Tag Archive for: 5 star holiday

Summer News!

Hopefully the rainy season is finally past us and we can enjoy a spell of warm and sunny weather.  Both properties have been busy during May, and the Potting Shed in particular has been busy with Pennine Way walkers, although the Ravenber Way was a new one on us.

Longer days means a great opportunity to walk later in the day.  We highly recommend a late walk up Dufton Pike or High Cup to see the sun set over the valley.  Summer is also a great time to join in some of the rural traditions in the area with local agricultural shows coming thick and fast.

Whatever the weather there is always plenty to do.  We always look forward to getting our bikes out at this time of year and cycling around the quiet Eden Valley lanes – usually in search of coffee or ice cream at Brough Castle, Abbott Lodge or Melmersby.  We have lived here nearly 11 years now and still find great new walks or places to visit – in May we went wake boarding on Ullswater for the first time, which was brilliant fun and highly recommended for those who like a little bit of adrenaline.

               

 

Pub Recommendation – George & Dragon, Clifton 

The George & Dragon is owned by the Lowther Estate and is a multi award winning pub.  The pub aims to  rear, forage and grow most of its ingredients from the family farms and the kitchen gardens at Michelin starred Askham Hall.  The food produced is exceptional, and whilst the price is at the top end of what you would expect from a pub, the old adage of you get what you pay for has never been more true.  Highly recommended for a special celebration or for a treat.

https://georgeanddragonclifton.co.uk/eat/

Cafe Recommendation – Jak & Co, Appleby

Jak & Co, at number 4 Bridge Street, is a new edition to the coffee spots in Appleby.  Previously just a soft furnishings and ornaments shop, Jackie has now added an excellent coffee shop selling hot drinks, sandwiches and homemade cake served from 9.30 to 2.30 every day except Sunday.  As the Florist in Appleby has sadly closed they also sell fresh bunches of flowers for that special occasion or emergency purchase!  They can also be ordered in advance.  

For more details visit their Facebook page Jak & Co

 

What’s on in the Eden

Appleby holds a small local market every Saturday morning.  Slightly further afield is the larger Orton Farmer’s market held on the first Saturday of each month.

30 June – Ullswater Country Fair
6 July – Skelton Agricultural Show
20 July – Penrith Agricultural Show
26/27/28 July – Potfest in the Park at Hutton in the Forest
8 Aug – Appleby Agricultural Show
15 Aug – Brough Agricultural Show
24 Aug – Ravenstonedale Agricultural Show
29 Aug – Crosby Ravensworth Agricultural Show
31 Aug – Fellside Royal Dufton

For more details and other events visit www.visiteden.co.uk

Suggested Walk – Hilton Beck

This is a lovely walk, especially if you want to get away from it all, and starts from Hilton which is only a 15 minute drive from Dufton.  Its a smaller version of the High Cup Valley, but you can only do it when the red flags aren’t flying as it walks across the edge of the Warcop army range and so you need there to be no live firing.  You park in a designated parking area at the top end of Hilton and then follow a track alongside Hilton Beck for as far as 4 miles depending on how you feel.  You probably won’t see more than a couple of people on your way and you can reach the Scordale mine workings for a bit of Eden Valley history.  If you are feeling adventurous then walk back along either right or left ridge for stunning views (check your ordnance survey map for the route) or simply retrace your steps. 

Summer Current Availability

We have limited availability across the rest of the Summer, but do have the following short breaks available in Shepherds View.

4 nts Mon 24th to Fri 28th June
3 nts Fri 12th to Mon 15th July
3 nts Fri 9th to Mon 12th Aug
6 nts Sat 14th to Fri 20th Sept

The Potting Shed has more availability, but with a surge in National Trail walkers these dates fill up fast so please book as soon as you know your plans as there is limited accommodation in Dufton now.

If you have an interest in fine art then the July date coincides with Dufton Village Hall’s annual Art in the Hills event, which showcases local artists from the Eden Valley with their artwork available to purchase.

Of course on warm summer days our garden is at its sumptuous best and a great place to sit out and enjoy a cup of tea or a cheeky glass of wine after a day out.  We are dog friendly, and you can relax knowing your furry friend is safe in our dog proofed garden.

                       

 

EV Charging

EV Charging at Shepherds View

EV Charging Unit

EV charging Unit

We are delighted to announce that we have added an ICS charging unit as an additional service for any guests wishing to travel to us in their EV car.

The charger is suitable for all EV cars, but guests will still need to bring their own Type 2 cable. Access to the unit is easy and is via a QR code located on the front, which then allows guests to pay for charging.

Our starting price for charging is set at 40p per kWh, but we do reserve the right to alter this according to the price of electricity operating at the time.

So no more searching around Cumbria for the nearest charging unit, or worrying if you will make it back.  Charge over night and spend more time enjoying your holiday.

We look forward to welcoming you and your EV car in the very near future!

What’s your favourite time of year?

January & February

Dufton Pike in the snow

Snowy winter peaks

There is no better time of year for enjoying quality ‘me’ time than the early months of the year.  Often there can be snow on the hills, making the views from the feature window of Shepherds View spectacular, with crystal clear mornings and dark nights for star gazing.

You don’t need to make any excuses to cosy up in front of the log fire in one of our complimentary dressing gowns, enjoy the underfloor heating, or luxuriate in the jacuzzi bath.  With Netflix on the TV for binge episodes of your favourite show ‘staying in’ can really be the new ‘going out’!  And should you venture out, then in early February Dufton Ghyll has wonderful embankments of snowdrops on display.

March & April

As the clocks march forward enjoy more of the above, but with the added fun of the Spring lambs arriving in the field below you.  It’s the reason we called the barn Shepherds View, and many a guest has whiled away the hours watching them skip and play.

Dalemain Mansion, near Ullswater, hosts the world famous marmalade festival on 22nd celebrating all things marmalade, and on 23rd the Cumbria Classic motor show.

May

Bluebells in Dufton Ghyll

With Summer around the corner the bluebells appear in the Ghyll, or you can take our guided walk to the spectacular display at Flakebridge Woods – one of our favourite walks to do.  If you are lucky you can see the native Red Squirrels at play, sometimes a woodpecker, or even a deer.

On 12th & 14th Brougham Hall, near Penrith, is running its 1940s wartime weekend event.  Free to enter, you can park in Penrith and travel on a Cumbria Classic Coach to the venue and enjoy military vehicles, wartime displays, period fashions and food and dancing.

June

On 4th June Hutton in the Forest holds one of its Classic Cars events.  A great place to visit anyway at this time of year, enjoy the historic house, walled gardens and woodland walks – this is the perfect venue.

25th June is the Ullswater Country Fair.  Held in Patterdale, in the shadow of the Helvellyn range, this is a traditional country show that showcases the rich heritage of the Lake District, including traditional sports and crafts.

July

Pot Fest at Hutton in the Forest

From the 4th and then weekly on every Tuesday throughout July & August – take a Fish & Chips supper cruise with Ullswater Steamers – a perfect combination of the stunning scenery of the Ullswater Valley and a quintessential British supper!  Perfection!

The 15th marks the first of the fantastic local Agricultural Shows to visit – Penrith Show.  These shows always provide tremendous entertainment with ringside attractions, livestock competitions, and rural crafts on display.

On 22nd and 23rd Dufton Village Hall becomes the centre for artistic talent with Art in the Hills – now a popular annual art exhibition this is a showcase for some of the talented professional and amateur local artists from the Eden – our guests in 2022 couldn’t resist buying some of the art so beware – this is a great show!

Back to Hutton in the Forest for Potfest on 28th to 30th.  This flagship event showcases the best work from over 90 selected artists and is a must for all ceramic fans – don’t forget your credit card!

August

3 great Agricultural shows to visit

The Fellside Royal

The Fellside Royal

on 10th Appleby, 26th right here in Dufton for the Fellside Royal (including the Dufton Fell Race), and finally on 31stCrosby Ravensworth.

On 20th Dalemain once again hosts the Cumbria Classic motor show.

September

This is the month for the famous Dufton Beer Festival at the Stag Inn.  Dates to be confirmed but normally the second Fri/Sat/Sun of September.  Cracking beer, cider and live music, and a short stagger home!

October

With the nights starting to draw in then the log burner comes into its own again in the barn.

As the clocks change Penrith holds its now iconic Winter Droving, a unique celebration steeped in tradition.  Over the weekend of 28th the town has a celebration of light, fire and rural life, with masked street processions and street stalls with food, drink and giftware.  Not to be missed!

November & December

The year ends the same way it started with lazy days and time to relax.

Romantic breaks

Romantic breaks

 

 

 

When will you choose to visit?

Escape to the charming village of Dufton in rural Cumbria

 

Dufton Village

Dufton Village

Seeking relaxation and a reset in nature for your next holiday?  Then look no further than the beautiful village of Dufton in the Eden Valley.

Shepherds View is an award winning 5 Star Gold holiday cottage for couples set on the edge of the village, so that you can enjoy peace and seclusion, whilst at the same time being a few steps away from all that the village location has to offer.Hanging baskets at Shepherds View

Dufton itself is a typically attractive Eden fell side village with a layout of houses, back lanes and crofts set around a green.  Its name is probably Anglo Saxon meaning ‘settlement where the doves are kept’, and despite a lead mining history, sheep farming remains the dominant industry.  The village nestles in the shadow of the Pennines, 3 miles from the traditional market town of Appleby with its array of local grocery stores & tea shops, and Norman Castle.

Rural Dufton life

Rural Dufton life

Sunset at Shepherds View

Sunset at Shepherds View

At Dufton Barn Holidays we feel a holiday should be about the experience you have as much as the quality of the cottage you stay in – after all experiences are what memories are made of.

With a breath-taking view you look out of the feature window toward Cross Fell, the highest point of the Pennines.  In the Spring enjoy the sight of the lambs cavorting in the field below, or fabulous sunsets setting across the high fells throughout the year.  As well as all the detail that makes up this 5 star property, including underfloor heating and a jacuzzi bath, we provide a luxury hamper of carefully selected Cumbrian products to excite your tastebuds.

High Cup Nick

High Cup Nick

View from Dufton Pike

View from Dufton Pike

To help you explore the village and the surrounding area you can enjoy using over 15 personalised walks from the doorstep, of differing abilities, including the magnificent High Cup Nick and nearby Dufton Pike.  Or you can choose to explore the beautiful woodland of Dufton Ghyll, with its gurgling streams and plethora of wild-life including Red Squirrels and occasional deer, blanketed in snowdrops in February and bluebells in the Spring.  If you have brought your bicycles then meander along quiet country lanes with magnificent vistas all around you.

Bluebells in Dufton Ghyll

Bluebells in Dufton Ghyll

Meadows around Dufton

Wild flower meadows

If you’re in the mood for a treat then take a 2 minute stroll to the Stag Inn to enjoy a refreshing ale in the beer garden overlooking the Pike, or a deliciously wholesome meal in their restaurant, and in the Spring and Summer months enjoy a snack at the Post Box Pantry Café, all of course with a warm Cumbrian welcome.

However you choose to spend your holiday we are certain you will leave more refreshed and relaxed than when you came, and with many happy memories of this beautiful area to take away.

 

The North Pennines (AONB) – a special place to visit!

A special place to visit!

The North Pennines is one of England’s most special places – a stunning, upland landscape of wide-open moors, flower-rich hay meadows, intimate woods, inky-black night skies, charismatic wildlife, fascinating industrial heritage, tumbling rivers and dramatic waterfalls.

Here you will find a peaceful, unspoilt landscape with a rich history and vibrant natural beauty, and at almost 2,000 sq. km it is the second largest of the 46 AONBs (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland). It is surely one of the most peaceful and unspoilt places in England.

Beneath your feet

In recognition of its world class Earth heritage and efforts to make the most of this for tourism and education, it is also designated as a UNESCO Global Geopark. The impressive landscape of the North Pennines – from High Force on the River Tees to the sweeping valley of High Cup Gill above Dufton – are the product of millions of years of geological processes.

Rocks are the building blocks of the wonderful North Pennine landscape. The area’s fells and dales, and the rocks, minerals and fossils of which they are made, tell a fascinating story – one which stretches back hundreds of millions of years. The geological story of the North Pennines tells a story of deep oceans and violent volcanoes, colliding continents and molten rock, tropical seas and lush rainforests, hot water and minerals, desert dunes and vast ice sheets.

Over the past 500 million years the North Pennines has travelled over the surface of the globe and been shaped by many environments and processes. Volcanoes, tropical seas, rainforests, molten rock, deserts and ice sheets have all helped create today’s landscape. By exploring the fells and dales, you’ll discover the North Pennines’ remarkable journey through time, and a rich industrial heritage linked to the area’s rocks and minerals.

Jewel of the North

The area is famous for its distinctive landscape of high moorland, peat bog, and broad, dramatic, dales – including the upland stretches of the Tees, Wear and Tyne rivers. It shares a boundary with the Yorkshire Dales National Park in the south and extends as far as the Tyne Valley, just south of Hadrian’s Wall, in the north. Parts of the area are in the counties of Durham, Cumbria and Northumberland.

Tumbling waterfalls, sweeping moorland views, dramatic dales, stone-built villages, snaking stone walls and friendly faces – are what visitors to the North Pennines AONB and UNESCO Global Geopark can expect to find.

People and places

The character of the North Pennines landscape is inseparable from the people and places found here. The differing nature of settlements, from the distinctive red sandstone villages at the foot of the North Pennines escarpment to the white farms and barns of the Raby Estate in Teesdale, has a significant impact on landscape character.

Past times

About 12,000 people live in the North Pennines today – less than half the number who lived here 150 years ago in the heyday of the lead mining industry. The rise and fall of mining has left an indelible imprint on the landscape, not just in terms of the physical remains but also in the pattern of local settlement. The social history of the miner-farmers is also an intriguing element that contributes to the story of the North Pennines.

Nature galore

The North Pennines is a hotspot for nature – famous for the variety and profusion of plants and animals which find a home here. Eighty percent of the area benefits from nature-friendly, traditional farming practices, which means that the AONB is a haven for wildlife.

Sparkling night skies

The North Pennines is officially the darkest mainland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Here we have some of England’s darkest night skies. The area’s inky black skies mean that jaw-dropping stargazing opportunities are aplenty, on a clear night – with the opportunity to see thousands of stars overhead compared to the handful you would see from towns and cities. See our home galaxy, the Milky Way, in all its shimmering glory, along with distant galaxies and sparkling star clusters. You will find lots of officially designated Dark Sky Discovery Sites too – so come over to the ‘dark side’ and enjoy our stunning skies.

Alston and the Cumbrian North Pennines

The countryside around Alston, England’s highest market town, provides some of the area’s finest walking country – including the lofty Cross Fell – the highest English hill outside the Lake District. The striking North Pennines escarpment is a dramatic backdrop to the attractive, red sandstone-built, fell foot villages.

Kirkby Stephen in the south of the area is a traditional, bustling market town full of historic buildings and cobbled yards – a good launch pad for climbing Nine Standards Rigg.

In the North Pennines you’ll find:

  • Peace, tranquillity and space to catch your breath
  • England biggest waterfall – High Force in Upper Teesdale
  • Almost 40% of the UK’s flower-filled upland hay meadows
  • Inky-black night skies – some of the darkest in England. The North Pennines is the darkest mainland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
  • 80% of England’s black grouse
  • Short-eared owls, ring ouzel, snipe and redshank
  • 22,000 pairs of breeding wading birds in the spring and early summer
  • Red squirrels, otters and rare arctic-alpine plants

4 great reasons to make Shepherds View the base for your next staycation

As we all get used to the new norms of a post lockdown world there has been a massive surge in people looking for staycations in the UK. Many have turned to the standard honey-pots of Devon and Cornwall or the Lakes, which can only lead to an increase in these areas of visitor numbers and indeed prices. It’s time to think again and look a little further afield at an area of equal beauty, but far less crowded, the Eden Valley on the eastern edge of Cumbria.

Shepherds View could be just what you are looking for and here are 4 great reasons why:-

1. Stay In!

You don’t have to be big on the outdoors to come here. We’ve got the Visit England 5 star gold award for a reason. If your idea of a good holiday is finishing off some books in peace and quiet then why not sit in our feature window with a glorious view changing in front of you by the hour. We are complimented on our well-equipped kitchen so you won’t have to remember to bring with you any of your essential kitchen utensils. Take a well-earned soak in our jacuzzi bath and enjoy one of the hydrotherapy programmes, or binge watch a couple of series on Netflix with the log burner keeping you toasty. Whenever the weather allows then we have a private garden for you to sit and relax in as well.

Did we mention the bed? The superking with Hypnos mattress is frequently mentioned by guests and is designed to give you a great nights sleep ready for tomorrows adventures (or relaxation)!

2. Leave the Car!

You don’t have to drive anywhere if you don’t want to. There are numerous walks from the door of differing lengths and ability, and we’ve written them up for you so that you get a flavour of our beautiful area. Of course, you might want to walk up the jewel of the Pennines, High Cup, but we’ve got you covered on this one as well, even suggesting a quieter alternative route to the more popular way. If cycling is your thing then we have safe storage for you, and we’ve drawn out some of our favourite cycle routes for you along the quiet lanes linking the pretty fellside villages.

3. Take the Car!

If you want to explore then Dufton is such a great location to drive out from. Ullswater, with all it has to offer is only 25 minutes drive away, and Keswick on Derwent Water only 45 minutes. Similarly, if you want to go to High Force in Teesdale then you are only 45 minutes drive as well, and the Eden is also on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Other than travelling into the Lakes many of these routes are less busy and so you can expect a much more pleasant journey. Finally if you want to get your eyes tested then Barnard Castle is only a short trip east along the A66!

4. Eat Out!

We are lucky enough to have a great pub, the Stag, in Dufton. Only a 2 minute walk from the cottage if you don’t feel like cooking then you can’t go wrong here. The pub has a great reputation for good wholesome food and great beer, and what could be better after a long walk or bike ride!

Book now at Shepherds View for these great local events!

There’s a lot going on in August and September in the Eden Valley.

Why not book your break to coincide with one or more of these fantastic local events and have a 5 star holiday with a difference!

18th/19 August – Cumbria Classic Cars at Dalemain Mansion
25th August – Dufton Agricultural Show and Sheepdog Trials
30th August – Crosby Ravensworth Show & Vintage Rally
30th to 2nd September – Penrith Arts Festival
8th Sept – Alston Flower Show / 200th Orton Farmers Market
14th to 16th Sept – Appleby Beer festival at the Midland Hotel
22nd to 30th Sept – Ullswater Outdoor Festival
22nd Sept – Over 50s show at Rheged
29th Sept – Judy’s affordable vintage fair at Rheged