New High Sheriff of Cumbria

I am absolutely delighted to have taken a small part in the inauguration of my Mother, Mrs Susan Thornely, as the new High Sheriff for Cumbria for 2009/10.

Late Hotel Bookings!

Found a great new site where you can search and find a hotel so quickly with a fantastic booking engine. Had to tell the world!

Late Hotel Bookings in the UK seems to be a real up and comming hotel booking site.

Late Hotels Accommodation Site

Very surprised to find an excellent hotels and accommodation website the other day...

So often these websites are over complicated and awkward to book. This one seems to do exactly what it says on the box...

Managed to find and book a hotel for a late booking in about 3 minutes. Now that can't be bad...

I recommend taking a look at this Late Hotel Rooms booking site and give it a go...

Cottage For Rent Lake District.

It really amazes me how quickly world wide events cause dramatic changes in the way people go about choosing their holidays.

In the UK, although there are no figures for this yet, there has been such a huge increase in domestic tourism that it is very hard for anyone to keep pace with the increase in demand.

As a provider of this Cottage for rent in the Lake District, the Vale of Lune Holiday Cottages have seen a dramatic rise in bookings over the last 6 months. There are many other success stories throughout the UK that emulate this achievement.

Is this a concern?

Well maybe... As the demand for domestic holidays increases we are undeniably reaching the 'No Vacancies' situation. The supply of holiday destinations within the UK is not limitless. And I would suggest that ,in fact, the demand is way outstripping the supply at this moment.

It is possible that unscrupulous holiday home owners, driven by advice from their agencies will begin to try and cash in on this phenomenum. I urgently suggest that they should not. It would be the beginning of a backlash that would ruin many reasonable owner's businesses.

Should the National Parks allow more conversions of existing buildings to holiday homes? I think not. The beauty of these National Parks is partly preserved by the current moratorium on building and conversions. This doesn't mean to say that sympathetic creation of affordable housing should be halted. Rather it should be encouraged because this leads to another issue.

The supply of labour to accommodate this rise in demand is not forthcoming. Without suitably talented workers who will work in any role whether as a contract cleaner to an agency manager, the whole industry will come to its knees as homes become poorly managed and visitors go elsewhere.

So in order to maintain the excellent increase in popularity of holidays in great surroundings such as those provided by the Vale of Lune cottages in their Cottages for rent in The Lake District we should all work together to make sure that this is a sustainable increase.

To this end it is important that anyone with an interest in helping absorb this increase makes sure that they are fully aware of the implications if failing to provide both suitable accommodation and finding suitably qualified labour.

Weather in Windermere

What can I say...

The weather has been terrible. For the first time in 3 years we have had guests who have left the cottage half way through their week!

Honestly, they have loved the cottage, but the weather has sent them hurrying home. Not a good advertisement you might say? Well you would be right.

Any way, autumn is coming and the rain has stopped. Typical huh?

You can check out the weather for Windermere at our new weather station, Windermere Weather.

Hope you enjoy the info, don't blame me if it tells the truth!

Lake Windermere - Powerboats and the Law.

So there is a speed limit on Windermere is there? You wouldn't believe it at the moment.

Last weekend Windermere was quite busy. Not busy like it was before the imposition of the speed limit, but busy all the same. the most striking observation though was with regard to the number of powered boats flagrantly flouting the speed limit.

There were many boats traveling around together, speeding well in excess of the 10 Knot limit. There was also, in the northern basin of the lake, at the same time a Lake District National Park Warden. His only motive for being there seemed to be a yacht which had lost its engine. Aren't they meant to use their sails anyway?

As a long time opponent of the speed limit it saddens me that it has come to this. As a law abiding citizen I have not and do not intend to break this law. However it is a sad state of affairs when a large number of minority groups come together to force a legal change and then patently fail to make sure that their hard work is rewarded by the result they fought so hard to engineer in the first place.

The future of Windermere as a popular tourism spot is not dependent on whether there is a speed limit or not on Windermere; no, it is much more dependent on the quality of facilities such as Information centers, the provision of lavatories, the wet weather attractions for children and adults and the general condition of the popular areas.

Take for example the imaginative plans for Waterhead and Lakeside. These are multi-million pound investment opportunities that should not be squandered. As a group of local people we should show just as much interest in these as the time we spent arguing about the imposition of a speed limit on the Lake. The problem is that the so called 'Friends of the Lake District' and the numerous minority groups that go under the same umbrella do not show the same doggedness.

Why is there no real outcry over the new plans?

Simple really, NIMBY. So many of the groups that fought for the speed limit imposition on Windermere had an axe to grind. the early morning water skiers, personal watercraft in among their yachts, huge wash from over sized motor yachts all added fuel to the personal fires that were simmering in this minority of protagonists. If only a managed solution could have been considered. One that may well have been able to deal with the current problems around Windermere such as motorbikes, bad design and terrible planning around the three tourism areas of Bowness, Lakeside and Waterhead.

Motorbikes are only a point made because, yet again, a small minority choose to fit 'silencers' that do nothing of the sort! The vast majority are perfectly welcome and should be encouraged as a suitable source of income to the area.

The future of power boating on Windermere?

Goodness knows. The author will still remain a law abiding citizen. Will his children as they grow to have more autonomy? I suggest not, because if their is an institutional failure to address the breaking of the speed limit laws on Windermere, then those institutions fail to provide leadership to the visitors to the lake and all semblance of a sensible boating operation will be lost.

Can a negotiated and successful legal and financial alternative be found? If this went back to a Public inquiry, I think not. There are still so many polarized positions taken by the various different users of the lake that it would become drowned in anger and ire. Should an imposition be made through the bye-laws opening up the lake to more use by boats traveling faster than 10 knots? I don't know.

We live in a democratic world, but who is the democracy in this area? Is it the locals who reside here and yearn for all the tourists to disappear? (Well those who don't profit from them at least)? Or should the democracy really be the people of The United Kingdom? After all it is a National Park, set up not just for the benefit of the few 1000 that live within sight or earshot of Windermere, but for all the country to enjoy.

It isn't for the author to decide, luckily. Nor is it an easy decision, but in the era of environmental protection and the all the PC behavior that exudes from all things environmental, isn't it now time to start encouraging those who fly for thousands of miles to stay at home, use our beautiful resources in a fair and shared manner rather than excluding them and re-address the postion of Windermere among the jewels of the United Kingdom crown?

Flooding Alert for Lake District Holiday Cottages

With the Met Office forecasting heavy rain over the coming days, especially over western parts of England and Wales, concerns remain over further flooding. During Friday and Saturday Atlantic weather fronts could bring as much 100mm of rain to exposed upland areas of Wales, south west England and the Lake District. Met Office Operations Director Keith Groves said: “The weather over the next three days is certainly causing concern and we have a close working relationship with the Environment Agency in these situations. Our main focus is Friday and Saturday but heavy rain could continue into Sunday and it is this cumulative effect that is causing the current problems.” Many rivers are already very full and Doug Whitfield, National Flood Warning Duty Officer at the Environment Agency said: “Although we are paying close attention to the rivers Wye, Dee and Severn we are continuing to closely monitor all rivers across England and Wales during this period of very wet weather.” The heavy rain expected over western hills and mountains is only part of the story. As the water makes it way down stream, local flooding is likely over the following days as rivers become more swollen. The Environment Agency Floodline 0845 988 1188 provides latest information on flood warnings.

Lake District Holiday Cottages bookings ROCKET!!

News
Massive Rise in UK Holiday Accommodation Bookings
17/01/2008

Headlines warning of credit crunches and personal debt crises haven’t dampened British spirits, with holiday bookings in the UK already up 100% on January 2007.

Traditionally, January and February are the peak months for booking foreign holidays, but this year Brits are staying closer to home, with a phenomenal increase in bookings for holidays within the UK, according to accommodation booking site www.iknow-uk.com.

“In the week including the New Year bank holiday, our sites received 126,000 visitors; double the same period last year,” said Managing Director of iknow-uk Marcus Simmons. “The first full working week – touted as the most popular week for holiday bookings - we were up over 150,000. I think we’ll be calling January ‘the great escape’ from now on, as everyone plans their time away from work.”

The area attracting the most interest was the Lake District, with Wales and Scotland not far behind.

Bookings outside the UK have been booming too, especially for long-haul destinations.

“January is traditionally a peak booking time for summer holidays, but Monday [7th January] saw unprecedented levels of enquiries and bookings,” says Gareth Hockey, marketing manager for holiday accommodation provider alpharooms.com, which recorded an 84% increase in bookings compared with this time last year.

Hockey pointed to huge increases in bookings to tropical destinations in particular, such as Malaysia, Mexico and the Caribbean, showing that Brits are keener than ever to guarantee themselves some good weather following last year’s rainy summer.