self-catering holiday cottage, holiday rental near Alton Towers and Peak District

Self-catering near Alton Towers and Peak District - Call Barks Holiday Cottage 01538 703163 email barkshc@gmail.com

August Bank Holiday


Barks Holiday Cottage
3 nights for £295
7 nights for £450
For booking enquiries please call 01538 703436 or email barks@btconnect.com

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How time flies; August Bank Holiday already and although it's warm weather and the sun is shining there are hints of autumn in the air. Our self catering guests are on their way from London.

We have had a flurry of booking activity for the holiday cottage. Other families must be sharing my feeling that the summer holidays are nearly over and it is time to spring into action before you miss the moment. A couple of bookings are from families organising some last minute fun with a 3 night break for a trip to Alton Towers. Others are getting organised now and are planning half term breaks and . . . . Christmas.

Surely not time to be thinking of Christmas . . . .!? Well actually, we have received our first booking enquiry from a family wanting a cosy holiday cottage with open fire and Christmas tree etc. We can't promise snow, but we have had a few romantic flakes fall on us at Christmas in the last few years.

In the mean time, let's keep fingers crossed that we all enjoy a sunny and warm August Bank Holiday.

Family Holidays


Barks Holiday Cottage: - for booking enquiries please call 01538 703436 or email barks@btconnect.com

3 nights £295

7 nights £450

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We've had a couple of lovely families come to stay at the holiday cottage last week. A family with two young children took in Cariba Creek water park one day and a day at Alton Towers theme park the next. I am pleased that the sun shone on their stay because they had a couple of days exploring the local area after that and took in Blackbrook Zoo (pictured), Trentham Gardens and Waterworld. We enjoyed a lovely game of cricket with them in the garden, which particularly pleased my son. Their children enjoyed feeding the hens and playing with our dogs. The hens mobbed me this morning, clearly disappointed that this family and all their treats had finished their family holiday and returned home to Cardiff.


The next family had teenage children who energetically pumped up the tyres on our old bicycles. I warned them that cycling from the holiday cottage is either freewheeling downhill or pushing uphill, without much pedalling required. They still seemed to have energy for a good day out at Alton Towers followed by a vigorous game of giant frisbee.
It is great that families enjoy their holidays here, but now my son wants a giant frisbee and the hens won't be satisfied with layers pellets.

Total peace and quiet

We have had a planned power outage today. We had a letter reminding us to fill thermos flasks if we have a coffee addiction, find alternative power sources for vital health-related equipment, and find somewhere else to get online to get on with work. Helpful letter, if any of us could retain such information in our minds or had included it in the diary. I remembered too late when there was a final-sounding click as equipment powered down. Coffee-less and unable to get on with my day job I sat in the garden and enjoyed the sunshine in total peace and quiet.

The hens clucked cheerfully, the birds fluttered past and I even wondered if I could hear butterfly wings against the warm air. Possibly lack of coffee was starting to make me fanciful. After a while I thought I ought to get on with some domestic chores and personal jobs. There is a pile of holiday cottage sheets that need ironing, there are booking enquiries that need an email response and I've been meaning to transfer photos onto a memory stick for printing. I remembered I was powerless.

Eventually the postman broke the peace and my brain returned to normality. My addiction needed to be fed. Coffee or no coffee, I simply had to get online.