A short break in pet-friendly holiday cottages in the Peak District is not complete without a visit (or two) to a local pub, along with a walk or a stroll there and back. Frequent visitors to the Peak District, dog owners, Wendy Boast and her husband, Neil, from Visit Peaks Holiday Cottages, like to sample old and new favourites each time they visit. Here’s a selection of some of their favourite pet-friendly Peak District pubs

 

The Stable Bar

The Stable Bar (part of the Monsal Head Hotel and Restaurant) is 100% dog friendly, and its location is possibly one of the best in the Peak District for walks and views. From the Monsal Head, you overlook the Monsal Head viaduct and Monsal Trail with stunning scenery all around. The Stable Bar is a short diversion off the Monsal Trail, and there is plenty of parking if arriving by car. The Stable Bar food and beer is always good quality, there are some doggy snacks at the bar for four-legged friends, and during the better weather, there’s plenty of seating at the front. The Stable Bar has some rather wonderful cubicles, which were the old stalls for horses, and each one has the horse's name above. And there’s always a log fire lit when needed.

Where To Stay Near Bakewell

 

The Old Dog, Thorpe

A newer pet-friendly favourite, but one which is worth a visit as it is located just off the traffic-free Tissington Trail. Ideal for cycling and walking with cycle hire in Ashbourne or Parsley Hay at either end of the Trail. The Old Dog is done out in a more contemporary style with rugs, sheepskins on chairs, and candles on the tables. Industrial beams in an open-plan setting provide an ‘urban chic’ feel to this pub. Great burgers here and craft-style beers, as well as one of the best cappuccinos ever tasted. As the name suggests, the pub is very dog friendly in all areas of the pub.

Where To Stay Near Thorpe: Church Barn Ashbourne

 

The Red Lion, Litton

A proper little local pub this one, with small rooms, hearty food, excellent specials and great beers. There’s a warm welcome, and dogs are allowed in the front bar area only. In the summer, it is lovely to sit outside on the beer tables overlooking the village green. With Tideswell Dale, The Monsal Trail and St Peter’s Stone nearby, there are some lovely walks in the surrounding areas too. 

Where To Stay Near Litton: Overbrook Barn Near Buxton

 

The Church Inn, Chelmorton

A great pub that has been serving the local community and tourists alike for many years with a friendly landlord and good pub food, including some specials such as game pie. Group bookings are welcome, dogs are welcome in the bar area, and there’s some secluded outside seating at the front of the pub.

Where To Stay Near Chelmorton Redhurst Cottage at Farditch Farm

 

The Devonshire Arms, Hartington

Hartington is a lovely village to visit, with a duck pond, excellent Village Stores, cheese shop and of course the pub. The landlord is always friendly, welcoming walkers with dogs in the front bar. The food is good, hearty, standard fayre with real ales and log fires. The larger dining room is great for groups, and there are plenty of walks around the Hartington area with some lovely Peak District scenery and lanes to explore.

Where To Stay near Hartington Moor Cottage

 

This is just a small selection of Visit Peaks favourite pet-friendly pubs in the Peak District. Look out for The Stable Bar at the Monsal Head (fab views and dog friendly), The Angler’s Rest, Miller’s Dale (just off the Monsal Trail, walker and dog friendly), The White Lion, Great Longstone (great lunch offers and Sunday roasts), The Barrel Inn, Foolow (great views and always popular for the food), The Old Gate Inn, Brassington (lovely gastropub with real ales) and The Manifold Inn, Hulme End (loved for beer and food).

 

View More Peak District Blogs

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6 Hard to Ignore Reasons to Visit The Peak District in February

9 Things to Do For Free on Holiday in The Peak District

From fresh seafood and Cornish ale at Falmouth Harbour to the finest Yorkshire Dales cheese in the market town of Leyburn, food festivals are a great opportunity to get to know a region through its food and drink. Food festivals are also an excellent excuse to spend a weekend somewhere you haven’t visited before – and we have a variety of holiday cottages within a few miles of some of the UK’s best events. Here are a few of our favourite UK food festivals, from Sandringham in Norfolk to Abergavenny in Wales.

 

Powderham Food Festival, Devon

Delicious Devon cheese, meat and cider on the grounds of an ancient castle Powderham Food Festival takes place at Powderham Castle and Grounds, near Exeter. Visiting the castle’s ancient deer park by the Rive Exe estuary is lovely at any time of the year but particularly appealing when it is full of stalls selling the finest fresh produce from across the county. The festival is open from 9 am to 5 pm on October 6 and 7.

Where to stay: Rydon Stables - Budleigh Salterton A character coastal cottage in Otterton, East Devon.

 

Christchurch Cheese and Chilli Festival, Dorset

A chance to try rare cheeses and chillies on the Dorset coast. An incredible variety of chillies and cheeses from all over the world can be sampled at this unique event in Christchurch, on the Dorset coast. Christchurch Cheese and Chilli Festival takes place on June 9 and 10 with kids’ rides, live music, falconry displays and an inflatable pub and beer garden.

Where to stay: Charlottes Rest in Christchurch, A spacious coastal Cottage in Christchurch.

 

Abergavenny Food Festival, Monmouthshire

Celebrity chefs and Wales’ best produce in the Brecon Beacons Abergavenny Food Festival is a great place to learn about food, with workshops, talks and plenty of opportunities to taste fantastic produce from the Monmouthshire countryside. Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Monica Galetti have all been recent guests at the event, which takes place on September 15 and 16.

Where to stay: Ramblers Rest Cottage in Crickhowell near Abergavenny

 

Sandringham Food & Drink Festival, Norfolk

Celebrating food heritage within the stunning grounds of the Sandringham Estate

There’s loads to enjoy at this much-loved event, including food halls, a real ale marquee, talks from celebrity chefs and the Fruit de Mer Restaurant. The festival is held in the magnificent grounds of the Sandringham Estate on August 4 and 5.

Where to stay: The Railway Carriage in Wisbech. It’s a little way away from the Sandringham Estate but a leisurely drive through the Norfolk countryside, and you get to stay in a converted railway carriage.

 

The Dales Festival of Food and Drink, North Yorkshire

Cheese-making, pop-up restaurants and live jazz in the Dales

Don’t miss this family-friendly festival if you fancy tasting exceptional local produce during your holiday in the Yorkshire Dales. The Dales Festival of Food and Drink takes place in the market town of Leyburn, with stalls from many of the region’s best producers.

Where to stay: Millstone Cottage in Bedale, North Yorkshire, A character cottage on the eastern edge of the Yorkshire Dales.

 

Falmouth Street Food & Crafts Festival, Cornwall

Food from around the world with views across the harbour

Falmouth Street Food and Crafts Festival takes place at the harbourside and around Falmouth from May 25 to May 28. Expect Cornwall’s best street food producers, craft ales, a vibrant arts, crafts and local produce market and live entertainment. The festival is also a great chance to explore the lovely town of Falmouth, with independent shops and cafes overlooking sandy beaches.

Where to stay: The Gig in Falmouth A luxury holiday cottage in Falmouth.

Glenuaig Lodge, a remote Highland holiday cottage on the Glencarron Estate, has been selected by The Daily Telegraph as one of the Top 10 Remotest Holiday Cottages in the UK.

This converted hunting lodge on the Glencarron Estate in Wester Ross can only be reached by 4WD vehicles - unless you fancy lugging a suitcase for 2-3 miles over rough terrain. If you want to get away from it all at any time of year to find yourself where eagles and magnificent stags outnumber humans, then take a look at Glencarron's page on My Favourite Holiday Cottages. There's no need to be totally alone - it sleeps eight and has all the backup generating power you would ever need, so you'll be snug and cosy inside its metre-thick walls even in the depths of winter.

Click here to read the complete list of The Telegraph's 10 Remote Cottages.

Yorkshire Dales Tea Rooms

The Yorkshire Dales are home to some of England’s most inspiring countryside, with heather moors, flat-topped hills and green valleys scattered with drystone dykes, farms and villages. The Dales are a paradise for walking; after that, there’s no better way to end a day of exploring than with afternoon tea at a traditional tearoom. We have a variety of holiday cottages in the Yorkshire Dales to choose from, and none of them is far from cosy tearooms where you can enjoy a pot of freshly brewed tea and a slice of homemade cake. In the meantime, here are a few of our favourite Yorkshire Dales tearooms.

 

Mill Race Traditional Teashop, Aysgarth

Award-winning tearooms by the Yorkshire Dales’ most famous waterfalls

With delicious food and river views, Mill Race is a must after a walk around spectacular Aysgarth Falls in Wensleydale. These traditional tearooms are at an 18th-century mill overlooking the Upper Falls. Expect cakes, scones, biscuits and more than 20 teas, from Earl Grey to Chilli Chai.

Where to Stay:

Grange Cottage in Buckden

This Yorkshire Dales holiday cottage in Wharfedale Sleeps 4

 

Corner House Cafe, Grassington

Family-run tearooms in a charming Dales market town

This much-loved Wharfedale cafe in the heart of Grassington serves excellent coffee from neighbouring Skipton and a variety of loose-leaf teas. The menu includes decadent cakes and delicious lunches with the best local ingredients.

Where to Stay:

Craven House in Skipton

 

Muker Village Store and Teashop, Muker

Homemade cakes and sandwiches in a lovely Yorkshire Dales village

Explore one of the many scenic footpaths around Muker in Swaledale before indulging in a classic afternoon tea and cake. Do not forget to pop into the adjoining shop and pick up some local produce to take back to your Yorkshire Dales holiday cottage.

Where to Stay:

Pinehurst in Thorn Rust

 

Corn Mill Tearoom, Bainbridge

Welcoming Dales establishment surrounded by atmospheric fells and tarns

The Corn Mill Tearooms can be found in the heart of the typical North Yorkshire village of Bainbridge in Wensleydale, surrounded by some of the Yorkshire Dales National Park’s most enchanting countryside. Enjoy a peaceful riverside stroll before an equally enjoyable light lunch or slice of freshly baked cake with tea.

 

Elaine’s Tearooms, Feizor

Perfect stop for tea after hiking in the southern Dales

You will find Elaine’s in the tiny Ribbledale village of Feizor near Settle, surrounded by unspoiled countryside, which you can explore on one of the area’s many footpaths. This licenced farmhouse tearoom is known for its excellent tea, coffee, cakes and lunches.

Where to Stay:

Harber Scar in Horton-in-Ribblesdale near Settle Sleeps 5

Harber Scar near Settle

 

Town End Farm Shop and Tearoom, Airton

Fresh Yorkshire Produce in the Heart of Malhamdale

Nestled on the banks of the River Aire in Malhamdale, this is the ideal place to stop for tea after visiting neigbouring landmarks such as Janet’s Foss, Gordale Scar or Malham Cove. The tearooms serve delicious meals and desserts prepared with the finest local produce, while the shop sells exceptional Yorkshire gin, cheese and meat.

Where to Stay:

Fern House in Kettlewell

 

The Old Vicarage Tearooms, Tosside

Delicious food with stunning views of the Lancashire and Yorkshire countryside

The Old Vicarage in the Ribbledale village of Tosside. It’s actually in Lancashire, but given its reputation for serving outstanding dishes prepared with fresh, locally sourced ingredients, who are we to quibble? Have a stroll in the stunning surrounding countryside, or take on the sterner challenge of a hike up Pen-y-Ghent before rewarding yourself with a pot of tea and a slice of delicious homemade cake.

Where to Stay:

Malham is a rural holiday cottage near Settle. Sleeps 6

Malham near Settle

The Holiday Homefront

Welcome to the April 2018 edition of The Holiday Homefront. It’s a bit of a bumper issue is this. We have found so many ‘must-read articles’ over the past 4 weeks that you’ll need to relax with a cup or glass of something while you take it all in.

Main Image: Holly Tree House in Herefordshire

Pick and Choose to Read the News You Need

The Holiday Homefront is a free publication, but it will mainly appeal to anyone owning or managing holiday cottages (or planning to). It is published as and when we have a full house of interesting articles to tell you about - which is usually, but not always, once a month.

Our format is to include a title and a short snippet that conveys the purpose of the article and the benefits in store should you choose to read it in full. To read the whole story, just click on the link.

You’ll also find a copy in the News section on our website: Click here to find back issues and other holiday cottage blog articles. Please feel free to share the link with friends or on your blog or social media (especially when your cottage has a mention!)

Follow us on:

• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/myfavouriteholidaycottage
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MFHCottages
• LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostRecent=&gid=3476878&trk=my_groups-tile-flipgrp

This month’s news

Website News

Can We Help When it Comes to Selling Your Cottage?

Every year, for one reason or another, people decide it is time to sell their holiday cottage. It is always worth selling it as a going concern because this allows you to include some ‘goodwill’ to the price based on its profitability.

We are just wondering if you would find it helpful if we added a page to the My Favourites website of holiday cottages for sale. Advertising would be free to all those with a live listing on the site. Please let us know what you think by e-mailing your answer to Rick. Any thoughts on what you feel should be included within an advert much appreciated. Read more

New Search Pages: More Opportunities to Be Found

We have added the following search category pages recently:

• Eco Cottages
• Coastal Cottages (properties within 5 miles of the coast)
• Countryside Cottages
• Waterside Cottages (any property alongside or overlooking a river, estuary, harbour, canal, or lake)
• Small Cottages: Properties Sleeping 1-4 guests
• Accessible Cottages: Everything from registered cottages to those with level access and ground floor bedrooms (please include details in your property description)
• Cottages with a Hot Tub

If any of these relate to your cottage, then:

• Log in to tick the relevant search category box so that it will be displayed on that page.
• Amend your listing to ensure the feature or facility is included in your short and long description.
• Doing this will help to attract lots more potential bookers to the site because the more properties listed on a search category page, the higher we will be able to get the page to rank on Google.

Thanks to all those ticking the rural and remote boxes: these pages now sit ‘above the fold’ on Page One of Google.

Photographs on My Favourite Holiday Cottages.

Some of you may have been concerned to see a note appearing in your admin area indicating that some of your photos are too small in size. Don’t Panic! Your images will still appear.

However, if you can size your images to 1920 x 1080 pixels, you’ll notice the difference. See here: https://www.myfavouriteholidaycottages.co.uk/devon/bucks-mills/melindas-holiday-cottage

As you’ll have noticed, the correct size images really do have a much greater impact and generally result in more enquiries or click-throughs to your website – always assuming you have good-quality photos!

If you have images that are 700kb in size or greater, then you should be able to re-size these to 1920 x 1080 fairly easily. Below this and quality may suffer. If you’d like to know how to do this, email Rick for a copy of our cheat sheet on Re-sizing Images) You won’t need to be a techno-wizard). Read more

General

The Top 5 Self-Catering Trends

From booking patterns to optimised pricing – 5 trends noted by SuperControl based on analysis of the hundreds and hundreds of holiday cottage businesses using its booking software. Understanding these is a possible route to increasing revenue from bookings.

Advertising

Google Vacation Rentals: How to Prepare Your Website

Google has been beta testing a new service which allows vacation rentals to show in accommodation searches based on best-value results – which sites that charge commissions and additional booking fees are not going to like. Sites like My Favourite Holiday Cottages, Independent Cottages and Unique Holiday Cottages that don't apply such charges look likely to benefit from higher rankings. Apparently. To be ready – here are some simple things you should do to prepare your website for this new Google service.

Marketing

How to Handle Fake Reviews

From fake news to fake reviews – such things are sadly a fact of life. Should you ever become a victim of this practice, put down that hammer and read this article from Moz -for help in finding a remedy. Moz, for the uninitiated, is a great piece of software for those who like to monitor their site traffic, page rankings, and website issues that need fixing or link-building.

5 Tips to Increase Income from Your Holiday Cottage

Talk about the blindingly obvious! Common sense they may be but, hand on heart, how many of these do you actively pursue in the race to get more bookings for your holiday cottage? A useful little aide memoir or excuse for a pat on one’s back?

Are You Ready to Comply with GDPR Next month?

If you haven’t heard about GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) - you really should, or after the 25th May your holiday cottage business will be breaking the law.

SuperControl, that excellent online holiday cottage booking software company, explains GDPR and how to prepare for it – and they should know!!!

Website Management

8 Common Website Mistakes Revealed Via Content Audits

At My Favourite Holiday Cottages, we do our best to get our site visitors to become your site visitors using prominent web links in your advert. You could say that clickthroughs to your website are even more important and effective than an enquiry. From then on, it is down to you and your website. It may look pretty, but could it be better? take a look at these 8 very sensible website mistakes to find more ways to improve its performance. We did and thought it would be worth sharing.

How to Get High-Quality Backlinks: 21 Strategies that Still Work

For property owners who understand the role eternal links play in boosting the ranking of your website – and helping you to reach more potential guests, this is a pretty good checklist to follow. You don’t have to do them all; just those you have the time and ability to do. Leastways, you can see some of the tactics we employ to get pages at My Favourites to the top of the rankings! Read more

Spring Cleaning: How-To Revamp and Rewrite Your Vacation Rental Listing

It is not just property that benefits from a spring clean – your adverts will as well. Read this checklist of ways to improve the appeal of your property from the way you describe it in your adverts.

Guest Appeal

10 Things Guests Should Clarify Before Booking Your Holiday Cottage

This is an article written with your future guests in mind. However, if these are the questions they are being advised to ask you before booking, we thought you would appreciate a little advance notice so that you can have your answers ready and waiting.

Property Management

Expert Tips to Keep Your Holiday Home in Pristine Condition

For those of you who love (or need) to spring clean, you’ll love (or hate) this list. Once Easter is out of the way, take advantage of those little gaps that tend to occur between the end of the Easter holidays and the May Bank Holiday to thoroughly spring clean your holiday cottage. And if you thought you do that every week anyway – check out this list from Evolve. It demonstrates the difference between a clean property and a pristine-clean property! Fewer guest complaints all around!

Interior design

The Laws of Interior Design for Holiday Rentals.

Did you know that one of the main reasons why people rebook a cottage is because they love its interior design? An interesting illustrated article that makes you realise why, unless you’re definitely going for the retro look, dated design can prove a big turn-off.

Bad News

Nothing bad to tell you this month, but if you come across any scams or other things that cottage owners need to be warned about, then email details to us. Read more

Better News

Share any good news stories – or even bright ideas with the holiday cottage community to send us away with smiles on our faces. Share your news with us here.

My Favourite Page One Rankings

The rise up Google's page ranks continues! Most of our site visitors now find us on Google. Since the launch of the new site design, traffic numbers followed a trend that we expected – a dip in numbers as Google’s eager search bots discovered that old page addresses had disappeared to be replaced with a lot of new ones. It takes a little while for them to adjust to the change.

Since the beginning of the New Year, numbers have climbed and continue climbing. This time last year, we were feeling pretty pleased with having achieved more than 150 Page One ranking on Google. As of this week, we are now past 250 page-one rankings and heading towards 300. This is particularly good news if your holiday cottage is:

• Large (sleeps 8+)
• Welcomes pets
• A countryside cottage
• Rural
• Remote
• Isolated
• A coastal cottage
• Accessible for those with disabilities
• A cottage for couples
• Equipped with a pool or hot tub
• Family-friendly...then more people will be finding your cottage via My Favourites!

In the meantime, we are working to get a lot more key phrases on Page One to attract even more people planning to book a holiday cottage.

A New Newsletter for Holiday Cottage Bookers

In March, as another way of attracting more cottage booking visitors to the site, we launched our second Newsletter,

This one is packed with articles that will appeal to anyone planning a self-catering holiday in the UK. Articles include holiday ideas, special offers (featuring properties listed on our last-minute availability pages (also on Page One) and advice on seeking and booking cottages for particular types of self-catering holidays. Where possible, we will be including links to cottages on the site.

The Blog is Back!

We had to suspend this service while working on the new site design - but we're now publishing weekly blogs promoting holiday ideas, such as **10 Top Cornish Pubs: Where to Stay To Enjoy Them **.

Opportunities to Feature Your Cottage

If you have an idea for a topic relevant to your cottage, e.g. Norfolk’s Secret Beaches, then email your holiday idea suggestions to Rick at info@mfhc.co.uk. If we use it, it will contain a photo of your cottage and a link to your advert.

Thanks. That’s it for April, and thanks for reading!

Please let us know if you find this Newsletter helpful. We want to ensure it is a looked-forward-to item in your mailbox. Tell us what you like – and feel free to suggest any ways we can improve it.