

Gorgeous autumn walking

These early autumn mornings should be savoured. They are nourishment for the soul.
The slight crispness in the air, the dew and light mists, and a few heather plants on the moorland make an early walk very uplifting.
A quick pause on the ridge just to share it with you. Good morning everyone!

Comments from our holiday cottage guests

A huge thank you to all our self catering guests for their lovely comments on our Facebook page.

Angela and her family have just stayed in the cottage for a full week and were kind enough to drop us a line onto the Facebook wall. I am always pleased that people have enjoyed the area, having done more than just visit Alton Towers.

We have two pigs!

My goodness our two piglets are lovely! We have a male and female of 7 weeks old in an enclosure in the field we call (optimistically) The Orchard. The enclosure took some preparation! We scythed a square route through the nettles and docks, because it was too tough for the strimmer, and erected an electric fence straight from Colditz. Can't risk these lovelies breaking out and heading for the nearest veg patch!

The girls that are self catering guests in the holiday cottage came back from their day at Alton Towers and have been sitting on the fence admiring the piglets. Ahhh!

These piglets are small and quite vulnerable at the moment, but soon they will be enormous. I am a firm believer in happy pork and will do everything we can to make sure these two have a happy life in The Orchard.

photography trip - why not enter your photos?

We will be busy taking lots of countryside photos, and maybe this year we'll even get round to submitting some for the Country file competition. Not that we have skills in this area, but you never know, keep clicking and we might get lucky.

Self catering availability in this area

Now that Barks Cottage is pretty much full until the end of the summer holidays (just 2 x 2 night mini breaks left), I have been checking on my fellow accommodation providers in the area to see what they have left. Needless to say we know many of the properties available in easy reach of Alton Towers and nestling within the Churnet Valley.

example of other cottages near Alton Towers that we can recommend

It can be a tiring business finding self-catering or B&B accommodation: as one of our guests commented on our booking form "I was just about losing the will, when I came across your cottage..." So don't drive yourself mad, now that you've found us, let us point you in the right direction so that we can win big brownie points with our nearby cottage owning mates. :-)

Just drop me an email with your requirements (number of people, number of nights, preferred location e.g nr Alton Towers, in Peak District countryside etc) and I will send you back some details of availability. Just promise me that next year you'll check with us if Barks is available first!

Alton Towers - and the rest . . .

As you will see from the lovely review that was recently posted by a guest on our Facebook page, there is plenty to do around here other than go to Alton Towers. And thanks to Taryn, you don't just have to take our word for it. Her suggestions are great. Consall Hall Gardens is proving very popular and I still haven't made it there, which is shameful. Blackbrook Zoo is a little gem - mostly birds and the entertaining penguins, although I hear that Mrs Meerkat is expecting some offspring any day now.

If you need any help planning your stay in this area, please let me know.

And by the way, please stay in touch with us.... join our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/barks.holiday.cottage or chatter with us on Twitter if that is your thing @ChurnetValley

Where's the heatwave?

I'm not sure if we are on the wrong side of the east-west or north-south weather line today. That's the trouble with being in the north Midlands. Anyway, it's warming and drying slowly. Getting my walks in before it gets too hot!

Follow Friday #FF @ChurnetValley

For those that Tweet, you'll know what Follow Friday is all about. If you don't, it's really not important at all but here's a little window on that world. We haven't tweeted much this week, but what little miniature interactions we have enjoyed have been just perfect. Thanks to @SimplyStaffs for the #FF and the other suggestions that we followed up on - new connections have been made. to @LeekArtSpace for helping me spread the word on a local research project. And thanks to @MalvernMeet who was kind enough to tweet to the world that as a previous self catering guest at Barks Holiday Cottage she tried to book again but we were full and defo intends to try again. You see, withTwitter, it might just be a mini message, but it's the quality that counts. Always good for morale to know that customers think you've got something right and it doesn't take more than 140 characters to convey that thought. Thanks, tweeps.

What's the picture about? No reason really, just that I am about to go on my Friday walk .... so please follow me virtually along the paths into the Churnet Valley. In other words, it's the non Twitter alternative to #FF by @ChurnetValley.

@ChurnetValley

last minute June holiday cottage availability - Peak District Alton Towers

Last minute self-catering holiday cottage availability June 16,17, 18, 19 - NOW BOOKED
ideal for a short break to Alton Towers or Peak District.

We are having a terrific season. Lots of interesting people: the usual mix of walkers and Alton Towers goers. The new terrace is proving popular as well and the garden is springing up prettily around it. July is nearly fully booked, August has a week or so left to book, and we already have bookings in September and October . . . but for some reason we have these 4 nights available in June.

June 16th - 19th - (4 night gap)
For 3 nights it's £295
For all 4 nights it's £345
(If you are a group of 6 or 7 people then the annex is available at £50 per night.)

If you are interested please get in touch or jump straight to our online booking form .

Morning routine: into the Churnet Valley

It's a lovely daily routine to walk the dogs in lush woodland. And a healthy way to start the school day.

Welcome to our world!

Barks Holiday Cottage, 01538 703436

Self catering experts

Our guests this year have been lovely.

So far we haven't had the die-hard Alton Towers fans that spend three solid days over at our neighbouring attraction. Some families have dropped the children at Alton Towers and then nipped around some of our nearby National Trust properties.

We are hearing great things about Consall Hall Gardens this year. We had a guest with limited mobility and she enjoyed a fabulous guided tour there on a buggy; guided by the owner.

Trentham Gardens is again proving to be a major highlight and guests are keen that I recommend it to others - so I am! Last week's guests wanted to get a flavour of the area and were discussing Dovedale and in passing asked if Dovedale and the Stepping Stones has nearby retail . . . well, not really! Just the National Trust shop and the ice-cream van. So I directed them to Trentham Gardens and everyone came back happy.

There is something for everyone! It is nearly the concert at Alton Towers so I expect the focus to shift back to good old ST10 4DB.

beauty and the beast

The bluebells are amazing. Look carefully and you'll spot the barbed wire.

I think I'll have to start some sort of anti barbed wire campaign because I really can't see how landowners can be allowed to leave redundant strands of it just lurking in our woods. This is how my dog nearly lost her life; she was very lucky to recover with no long term damage except to my bank balance.

I am standing on a footpath in a nature reserve. Is this acceptable? What do you think on this subject?