New Year, New Decade

Book direct in 2020 and get 10% discount on stays of 2 or more nights

We hope you all had a lovely Christmas and that 2020 is a happy and healthy year for you.At the end of November we had a sprinkling of snow at ground level, which was very pretty.

Keswick in Snow

We had a large family gathering at Skiddaw Croft over the festive period, which meant a very busy but enjoyable time.  Family came from Surrey, Sussex, Pembrokeshire and Edinburgh.  It was lovely to have the house full of chat and laughter.  On the days leading up to Christmas Steve entertained us with his ‘Christmas socks of the day’.  These were the favourites:

The last of them left this morning so we are now turning our attention to welcoming guests once we open again in February.  The time between now and then is spent decorating and doing the little jobs that can’t be done when guests are staying.  One of our jobs this year is painting all the bedroom doors. 

Whatever you are doing this New Year we wish you a peaceful and happy time and we look forward to welcoming you back to Skiddaw Croft during 2020.

Sue & Steve

Summer 2019 Greetings from sunny Portinscale!

Welcome to our first newsletter, we hope you enjoy reading it and hearing about what has been going on here.  Special offer details at the end.

As I write this, it’s currently 27 degrees and sunny with blue skies, so we are getting some lovely weather.  I am advising guests to make sure they have sun cream, makes a change from asking if they have their waterproofs!

So far this year we have had the various Keswick Festivals (Film, Words by the Water, Jazz & Blues, Beer, Mountain), the Ironman Triathlon, the 10in10 walk (10 fells in 10 hours) and this weekend it’s the Keswick Mid-Summer Festival with a tribute rock band playing in market square and Proms in the Park.  That’s a lot of Festivals – something for everyone!  For details of other upcoming local events (and dates for next year) go to www.keswick.org where you will find loads of helpful information. 

There was great excitement a couple of weeks ago when Prince William and Kate visited the town. They were here to meet with First Responders and then they went on to a local farm to practice their sheep shearing skills. I waited patiently with the hundreds of others and managed to grab this short video

Despite all this going on in Keswick it is also nice to sometimes get away from it all by walking up the fells or round the lakes and enjoy some solitude if that’s what you prefer to do.

Near Buttermere and Crummock Water is an area of wild Bluebells, which we were determined to go and see this year.  We picked a perfect day and headed off.  A couple of hours later when we reached a high (and windy – see photo) peak and saw the blue/purple haze of bluebells way down in the valley we realised we had probably taken the wrong path!  It didn’t matter as we had a lovely walk up to the top of Rannerdale Knotts and the views down Buttermere to Haystacks and Fleetwith Pike were amazing, well worth the climb.  Next year we will take the direct route and enjoy the Bluebells close up.

Open Day

The National Trust held one of their open days at Force Crag Mine, at the end of the Coledale valley near Braithwaite.  It is free to attend and they will even give you a lift along the valley if you aren’t up to walking the track.  It was a very interesting description of what they used to do there and what the conditions were like for the men working it.  They hold several open days a year where you can get access to the old mine building but its worth a walk down the valley any time.  There’s one a month in July, August and September https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/borrowdale-and-derwent-water/features/force-crag-mine

 Local Wildlife

The Ospreys at Bassenthwaite have at least 1 chick this year.  We’ve not managed to catch sight of them ourselves but several guests have said they have seen them from the look out spot in Dodd Wood.   http://www.ospreywatch.co.uk/wordpress/

We have had reports of a Red Squirrel being spotted in the village, which is great news.  We are keeping our eyes peeled and will let you know if we see any.

The wild pheasants are enjoying roaming the local gardens and making their presence known.  The males are proudly strutting around trying to impress the females.  When the sun catches them the colours in their feathers are beautiful, like oil on water.

Theatre by the Lake

 The Summer season is well underway and receiving rave reviews.  We went to see Ladykillers which was excellent, very funny and well performed.  You can find details of what is on at the Theatre here https://www.theatrebythelake.com/ Remember if you stay with us we can give you a code for a discount on tickets for some performances.

If after reading this you can’t wait to come back and visit us again we have availability between now and the end of the year.  Do check out our website www.skiddawcroft.co.uk or our Facebook page www.facebook.com/skiddawcroft

Portinscale is the place to be!

Remember guests who book directly with us get a discount –

please share this with your friends & family!

15% discount off stays during August 2019 when booked by 15th July – use code ‘15August’

We’re looking forward to welcoming you to Skiddaw Croft.  Whether you are a returning guest or someone staying with us for the first time, you are guaranteed a warm welcome!

Sue and Steve Harries