What's New at Ghyll Stile Mill Cottage
For our regular visitors who know Ghyll Stile Mill Cottage well, the cottage is just the same quiet, warm and friendly place it has always been. However this belies the fact that Janet and I are constantly working away to maintain and improve the facilities and enhance the enjoyment of our visitors whilst they are staying in the cottage. For example in the last few years we've:
- Painted all the outside woodwork and railings of the cottage. A great job to have done and one that took the best part of a summer to complete!
- Relined the water tank that is up in the field. This tank is a holding tank of about 10,000 litres capacity and is fed straight from the spring. Over the years the tank has gradually started to leak and a few autumns ago I relined and then waterproofed it. Another excellent job to have ticked! You get the same beautiful crystal clear water - but now we have more of it.
- Hatched 4 ducklings. Mind you they don't stay ducklings for long! In fact, one of them is now laying and we're hopeful that two others will follow suit soon. Duck eggs are very similar to hens' eggs in shape and size but they have a slightly stronger flavour and tougher shells. Visitors are welcome to some of the eggs when they visit - that is, assuming they are still laying!
- A new shaver power point has been installed in the bathroom. This came about thanks to the helpful criticism of one of our customers.
- Two new windows have been fitted, one of which is a double glazed unit that is in the bathroom and that looks down onto the bird tables.
- A new carpet has been fitted in the bathroom too. It gave me great pleasure to chuck out the old dark green and creased one that was in there!
- A new shower has been installed over the bath. Because of our low water pressure, this is a powered unit and it certainly gives visitors a much more pleasant experience than was previously available.
- A new double bed, mattress and bedside tables have been installed in the double bedroom - so now a good night's sleep is just about guaranteed!
- A new DVD/Video player has been purchased for the living room.
- The rear of the cottage has been re-slated and the chimney re-leaded - bit of a mammoth job but it had to be done!
- A new metal balcony has been build at the back of the cottage. The old one was wood and was becoming rotten. We wanted to change the balcony to a metal one anyway since it is a fire escape route for the cottage and a wooden fire escape just didn't seem at all sensible!
For the next year ahead we have loads and loads more jobs planned!
Amongst these are:
- A new location map to help first time visitors find the place from Kirkby Lonsdale direction since this route is just a little trickier that that from the M6.
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All the usual annual testing and servicing will take place in January ready for the year ahead
- The microwave will be tested to ensure that it is not leaking any harmful waves.
- Fire extinguishers will be checked and tested.
- All electrical appliances will be safety tested.
- Water filters will be serviced.
- The central heating boiler will be given the once over.
- The chimney will be swept. Our open fire is one of the popular assets of the cottage.
- Reseal the duck ponds to stop them leaking
- Paint the new windows that were recently fitted
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