North View Cottages

07/09/2024

Sharing platter for three for our guests in Crofters’ Cottage tonight

Selection of cheeses with oatcakes
Home-reared, maple-glazed ham
Charcuterie selection
Mustard pork & crispy bacon toasts
Mushroom vol-au-vents
Curry pickled quail eggs
Grouse pate
Nibbles, dips, salad & fruit

Yum! 😋

03/09/2024

The Afternoon Tea served in Coghlans tearoom in our village is legendary! And every Tuesday during August & September they do a two-for-one offer… as if I needed an excuse!! 🤣😋

Oh, and even better - we include a voucher for Coghlans in every welcome basket at our cottages!

13/08/2024

A bit of emergency surgery required this morning.

Yesterday, one of our Indian Runner ducks hatched out 4 chicks under the trailer in our field. We left the little family snuggled up for the night and went out to check on them this morning.

Three of the chicks were up and about, but the 4th one was stuck in the nest. When we had a closer look we noticed it had got its leg caught in the dried grass that made the nest and as it had been moving around, the grass had wound itself around the leg creating a tourniquet.

We disconnected the duckling from the nest but could see that the leg was badly swollen & discoloured, so we took it inside for closer inspection.

We could feel there was still a tight ligature around the leg, so we dampened the feathers to keep them out of the way and, extremely carefully, used a pair of tiny nail scissors to cut the grass band.

The duckling is still moving the leg and able to stand, so we have popped it in with our chicken chicks under the heat lamp in the brooder (we did try to put it back with Mummy Duck, but it wasn’t strong enough to keep up).

We dip its beak in the water & the food to teach it where to find it & what to do.

Keep your fingers crossed little duckling makes a full recovery 🤞🤞

10/08/2024

I nearly forgot to post our list of the must-see visitor attractions and things to do in our local area! Here you go…

Raby Castle , walled gardens, deer park & plotters forest, fantastic for all the family: www.raby.co.uk

High Force & Low Force from Bowlees Visitor Centre - a beautitiful, easy walk with dramatic waterfalls.

Beamish Museum - a unique & interactive, outdoor historical village: www.beamish.org.uk

The Bowes Museum. A recent guest said it was the best art museum outside of London! www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk

Thorp Perrow Arboretum & bird of prey centre - stunning at any time of year, but breathtaking in autumn: www.thorpperrow.com

The city of Durham, including the cathedral & castle.

The Auckland Project/Bishop Auckland Castle: www.aucklandproject.org/attraction/auckland-castle/

Hamsterly forest - walks, biking trails & perfect picnic spots: www.forestryengland.uk/hamsterley-forest

Weardale railway - and 18 mile heritage line running through some stunning scenery: www.weardale-railway.org.uk/

Obviously Richmond Castle & Barnard Castle, but we like Egglestone Abby, just up the road.

Aysgarth falls & visitor centre: www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/places/aysgarth_falls_national_park_centre/

Saltburn-by-the-sea, a lovely coastal town with beautiful beaches, a pretty pier & one of the worlds oldest, water-powered funiculars, the ‘cliff lift’

Kynren - an absolutely unmissable show which runs every Saturday throughout the summer: www.11arches.com

Grassholme Observatory - make the most of our beautiful dark sky area and visit Grassholme for an evening of exploring the galaxy! www.grassholmeobservatory.com

That will do for now, but there’s certainly no shortage of amazing places to visit!

10/08/2024

What’s on my mind?

Beautiful baby turkeys! 🤗🐥💛

09/08/2024

Our guests often ask us for recommendations so, following on from my post yesterday, here’s our list of favourite nearby tearooms!

(In alphabetical order)

The Artisan Corner, Barnard Castle
The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle
Coghlans at Barningham, Barningham
The Copper Kettle, Reeth
Helwith Tea Garden, Helwith
Keld Green Cafe, Keld
The Little Drummer Boy Tea Room, Richmond
Stoneygate Farm, Ravensworth
The Vinery, Raby Castle

All absolutely delicious food, beautiful locations and lovely staff ❤️

There are many, many more, and I’m doing my best to try them all out 😅

Tomorrow I will post my list of the best attractions to visit…

08/08/2024

I popped in to Barnard Castle today and took 10 minutes out to have a pot of tea and a raspberry tart at The Artisan Corner (shhh, don’t tell Paul…! 😂)

It was beautiful inside and the menu looked delicious, and the staff were really friendly. I will definitely be visiting again!

Highly recommending this as a perfect lunch stop for all our guests 🥰

It has a lovely little gift shop and deli too: I couldn’t help buying some new books for our summer house library 📖 💚

03/08/2024

When you are trying to get the kids to come in and go to bed, but they just want to stay outside playing with their friends …! 😂

02/08/2024

3 weeks ago we noticed one of our turkey girls was missing. Last week we found her: hidden in a flowerbed, snuggled on a nest! Yesterday…💛🐥🐥🐥🐥🐥🐥🐥💛

17/07/2024

If there is just one thing you absolutely must do when you come to stay at North View, Raby Castle is it!

Absolutely stunning gardens, parkland & castle, plus a fabulous new restaurant, & Plotters Forest to keep the children amused!

We cannot recommend it enough 💚

We're thrilled to announce that Raby Castle, Park, and Gardens received an outstanding 94% quality score in the latest VisitEngland Attraction Visit Report! This is our first assessment since opening our new spaces to the public, and the results are nothing short of spectacular✨

The feedback from visitors has been extremely positive alongside this the report highlighted our consistently high standards of customer service, the delicious menu at the Vinery Café, the charming Round House, the retail and interpretation space in The Coach House, and the beautifully remodelled walled gardens🌳🍴

Due to the exceptional scores achieved in all areas, Raby Castle, Park and Gardens has been nominated for several prestigious VisitEngland accolades: 'Welcome', 'Best Told Story', and 'Gold'. These nominations are a testament to the overall quality of the visitor experience we strive to provide.

We are incredibly proud of our team and grateful to our visitors for their continued support. Come and see for yourself why Raby Castle is a must-visit destination! 🏰✨

09/07/2024

Today is a rainy day, so I am doing indoor jobs.

But yesterday was a beautiful evening in the meadow 🧡

08/07/2024

I was sitting beside our wildlife pond the other day and realised I could barely see the water! Time to do some pruning so there’s room for all the newts.

A few hours later and the pond was looking a lot healthier. We left all the prunings on the side of the pond for 24 hours, so any little critters could find their way back into the pond.

Now we can see the water & the water lilies 🩷

30/06/2024

To all of our guests coming to stay between 27 July and 14 September, Kynren is fantastic, unmissable event!

So we thought we’d share their post with a code for 10% off the ticket price!
👍😁👍

Tickets Selling Fast!

29/06/2024

Would you like to be in with a chance of winning a free, 4-night break at North View Cottages? 😃

We are helping to raise funds for our beautiful village church, which needs some urgent repairs, so we have donated a 4-night stay for 3 people in The Duck’s Nest for their prize raffle.

There are lots of other amazing prizes too, including two holidays in South Africa, spa days, cream teas, farm shop vouchers & fishing on the river Tees!

A single ticket costs just £5, but they get cheaper the more you buy! (Minimum ticket cost £1).

If you would like to be in with a chance to win, and support our village church, simply follow this link to find out more:

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/barningham-church-appeal-north-yorkshire

28/06/2024

Fried egg, anyone?

How about 8???

05/06/2024

Deepdale Nature Reserve is just a short stroll from Barnard Castle town centre. It’s a beautiful, peaceful place to be.

Walking there today we saw a hare, heard a Siskin, a Redstart, a Blackcap and a woodpecker, and found a tiny nuthatch fledgling who needed some help getting off the path.

Back across the Tees aqueduct for a spot of lunch on the Barnard Castle side of the Tees before heading home.

03/06/2024

Peggy, Pat and Pam are happy to be in their next enclosure, with fresh grass and turnips! 😋

01/06/2024

Today we were massively excited to welcome foraging & bushcraft instructor, Paul Holden-Ridgeway, to North View Cottages.

Paul is incredibly knowledgeable, and we are looking forward to working together to offer foraging, bushcraft & wellness courses to our guests.

Along with our current guests, we got to take part in a trial foraging walk & herbal tea-making day, which was absolutely fascinating and great fun.

And now we have some ‘chicken-of-the-woods’ for our dinner!

If you would like more information, or to be notified of upcoming courses then feel free to contact us or subscribe to our newsletter:

https://www.northviewcottages.co.uk/contact-us

26/05/2024

This was our meadow at 9pm this evening 💛 make sure you have your volume on!
🐦 🎶 🐑

25/05/2024

Crofters’ Cottage looking lovely in the sunshine today 💗

08/05/2024

Helping our quail chick with spraddle leg 🤞❤️‍🩹🤞

04/05/2024

9 fuzzy humbugs hatched out today 😍

Courtesy of a theme picked by our niece and her boyfriend, they have all been named after American presidents.

Eisenhower was first to hatch, followed by Roosevelt and Jefferson. Then there’s Lincoln, Nixon, Garfield, Kennedy, Washington and Wilson, but I’m not sure we can tell who’s who anymore…

Thank you to TS Poultry , who started us on our quail adventure last year! These are your grand-quail 😆

04/05/2024

Early morning loveliness 💚

22/04/2024

We have a new sharing platter on the menu!

Middle Eastern Mezze

Chicken Tagine
Minted Lamb Kofta
Garlic & mint dip
Moroccan Couscous
Baba Ganoush
Muhammara
Warm flatbreads
Hummus
Crudités & olives

We think it’s delicious!!

17/04/2024

When it’s dry the barn owl comes out to hunt over our field.

I managed to take a little video this evening. She (or he) is absolutely stunning 😍

14/04/2024

Just your average sitting-in-the-mud-with-your-pigs kind of day 🥰

13/04/2024

As if this week couldn’t get any more exciting…

We had our first guest staying in Crofters’ Cottage!

We were hoping people would love it every bit as much as The Duck’s Nest, and I think we smashed it - our guest loved it so much that she extended her stay 😍

2 beds
Sleeps 4
Dog friendly
Log burner & cosy lounge
Large kitchen/diner
Free WiFi

https://www.northviewcottages.co.uk/crofters-cottage

13/04/2024

They are here!! 😍

Meet Peggy, Pat & Pam, our three little piggies 💗🐷 🐷 🐷 💗

12/04/2024

Our quail have started laying!!

We thought we only had one female, but we had two eggs today, so we maybe need to check again! 😂

The eggs in the photo are, in size order, turkey, duck, chicken, quail 🐥

We couldn’t be any more excited.

Oh wait, yes we could…

…tomorrow is piglet day!! 🐷🐷🐷
(We promise to post photos)

10/04/2024

The daffodils are looking lovely now! 😍