Category Archives: Sue’s Grasmere Blog

I write about White Moss, Brockstone Holiday Cottage, Grasmere, the Lakes, the weather of course, and things that are happening in the Lake District .

One night available Saturday 11 August

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Rarer than hen’s teeth- 1 night on a Saturday! Usually in the Lake District we expect to let a 2 night minimum stay at the weekends, but our special 3 night offer has been so successful that we’ve filled rooms during the week, and guests are leaving on Saturday morning, so we’re happy to offer 1 night stays this weekend.

We’ve got room 1 ( now with new improved private terrace) for £118, and we also have rooms 2 or 4 for £98. This is for two guests, for 1 night, including tea and home made cakes with our compliments on arrival, our award winning breakfast, free parking, White Moss Walks, free fishing (bring your own rods) etc etc…….

A corner of Room 1 terrace

If you want to take advantage of our superb Olympic record breaking offer, stay Sunday as well. 2 nights in room 1 would be £196 (making the Sunday night just £78) or for rooms 2 and 4, it would be £156, (making the Sunday night only £58.)

Got 3 nights to spare? We’ve got room 5, any 3 nights up to and including Sunday 12 August, for just £264.60 instead of the usual £354.  Please take a look at our Special Offer page on our website or ring us for more details. We’ve actually got a good weather forecast for this week. Wow! The sun is shining in the Lake District. Perfect walking weather.

If you want to keep up with the Olympics, we do have TVs in all rooms of course. Plus, we can sell you a bottle of Coniston Bluebird beer, or a chilled bottle of wine (we have a well stocked bar) for you to drink whist cheering.

See you?

Lots going in the the Lakes right now

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If you can tear yourself away from the Olympics, there are lots of good reasons to visit the Lakes right now.The Lake District Summer Music Festival is on now and runs until 12 August. You can hear wonderful music in beautiful venues. It’s a real treat.

Also, running though the whole of July, is the Lake Artists Summer Exhibition in Grasmere Village Hall. This is an annual event which attracts over 10,000 visitors. You can buy a piece of very special original art work, or just browse and be amazed.

Now would be an excellent time to visit the Lakes, and stay at White Moss House, in the heart of Wordsworth’s Lake District, as we have some great special offers for you. From now until 17 August, our room rates have been reduced by £20 per night! For more details, please take a look at our Special offers page on the White Moss House website. You can also email me, sue@whitemoss.com for our best quote for longer stays.

If the sun shines you could be sitting here enjoying afternoon tea and our home made Lakeland tea bread- free to all our guests on arrival.

“The Best Breakfast we’ve ever had”

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Guests love our breakfast, and they really do often say “that’s the best breakfast I’ve ever had!”

Everyone has their favourite bits of the breakfast. Our freshly squeezed orange juice really is squeezed by us from real oranges. Our porridge, cooked overnight in the Aga, is pretty special. The fresh fruit plate looks great- prepared with love by Peter! The kippers, Cumberland sausages and bacon form John at Cartmel Valley Game are all superb. One guests ask recently for a breakfast that “wasn’t cooked with fat”. Our breakfasts are cooked on a baking tray in the Aga – no fat involved, just great flavours. She was delighted! The Coddled eggs have been called “historic”!

We take care that everything is prepared to the same standard that resulted in Peter and White Moss House spending 30 years in the top rankings of the Good Food Guide when we served dinner 6 nights a week. (we’ve recently retired from dinners )

I read an article in the Times once where the reviewer complained that even in top hotels, the toast was often hard and cold at breakfast, or it came at the start of the meal, when he wanted it warm at the end. At White Moss House, the toast is hot, fresh toasted for you, when you want it, using locally made wholemeal toasting bread from Peggy’s of Ambleside. It’s perfect. Spread it with local butter and White Moss Home Made Seville Orange marmalade for a real treat.

Even our coffee wins praise. So many places have coffee sitting around on a hot plate- ugh- horrible! Our coffee is Special Mountain Coffee from tea and coffee specialists Farrers’ of Kendal. It’s freshly filtered and comes with hot milk. We’ve been told by overseas guests that our coffee is the best they’ve had on their trip! We certainly serve a lot of refills every day!

Anyway, why am I going on about breakfast so much? Well, we’ve recently joined up with Late Rooms, and they are running a “Best Kept Secrets” competition. We think our breakfast is good enough to win their “Best Breakfast” award. Of course, we need other people to vote for us and nominate us, so if you feel that you could give us a he;ping hand that would be great.

Here’s the link LateRooms.com Present The Best Kept Secret Awards 2012 - Nominate Us!Thanks!

Is this the best holiday cottage in the Lake District?

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That’s not my words, but those of our guests who just left after a 3 week stay and who want to buy our Grasmere holiday cottage if we ever decide to sell it!

The guests arriving today first stayed in April, and loved Brockstone Lake District holiday cottage so much that they rebooked for another stay as soon as they got home.

The next available week is the week beginning 25 August, which we are offering at a special rate. For more information, pictures , rates and availability please take a look at our Lake District Holiday cottage with amazing views!

Here’s the view taken in January, looking towards the Langdale Pikes. In the other direction you have a view of Rydal Water. Bliss!

Otter spotted outside White Moss House!

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Yesterday we were walking down the path from Brocsktone Cottage to our gate, past the White Moss waterfall, when a creature ran out of our Coach House gate, across our path about 50 yards away, and dashed towards the beck ( Dunnabeck).

I wasn’t sure what it was. I wondered if it might be an otter, but I had only ever seen them in water before, and this creature had a longish, fairly furry tail. I didn’t know if otters had tails at all. So, anyway, I looked for otter pictures and found that indeed they do have tails, and the pictures of them on land are exactly what I saw! So that was the first otter I’d seen apart from in a wildlife reserve. I’m thrilled!

On a more mundane note, we’ve had cancellations for this weekend, and are offering really good rates. Check our Special offers page or ring us on 015394 35295 for our rates and availability. It’s not raining here ( at present!) and the forecast is reasonable for the next two days.

Our guests loved the Pure Lakes shampoo

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At White Moss House, only the best will do, which is why we use shampoo, soap and shower gel from Pure Lakes. Made in Staveley by Sandra and Iain Blackburn from Grasmere, Pure Lakes products couldn’t be more local. We recycle the containers , filling lovely little reusable bottles in the guests’ bathrooms, so that no plastic is thrown away. It’s green, organic, local and fantastic. A guest from Texas who was here last week has emailed me to ask for help on where to buy the shampoo she used here, as it was “the best shampoo I’ve have ever used”

A few years ago I had a battle ( sorry- that should probably be “useful discussion”) with the AA Inspector who said that we should have those annoying little individual soaps and shampoos in tiny bottles. I said NO! We will have Pure Lakes and we will fill up the bottles. They threatened to mark us down for such heresy. This year, it seems as if we were ahead of our time. Green is good now, and the AA is happy.

For those of you who want to buy your own Pure Lakes products, here is the link to the Pure Lakes website. (I’m not on commision by the way!) My own absolutely favourite Pure Lakes product is the Rosehip and Neroli night oil. For “mature” skins such as mine, this feels fabulous, seems to make my skin look better, and it smell great too.

We do still have a few rooms available this week, and one room left for the weekend on a special 2 night weekend offer. Please ring 015394 35295 or email sue@whitemoss.com for details, or look on our  White Moss House website

Our holiday cottage with amazing views has a week available in August.

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Brockstone Cottage is available for the week beginning 25 August, and we’ve reduced the rates for this week. We can also offer 3 night breaks if you can’t stay for the week. For more details of this offer you can visit our Grasmere self catering cottage web page.

Wetherlamd the the Coniston Fells from the terrace of our Grasmere holiday cottage

Here’s a picture of the terrace at Brockstone to tempt you.This was taken in January. You are looking over the Silver Howe ridge towards the Coniston Fellsl Looking the other way you see Rydal Water. It’s amazing!

We also have a 3 night special break on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, 22, 23 and 24 September, at the great rate of £290 for all three days, self catering at Brocktone.

Here at White Moss House, we are offering great rates midweek from today until Thursday. Please check our Grasmere Bed and Breakfast special offers and ring or email to book.

Three night special rates during the next two weeks.

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We’re now fully booked this week ( apart from a 1 night gap on Thursday). However, if you want to get the best value rates at White Moss House this summer, then the next two weeks are the time to come.

From 24 June to 8 July you can save £60 on a three night stay. This is for any three nights, for two guests sharing a room, and includes our award winning breakfasts, tea and home made cakes on arrival, and all the other little extras that our guests enjoy- free use of Langdale Leisure club, free use of fishing permits, large free car park, baby grand piano etc etc!

For more details of our special offers take a look at our website here . If you can only stay two nights, we do have a reduction for you, but it’s not quite as tempting as the threee night rate.

School holidays begin the second week in July, so if you’re flexible, this would be a great time to visit before the main holidays start. Here’s a picture to whet your appetite for the Lakes.

     
Rydal Water, looking towards White Moss House.

This photo is the property of Cumbria Tourism and may not be reused without permission.

Great last minute rates from now until Thursday

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Have you got a window in your diary this week?

The weather is supposed to be dry for the next few days, and with the light evenings it’s a great time for walking.

We’ve had a cancellation , and so we’ve got a very special offer from now until Thursday 21 June ( we’re fully booked Friday and Saturday 22 and 23 June)

2 nights in room 2 is just £190 ( usually £236) and 2 nights in room 2 is only £150 ( usually £196) . This is for two guests, for 2 nights, including our award winnind breakfasts and tea with home made cake on arrival.

White Moss House afternoon tea- no charge for this on arrival!  

Here’s a photo of our famous Lakeland tea bread, made to our own special recipe. You can get the recipe for White Moss Lakeland tea bread here

Please ring 015394 35295 or email sue@whitemoss.com to book at these special rates. These rates are not available via the online booking sites. To read more about White Moss House and our Grasmere specail offers please take a look at White Moss House website here.