We still have some availability for this month and in March and would love you to join us! Our special price for a short break is just £315.
There are lots of lovely walks you can take starting from Rowan House, the historical village of Alton to explore, inviting pubs with open fires and good beer and the interesting local market towns of Leek and Ashbourne, for those of you who love antiques and generally like nosing around.
As I look out over the beautiful, snow covered Staffordshire countryside, I can hardly believe that January this year was the warmest on record and that only 3 days ago, we sat outside to eat our lunch! We have had several days of dazzling sunshine, stillness and deep blue skies, with only the sound of birds singing to disturb the quiet and it has felt like heaven on earth.
So… to the exciting events of Monday this week! The final visit from the BBC culminated in the filming of the help that was promised: Dick Strawbridge, James and Jim came to help build the new wildlife pond at Meadow View! By the time the sun was going down, the finishing touches were being made to my completed wildlife pond. All I have left to do now is to finish the planting and wait for the wildlife to take up residence. The new series of It's Not East Being Green is due to start in March and you will be able to see the pond being built!
I am aware that many of you won't have stayed with us yet, so won't know the story of Rowan House and my move next door to Meadow View. So, at the risk of (briefly!) boring those of you who have stayed with us, I will tell the story again and move on swiftly to tell you about the exciting events of this week!
The story began in 1990 when we moved to Rowan House: the sunny, south facing 4 star holiday accommodation that you can view on our website, Simply Staffordshire. We lived there very happily for 16 years, but when the last of my 3 daughters, Martha, decided to travel round the world in 2006, I decided to move next door to Meadow View (or, more precisely into a caravan for 8 months while Meadow View was rewired and plumbed!)
During our years in Rowan House my interest in the environment had led me to gradually transform and organically manage the garden at Rowan House and develop a vegetable and fruit area. The chance to move next door to Meadow View was too good an opportunity to miss, because I was able to keep the wonderful south facing views, but also take my vegetable garden with me! I was surprised to find that my interest in the principles of organic gardening and the environment developed further and I took the decision to become as green as I could whilst restoring my new home.
Then a strange (and organic ....) series of events occurred! As a result of emailing the BBC 2 program It's Not Easy Being Green for advice on my solar panels and heating system. I was contacted by them later in the summer and asked if I needed any help with my project. I replied that I always need help and was then asked if I would agree to my project being filmed for the 2nd series of the program It's Not Easy Being Green to start in March this year. The rest is history, as they say! Since last summer, the BBC have been filming the progress of fitting solar panels, designing the garden ( a blank canvas , because it was previously covered in sheds ) and most particularly, the process and decisions that I have made to use ecopaints for Meadow View.
I have to admit that last year, in all the hubbub of setting up Simply Staffordshire and opening Rowan House, I became very concerned about safety and, with much sadness, filled in the wildlife pond at Rowan House. Undoubtedly, there is a tension between having a wildlife pond, with all the benefits that this brings to the environment and the very real issue that ponds can be dangerous. In the intervening months though, I have researched how I could overcome this problem and have used a specialist firm to fit a pond guard over my new pond. It is now safe enough for a man to stand on! It has also given me the confidence to decide to rebuild the wildlife pond at Rowan House.
