Having been busy gardening and discovering new plants the Blog, as usual, has become neglected.  I do keep up to date on Wraycroft Cottage Facebook page and also Pinterest.  If I have good photos that is where they are to be found. 

Still some vacancies but gradually getting booked.  We are very reliant on loyal customers returning year by year  but also pleased to welcome quite a few new folks this year.

The village is extra busy with the annual Swaledale Festival which runs for two weeks.  This is immediately followed by the Swaledale Marathon which is not an event for the fainthearted ! Join in or just enjoy the peace of our two acre site bounded by the river.

Wishing all our present and past visitors 

A Happy Christmas and peaceful New Year.

The Dale Trail from Grinton to Keld is fantastic and being enjoyed by walkers and cyclists  .It can be joined at Swing Bridge Reeth.  This is a picture of the stepping stones in the River Swale, lit up with the winter sun.  With gardening rather soggy I am able to get out for more walks mostly on the Trail

I hardly dare write a post after such a long gap.  There always seems to be so much else taking priority and most of it starts with a G.  I actually cut the grass today which is the first time in over three weeks but there has been much more activity.

Bookings are going very well with nearly everyone having been before.  We are fine and dare I say I love the sun.  Not as hot as down South and the grass changed colour but lovely to garden in the shade.

Hope you are all well and take care

So pleased to see the bulbs emerging, although if the weather forecast is correct they may soon be under a blanket of snow.  Our Tourist board inspection is the 15th of February so all hands on deck.  All our New Year visitors left the cottages in really good order so that is a great help.  Lots of decisions as to what needs replacing and what will last another year !  (sometimes I feel I am in that category )

 A cycle path is being made going from Grinton to Keld.  It is making the Swing Bridge walk less muddy and easier for the elderly.  A popular walk will become more accessible which is good.  One day the weather is crisp, sunny and clear then the next is wet and misty.  Whatever the weather Reeth is a great place to be.

The picture is of a sunset taken last week  over our garden.  Still busy in the garden I am attempting to tidy up before the winter.  I am so pleased that wild life gardening is popular !

Last week we had 15 pheasants pecking away at our lawn having already feasted on fallen apples and emerging bulbs.  They have a lovely time.  

The river has been high and brought down lots of sand.  It is interesting to look at the footprints made by birds and animals.  Wish I was better at recognising who the visitors are.  There are geese and ducks a plenty.

We already have well over 60 weeks booked for 2018 of which only 6 are new visitors.  All the others are regulars to who we extend a very sincere thank you. We look forward to your visits.

The Autumn tints are beginning to look spectacular. Each day they become more vivid.  We have vacancies in October so why not visit us and enjoy the views and a walk in the gardens.

We have had a very busy season with only a few odd days with empty cottages.  We have met some great folks and are pleased to say that many are reserving dates for 2018.  Why not join them.  With no agency fees we are able to offer good prices and returning visitors qualify for a 5% reduction.  Hope to hear from you

The time had arrived to design a website which could be edited and maintained on both Macs and PC's.  The computer based mac program I had used for years was no longer supported so I set about looking for an alternative.  I wanted the new website to look as near to the old one as possible as it had performed so well.  This meant deciding what platform to use, which template and then adapting it quite radically.

Using Wordpress I got very enthusiastic but then realised it would be quite difficult to explain to anyone else how to edit and maintain the site.

Trying Wix, Webydo, Weebly and Jimdo.  I settled with Jimdo.

Using the usual method, try first and then read how to do it, the first few days were a steep learning curve.

On my 70th birthday a group of us walked up Sharrow Hill above Grinton Smelting Mill.  So to celebrate my 86th birthday this was repeated together with Daughter and granddaughter.  I so enjoyed it and felt so grateful I can still  enjoy walking in our beautiful countryside.  There are walks for all abilities and for those with limited mobility many views can be accessed by car.  Do visit if you have not been before, it is magical.

This new website went live on March 1st and is still picking up old leads but they do give the option to proceed.  I have enjoyed designing it using a web builder JIMDO.  My former website was mac based so to future proof I decided I should change to one accessible for editing on all devices.  Comments are welcome as I have seen it so much it is hard to visualise its impact of first time viewing.  See lots of you soon.

The Mahonia bushes are scattered around the grounds and are splendid this year.  The snowdrops have multiplied and are becoming a real feature.  Has anyone any tips on keeping aconites happy ?  Each year I plant more and next Spring they have failed to reappear.  Our soil is alkaline and some plants survive well on the patios by placing gravel and pebbles over the soil.  We do have in the teens of pheasants routing about so maybe they are the culprits.  Wherever the aconites are planted they fail to flourish.  Bluebells, snowdrops and daffodils are no problem

A Lady Bird made with three D printing by one of the grandchildren.  Lets hope there are plenty of real ones in the garden this summer.  Lots of snowdrops bravely poking through the grass, the mahonia bushes are magnificent and lots of colour in the garden.  Very cold few days but we are promised warmer weather soon.  Hope everyone is well

A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO EVERY ONE

Christmas decorations are all stored away and life returns to normal.  For us it is a time to get jobs completed in the cottages.  So far we have swept the chimneys and had hard wired smoke alarms installed.  Everything in sight is on its way to the washing machine and no speck of dust is allowed to settle.  Bookings are looking promising and we are so pleased to see so many regulars revisiting.  The bulbs are poking through the soil thinking that Spring is on its way.  The last two days may have caused them to rethink !  Freezing nights, a sprinkling of snow and then the sun shine during the day has made it great for walking if taking care not to slide about.  

All the leaves have finally blown off the trees but they look just as good on the ground.  Finding how useful the blower is as it chases them about and they end up in the compost bins.  I have found I need to place my photograph to the left of the post so that on the mobile it appears before the writing.  My dilemma now is a new domain name or do I really want to use this site in preference to our existing one.