Brainwave

I’ve been thinking about what to do with all the hundreds of photos we have of Waitby, Kirkby Stephen and Cumbria – a lot of people have suggested that they would like to see more photos on the website, and many have said they would like to share some of theirs with us as well. I didn’t really see how this would work without making the website hugely unwieldy and difficult to use, so we’ve come up with another solution. Go to flickr.com/photos/waitbyschool and you’ll find quite a few different pictures, which we'll update regularly. Again, if you want to share some of your photos, we would love to see them. I've got some from Bethany, who stayed at the school recently and wants to share a few of them - these will be posted in the next few days...

Cheeky sheep

A short video of some sheep 'teasing' a child.

Snow!

Admit it, freshly fallen snow is amazing! We were standing outside the kitchen on Monday morning as the sun suddenly broke through the clouds, illuminating the distant fells and making the whole landscape sparkle. By the time I found my camera, the sun had gone again, as is usually the case with my photography. But we had a great time mucking around in the garden – this was the first time our eight-year-old daughter Gracie had seen proper snow.

Your suggestions for days out

Thanks for telling us what you like to do when you stay at Waitby. Here are just a few ideas that have been left on our feedback forms. And hats off to the people who did the 10 mile walk (including Cautley Spout) – I bet you needed a glass of wine in the Jaccuzzi to soothe your aching feet afterwards!
• We tackled a great walk mid-week from Sedburgh to Cautley Spout, up the side of the falls to the summit of the calf (700 metres) and then over the tops to Sedburgh, about 10 miles and not for the faint hearted, but incredible scenery and a very close encounter with an RAF Tornado doing some low level practise!
• We have had some lovely walks by the viaduct and at Ingleton Falls. We did a walk around Castle Bolton, which is very interesting. White Scar caves were fascinating. It is not far to the Lake District, which we went to a couple of times and we had a good meal at the Fat Lamb Inn.
• We have really enjoyed my stay here at Waitby School. It is very peaceful and has a beautiful background. We enjoyed going to Hill Top to Beatrix Potter’s House. Also Ingleton Falls. We hope we can come back here in the future – Isabel and Eloise, age 11 and 8
• Recommend White Scar Cave, the Dales Countryside Museum and Home Open Farm as Good days out.
• A visit to the chocolate factory – Kennedy’s – is a must for chocolate lovers! We had a couple of lovely meals at the Black Bull in Nateby – lovely food and very friendly service. Would highly recommend a visit to Aira Force at Ullswater – a spectacular sight. If you need to escape the stress of a busy world then Waitby School is the place to be.
• We visited the Wensleydale Cheese Farm – superb lunches in the restaurant.
• We have all had a very enjoyable stay. The accommodation is excellent. In addition to the local walks around Kirkby Stephen and the old Smardale Railway, we have walked from Gunnerside, Keld (both in Swaledale) and Aisgill. Other trips have included Derwent Water and Sizergh Castle. Many thanks for the lovely chocolates (we calledin to Kennedy’s to buy some more!)
• Took the train to Horton in Ribblesdale, short ramble in hills (very friendly staff on the trains, nostalgic stations)
• Home Farm by Sedburgh gave us a great welcome, we all enjoyed feeding the lambs

Environmental grading for Waitby School

We’ve had the results of our environmental audit and are delighted to say that we have been given a bronze rating by the Green Tourism Business Scheme. As part of this we now have a green feedback form in our Visitor Information Pack, as well as some suggestions for responsible tourism. We hope our guests – and potential guests – find this useful, and would welcome any feedback on the scheme. And if you have any suggestions that you would like to see, let us know. We're keen to see if it is worth including a nature diary in the old school desk. Would kids be interested?

Redecoration and new bits and pieces

Thank you to everyone who has stayed at Waitby since it opened – your comments have been truly gratifying and it is a genuine pleasure to us that so many people obviously feel as passionate about the house and its surroundings as we do. We’re also grateful for suggestions and many of you will be happy to hear that some of these have now been carried out. We recently closed Waitby School for two weeks and redecorated it throughout. We’ve had some more shelves built under the stairs to house our ever-expanding library of books and DVDs, we’ve provided more food storage in the kitchen, a mirror in the downstairs loo and – wait for it – hand-built oak vanity units and mirrors in bedrooms 1 and 2. It all looks pretty good...

Getting organised - blog transfer

A brief note - the next few entries might not be in the right order. I'm really pleased that our trial blog was so popular, and thank you to those who read it and gave me suggestions over the last month or so (you know who you are, and yes, we owe you a drink). So we're biting the bullet and going fully public with the blog, which will also now be on the Waitby website. I'm going to cut and paste my previous entries to keep some continuity, but they might be a touch jumbled. Bear with me - it will all settle down and make sense!

Welcome to the Waitby School updates

We’ve been meaning to do this for ages and my pre-New Year’s resolution was to start the blog and newsletter, so here we are... Obviously it is going to be an informal affair, but there are usually so many bits and pieces going on, that I will struggle not to write too much rather than the other way round. Also, all those people who have stayed here – if you want to email me any nuggets of information, nature sightings (keep an eye out for those red squirrels, especially at the bottom of the road), photos, or just general comments, please feel free to do so and we’ll put them up on the blog. It would be amazing to get all-year-round comments from people staying at the school! Contact me (Emily) at info@waitbyschool.com

Likewise, we’ll be using this section to update you on events that are happening around Kirkby Stephen, and keep you up to date with those all important restaurant and pub recommendations. We’ll keep you updated on favourite and new walks, too, and might even throw in the odd recipe (using local produce, of course).

Anyway, we were digging around some old photos and came across this one of Waitby School a long time before George and the family had the wherewithal to do it up. I remember him taking me to the school about 18 years ago and peering through the windows because the keys had been lost. Dark and dusty inside and a lot of sheep poo outside. He certainly had the vision for renovating it though, even then. I hope you agree that it looks a bit more loved today. It has to be said that the boys’ toilets don’t look all that different!