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Tom's Barn - Our luxury self-catering holiday accommodation in the Peak District village of Parwich offers all couples the real chance to relax in peace and comfort in an idyllic rural setting.
From the outside – in spite of a mass of colourful pots of flowers and the soothing blue-green paintwork – you’d be forgiven for wondering if our two luxury Five Star holiday cottages in the Peak District had in fact altered much since their more modest beginnings as cowsheds. However, fear not.
Open the door and you may be taken aback – no ancient farm buildings these! You sense at once that both our 18C barns are very much 21st century luxury: peaceful, relaxing, exuding comfort, warmth and welcome.
Close the door behind you. You can relax, at last! You will find yourself in the perfect romantic hideaway for two, far removed from all the pressures and strains of normal life. Your stresses will instantly start to unravel as you start to revel in the luxury of enjoying a totally relaxing time together in your own very special home from home with no other responsibilities except to enjoy yourselves.
A big plus for all our guests is that our two holiday cottages are owner-run. We, John and Marion, live next door. We own and cherish Tom’s and Douglas’s Barns and our guests and are on the spot if you need us but very discreet otherwise. We are there to welcome you, to answer any questions and iron out any problems if they should happen to occur.
We’re there when you need us but promise we don’t intrude!
Our aim is to make our luxury self-catering accommodation in the Peak District the most perfect relaxing romantic cottages for two: the sort of holiday accommodation we would love to stay in ourselves (we keep looking…!). Luckily for us, our two converted barns are very popular and in great demand – but we don’t ever want to rest on our laurels. We are constantly trying to think what else we can do to keep everything as special as possible; we are aware that standards progress and expectations increase and a bit like over-indulgent parents are always trying to think what next we can spoil our cottage guests with.
We may have Five Star cottages, they may have a Gold Award but ours is an unflashy luxury: nothing twee, nothing fancy or fussy but everything superior quality, spotlessly clean, extremely comfortable and in excellent condition.
We don’t take short cuts and we don’t use cut-price suppliers believing if you want to provide quality you must use quality products and suppliers, well-respected firms (including it must be said Ikea when appropriate!) but mainly such as Farrow & Ball for all interior paint, and Valti for outside, John Lewis and The White Company for linen and towels, Vi-Spring mattresses (and bed in Tom’s Barn), Gilchrist & Soames for ‘toiletries’; we buy top of the range electrical equipment having first pored over Which?
We try to provide everything – within reason – you might need
We want you to feel that your whole holiday break is a relaxing, self-indulgent treat rather than an exercise in making do with second best… We want you to go home feeling totally spoilt, relaxed and refreshed, ready to meet the real world again.
If you can drag yourselves away there is just so much to do in the lovely Derbyshire Peak District countryside surrounding us. Summer barbecues in your own garden area, countless walks right from the door including the High Peak and Tissington Trails, trips to nearby famous Dovedale, Carsington for water sports, Chatsworth and at least five other stately homes within an hours’ drive, local fishing, golf, tennis (actually in Parwich itself) and so on. You will find plenty of information in your barn.
All you really have to think about are your personal belongings and anything particular you may want to eat and drink. You will be able to top up any necessities at the shop-in-the-pub. Anything organic or more exotic could be ordered in advance of your arrival from Riverford Organics or Waitrose and we’ll put it away for you in your barn to await you.
We provide dressing gowns but it may be wise to bring a pair of slippers as the quarry tiles in the kitchens can be cool!
Tom's Barn -
Our dog friendly self-catering holiday accommodation for two: peaceful and quiet Five Star luxury in the Peak District with wonderful walks right from the door in the surrounding Peak District countryside yet only a short stroll from the heart of the village with its pub and little shop.
Our Tom’s Barn guests particularly love the romantic galleried bedroom, the two-seater whirlpool bath and the cosy log burner downstairs; many bring their dogs and are grateful to find a top quality Five Star cottage that is also dog-friendly accommodation.
Tom’s Barn is bright, warm, welcoming and spotlessly clean. It is hard to believe now that before we converted it in 1999, it was the most decrepit and cobweb festooned old barn you could imagine, smelling of ancient cows (and probably worse). Our vision was to create top quality holiday accommodation with all modern comforts, whilst remaining as faithful as possible to the original design – just as well, as being in the Peak Park one had little choice. We kept as much of the original structure as we could, reusing the original stone where walls had to be repaired and retaining all the old and somewhat misshapen wooden lintels.
We equipped the barns with the best we could find, and furnished them with a blend of antique and modern. We have a rolling programme of redecoration and renewals to keep Tom’s Barn fresh as new. Janet, our ‘right hand’ whom many of you know, terrorises any spiders who dare now to set foot, and keeps the place sparkling… A big plus for all our guests is that our two holiday cottages are owner-run. We, John and Marion, own and cherish Tom’s and Douglas’s Barns and our guests. We live next door and are on the spot if you need us but very discreet otherwise. We are there to welcome you, to answer any questions and iron out any problems if they should happen to occur. We promise we don’t intrude!
Douglas’s Barn is a Five Star luxury self-catering cottage for two in the Peak District: it lies next to open countryside with glorious walks in every direction but also within only a short stroll of the village pub, shop and church.
Our guests love the ‘quirky but gorgeous’ contemporary interior with all its funny nooks and weird crannies; they love the calm, still atmosphere and soothing colours which make one feel instantly sheltered from the stresses of the outside world. They also appreciate all the ‘little extra” touches and the fine quality of the furniture and equipment of the superior holiday accommodation in the Peak Park that they have come to love.
Douglas’s Barn is the (relatively) newer of the two Orchard Farm traditional limestone farm buildings/ now Five Star holiday cottages. Tom’s Barn is probably somewhat earlier than Douglas’s Barn; we suspect that the space between the two buildings was joined up to the house in a fairly ad hoc way by a late 18C Parwich farmer, with more concern for his cows than architecture. But we love the resulting odd angles and weird nooks and crannies, which add so to the character and charm of our ‘quirky but gorgeous’ holiday accommodation.
We originally converted Douglas’s Barn 1999/2000, at the same time as Tom’s Barn, but initially as a home for Marion’s father Douglas. Eventually, after Douglas’s death in 2004, we re-converted it in 2006 to form our second luxury cottage for two, consciously making it as different from Tom’s Barn as we could so people had a real choice between two equally lovely romantic cottages for two.
Douglas’s Barn quickly became very popular. Our very first guests – from Cornwall – have already returned for their fifth visit! Our guests flock from all over the country to enjoy walking holidays in the Peak District, eating holidays, just pure ‘chilling out’ relaxing holidays, special celebrations and satisfying self-indulgent treats.
Several of our guests like to come twice in the year – perhaps once in the summer and another in the winter: the comfort in the barn doesn’t change but there is a wonderful contrast in the village of Parwich and the surrounding Peak Park countryside from the luxuriant greens of the summer to the barer but bracing winter scenery.
Below is a purely personal attempt to summarise attractions that we know and/or which our guests have enjoyed, and therefore inevitably subjective and incomplete! Things change all the time so please tell us if anything – as it will – becomes out of date or incorrect.
Throughout the year there are many eagerly awaited annual events. Buxton art and literary festival in July (9 – 27 July 2011) attracts many famous names, and is a must! You can visit their web site for further information. Then there are the more rural countryside events such as county and village shows: our favourite of all is the nearby Manifold Show in August – a delightfully nostalgia-inducing real old-fashioned country fair. Chatsworth Country Fair (end August/beginning September) and the Derbyshire County Show (late June) are at the opposite end of the scale. Chatsworth Horse Trials (May), Racing at Flagg (Easter Tuesday) organised by the High Peak Hunt and the races at Uttoxeter (40 minutes away) are fun for everybody, but particularly appeal to horse lovers.
Finally, in this section one cannot omit the unique Shrovetide Football two
day extravaganza between the ‘Up’ards and ‘Down’ards’ of Ashbourne! To the
uninitiated it feels like an enormous rugby match with no obvious boundaries and
without a referee, but it is a hugely popular event.
A leisurely walk along a quiet country lane towards lunch at one of our
favourite nearby pubs
There is endless opportunity for WALKING for everyone, from those whose ideal is to potter gently round our very attractive village to those who stride out daily for at least 20 miles whatever the weather. This area has a wealth of footpaths and we have masses of walk books and maps in each barn, including a booklet showing all the walks in and around Parwich. There are also copies of several local walks described by Alan Rolfe on his web site, which literally take you from the door! Sally Mosley organises guided walks often including little known spots – and picnics. Have a look at her website.
The Dovedale and Manifold Valleys are close by, providing riverside walks at the base of towering limestone gorges. You can walk to Dovedale from here, or perhaps park the car at Alstonefield (pop into the George en route) if you fancy shortening the walk to following the Dove down to Dovedale, and then up again.
There is also plenty of exciting scope for the more vigorous walker. However, belonging to the gentler variety ourselves we don’t have personal experience of, say, Kinder Scout, which is within little more than half an hour’s drive. Stanage Edge near Hathersage in the Hope Valley and the Roaches in the Staffordshire Moorlands, towering limestone crags over looking tranquil lakes and reservoirs, are both great favourites with walkers and climbers alike. Stanage Edge is now known sometimes as “Keira’s clifftop” since she posed up here (securely but invisibly roped) in Pride and Prejudice!
And if you come home wet, muddy and healthily exhausted you can wash and dry your clothes in the machines in your barn, dry out your boots on our new boot dryers, have a fun bath and a good sleep and set out next day as good as new again. The High Peak and Tissington Trails are also very close. Created from the old railway tracks, they are car free, and very popular with walkers, cyclists and riders. Carsington Water is another lovely spot. One can walk, ride or cycle right round – or just go part of the way – watching birds and other wildlife, the colourful sailing boats and people having fun on windsurfers (no noisy waterskiing, thankfully!). We have bought a pair of bicycles to lend out to our guests, and we can lend tennis rackets (there are two tennis courts in the village).
However keen you are on walking, you probably won’t want to walk every day when there is so much else to see and do in the area. Chatsworth is undoubtedly a must, and to do it properly one would really need days if not weeks: not only can one go inside the house, admiring the architecture and the art, but one can also enjoy the garden, walk or picnic in the Capability Brown designed parkland, have a lovely meal or have a self-indulgent hour or two buying up some of the delicious (much of it local) food in the Chatsworth Farm Shop. (Don’t be put off if there is a long queue waiting to pay. It moves surprisingly fast, because they always seem to have masses of people on the tills.) If the sight and smell of all the delicious food leaves you feeling hungry you can have a snack or a refreshing cup of tea in the restaurant, with a stunning view. In spring you will have a close up of Chatsworth lambs gambling about in the adjoining fields.
Not counting the three somewhat more modest halls actually in Parwich (most villages only boast one!) the nearest to us is Tissington Hall, 2 miles on foot over the hills, or ten minutes by car if you like the thrill of fording the stream at Bradbourne Mill (don’t risk it if the water is above the 1’ mark on the white post) or twice as long going via the A515.
Tissington is a charming estate village, owned by the FitzHerbert family since Elizabethan times, and is well worth a visit. The hall and gardens are not open every day, but well worth a visit when they are; meanwhile you get a good view of the hall from the road. You can also buy charming knick knacks in the village, homemade candles at Annie’s, and meat from the Tissington butchers (see the food section!).
It is hardly surprising that there are many beautiful GARDENS in this already beautiful area, some belonging to the big houses such as Chatsworth, Haddon, Renishaw Hall in the north and Melbourne Hall in the south of the county. Lea Gardens nearer home are a delight in the Azalea and Rhododendron season. Many nearby gardens are in the Derbyshire or Staffordshire National Garden Scheme yellow book (there is a copy in each barn). Derbyshire Life (there will always be a current copy in your barn) always supplies a list of those gardens open each month. There are masses of garden centres if you would like to buy a plant for your garden as a living memory of a happy holiday in Derbyshire.
Most of the local villages have Open Garden days in the summer. In 2011 we would guess that Parwich’s will be on Sunday 26th June at the beginning of our Wakes Week: there are a lot of lovely gardens in the village, many quite hidden from the road and therefore full of surprises even for locals. Well dressings are another treat. They are almost unique to Derbyshire; throughout the summer there is usually one to be visited somewhere. Our nearest is Tissington, which is always on Ascension Day, usually towards the middle or end of May depending on the church calendar. (You will find a list of well dressing dates in your barn, or on www.visitpeakdistrict.com.)
If you are hankering after something possibly slightly more historic, people having been living in the Peak District for over 12,000 years, give or take a century or two, leaving tantalizing snippets of evidence – rock paintings at Creswell Crags an hour away, and much nearer home the stone circles at Arbor Low and the ‘Nine Ladies’ at Stanton Moor, near Birchover. Later the Romans were around, and amongst other things developed lead mining which reached its peak in the mid 18C, with Wirksworth at the centre. In the hillsides between us and Brassington there are still many tell-tale humps and hollows where lead workings used to be. Cromford, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution (where history lessons about Arkwright, Hargreaves etc suddenly come alive) is less than 15 minutes’ drive away. There are also plenty of MUSEUMS: industrial, trains, trams, mining, and an interesting stone centre near Wirksworth.
If SHOPPING is an important part of a holiday, there is plenty of scope, from the ANTIQUE SHOPS of Bakewell and Ashbourne (there are always fascinating things in the window of Spurrier-Smith’s magnificent treasure trove in Ashbourne) to the factory outlet shops in Belper, Matlock Bath and Rowsley. There are ART GALLERIES in nearly every town – the St John Street Art Gallery in Ashbourne has a constantly changing display of sculptures and pictures, including often those of Parwich’s Lewis Noble and Ruby Hickmott, both of whom have painted pictures now hanging in Douglas’s Barn… One can spend hours (we have) trawling the shelves in Scarthins’ second hand BOOKSHOP in Cromford shopping, stopping off every so often for a delicious snack in their tiny restaurant. Brierlow Bookshop – one of the largest discount bookstores in the country apparently – on the way (A515) to Buxton is a mecca for book lovers.
Janet Gosling, landlady of the Sycamore, our local pub, now runs a small shop in what used to be the dining room, so we can all buy necessities locally. We also have newspapers delivered so if you let us know in advance we can ensure your favourite paper is here in time for you to read over a leisurely breakfast before you start your day. Milk is still delivered (every other day) and see below for other good shopping tips. Don’t forget that we always provide the basic store cupboard necessities. You shouldn’t need a supermarket, but if you must, there is a Marks and Spencer’s food store, a Waitrose ‘convenience store’ and a Sainsbury’s in Ashbourne and a Waitrose in Buxton. The Waitrose ‘convenience store’ in Ashbourne is perfect for stocking up little extras, not so good for bulk buying!
If you want to make life as easy as possible, with some forward planning, Waitrose www.waitrosedeliver.com will deliver here, DE6 1QB, free of charge if you spend over £50. If you place an order to arrive early Friday afternoon we can put it all away for you in your barn before you arrive. Please let us know in advance.
You can also order organic veg, fruit, meat and dairy products – and more – from the local Riverford Stockley (the Cheshire section of the famous Riverford Farm organic set up. They deliver here on Fridays mornings; we can take your order in, keep it refrigerated and put it in your barn to await your arrival as we do for Waitrose orders. First choose online what you would like, but one-off orders need to be made by telephone to the Hopgoods, 0121 661 6446. Explain you are staying here at Orchard Farm and would like your food delivered with ours on the Thursday before you arrive. You can pay by card over the phone, or send a cheque.
Most towns have a weekly market and Farmers’ Markets are held regularly. Probably the best known locally is Bakewell on the last Saturday of the month; we have been asked to let you know that Wirksworth Farmers’ Market is held outside the Memorial Hall in the centre of town on the first Saturday of every month with ‘a wonderful array of fresh produce, crafts and music and other events on that day’. It starts about 9am and goes on until about 2pm. We will try it ourselves soon. Meanwhile, for a comprehensive list of all the markets and local food shops, look at Derbyshire UK Guide to Derbyshire and the Peak District. It is worth noting that the George at Alstonefield now has a well-stocked farm shop behind the pub (it would be easy to miss it, but a great shame!).
There are many specialist FOOD SHOPS in the area, including the Chatsworth Farm Shop mentioned earlier. Ashbourne, proud to be a ‘Fairtrade town’ has several: H. Smith on Compton is a wonderfully old-fashioned grocer’s, with a delicatessen section and some very super wines. Patrick and Brooksbank, situated in the market place, is another delicatessen, they have a wonderful supply of exotic cheeses, pates, pastas and chocolates, and a tempting supply of homemade frozen meals, perfect if you don’t feel like cooking after a busy day out. In Bakewell there are various Bakewell Pudding shops, all claiming to produce the one and only authentic pudding.
There are two excellent butchers in Ashbourne – Peaches in the Market Place, and Nigel’s down Compton; the White Peak Butchers in Tissington is a not-to-be-missed delight. Their bacon is wonderful: it really fries – rather than stewing in a scummy liquid. Many of our guests walk over the hills to buy their bacon for a breakfast treat. Thery are open 8-5 Tuesday to Friday and 8-4 on Saturdays. If you find yourself near Stoney Middleton you simply must try some meat from John Hancock’s butchers. John is a local farmer, and sells his own meat. His farm is immaculate, his animals beautifully looked after and his meat delicious. If you go to Eyam, the ‘plague village’ you will see that his family have been in the area a long time!
EATING. There are a lot of excellent pubs (many stocking real ales) and restaurants in the area, where one can enjoy good food. Chefs and owners move on from time to time but we try to keep up with the changing reputations and have a list of places we personally recommend. The Gate in Brassington (just under 3 miles away on foot over the hills or 10 minutes by road) is our very favourite pub; many if not most of our guests become equally smitten. The George at Alstonefield is a very close-run second favourite and very well worth a visit – the menu is very exciting and we enjoyed yet another delightful pub lunch the other day after walking up from Dovedale with some friends. The Druid at Birchover probably about 15 minutes away is worth a visit, as are Bramhall’s (actually it is now called plain ‘B’) in Ashbourne, Fischer’s (seriously good with prices to match) and Rowley’s both in Baslow (25 minutes). We were very happy with a recent meal at the Royal Oak at Hurdlow. By all accounts the Packhorse Inn at Crowdecote is not as good as it was but is improving again; the lovely scenery on the way there won’t have changed, fortunately – that’s a treat in itself. Two guests recently reported an excellent meal at the Peacock in Rowsley – apparently they have a good vegetarian menu too, and the Devonshire Arms at Beeley which in the interests of science we must soon visit! Meanwhile the reports are excellent food, and/but expensive.
Both Ashbourne and Bakewell have a good selection of CLOTHES SHOPS: Ideas in Ashbourne is ideal for the trendy and ultra slim person with a fat purse, and Bennett’s, a locally owned rather special ‘department store’, also in Ashbourne, has a lovely selection of clothes, bags and jewellery. It has a restaurant too, only open during shopping hours, on the top floor if it all gets too much for you. Young Ideas is a seriously trendy fashion shop for the beautifully young, slim and well-heeled!
Whilst on the self-indulgence theme, there are several opportunities to enjoy beauty treatment and massages, but a good tip is to book in at The Devonshire Spa in the famous Dome at Buxton. The stunning building was built by one of the Dukes of Devonshire to house and exercise his horses; more recently it used to be a hospital but now it houses the Buxton section of Derby University.
The old hydrotherapy baths have been turned into a wonderful spa with pool, steam and sauna rooms which Since spring 2007 has been opened to the public. Students run the spa and the more experienced ones provide very reasonably priced massages and beauty treatments. It is very well worth trying! (One can also opt for being used as a model for the novice students to practise on, supervised…!)
Then there are the POTTERIES less than an hour away, in Stoke (although the current uncertainty about the future of Wedgwood is certainly a worry); the seconds shops are a great source of very acceptable reduced prices presents to take home! The Denby Pottery shop has an enormous supply of perfect and seconds and magnificent Royal Crown Derby, in Derby, is well worth a visit.
Finally, we love going to the Buxton Opera House. There is something on practically all the time, from opera, ballet, Shakespeare to stand up comics and farce. In July the annual Buxton Festival takes place, an exciting literary and musical event. There are THEATRES in Derby, and Sheffield, Nottingham, Stoke, and even Stratford is well less than two hours away – very possible for a Thursday matinee if you don’t fancy driving back at night.
Orchard Farm, with our two luxury holiday cottages for two, is idyllically situated on the edge of the very attractive village of Parwich, in the Derbyshire Peak District. We are right in the middle of the country, easily accessible from every direction as you can see from the potted directions below.
We feel we are very lucky to live where we do, in such a beautiful and peaceful part, so apparently tucked away – Parwich is not on the way to anywhere – yet so easy to get to. People can and do come here with great regularity from all four corners of the country.
Many of our guests come up from London and the Home Counties and are invariably surprised and amazed that such a striking contrast to their metropolitan lives is so relatively close. No noise, no crowds, no sirens, no traffic, no light-pollution.
Another thing that initially surprised us – but always pleases us – is how many of our guests from nearby – the neighbouring counties of Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Cheshire and Staffordshire – even Derbyshire itself – come here and keep returning, invariably delighted to have found such a beautiful and comfortable Five Star retreat for two so easily reached after work on a Friday.
Tel 01335 390 519
www.tomsbarn.co.uk
Derbyshire self catering holiday cottages