Category Archives: Group Holidays

Everything you need to know about bringing your horse on holiday

Derbyshire, Glamping, Group Holidays, Holidays, Horse Holidays, Horses, Hot Tub, log-fired hot tub, log-fired sauna, Peak District, sauna

Hoe Grange is a popular destination for those who want to bring their horse on holiday. Our stunning Peak District countryside is undulating and interesting to ride through. Trekking along you always want to discover what lies over the next hill or round the next bend.

You can stay in a cosy log cabin, a gorgeous glamping pod or even a vintage gypsy caravan – the choice is yours!

bring your horse on holiday

Riding holidays are a fabulous way of exploring the area, it’s amazing what you can see from the back of horse that you might miss when walking on foot or in a car.

10 reasons why bringing your horse to Hoe Grange is so popular!

  1. On arrival the tarmac  farmyard is large and ideal for unloading and there is plenty of space for manoeuvring. There’s no need to worry about reversing your trailer or parking your horse box.
  2. All 6 stables are sturdy and spacious with plenty of room for larger horses and are disinfected ready for your use.
  3. The farm is in a peaceful location and horses who arrive on holiday quickly settle in the grazing paddocks. There are two paddocks which can be split up into smaller areas with electric tape if you need to separate horses from one another.
  4. Your horse will love munching on our Hoe Grange hay – our meadows are sustainably managed and the grass is sweet.
  5. Tally ho! There is plenty of scope for a good gallop across the farm fields!
  6. As riders ourselves we know all the best riding routes and can help you make the most of your horsey holiday. We have some amazing off-road trails and bridleways. Unsurprisingly the most popular ride is over the hill to the pub for a pint!
  7. BHS Weclome HorsesHoe Grange Holidays is accredited with the British Horse Society Horses Welcome Scheme, which means you can book with confidence knowing that your horse will have 5 star accommodation! Also we only take one group of horses at a time which is better for infection control.
  8. After a long days riding you can relax back on the decking and watch your horses and ponies at play in the paddock – a real treat especially if your horse is at livery and not kept at home.
  9. FirepitHoe Grange is a great place for groups and we offer extra experiences for you all to enjoy. What better way to spend the evening than toasting marshmallows round the fire-pit, relaxing in the log-fired hot tub under the stars, or creating and cooking your own pizzas in the outdoor pizza oven?
  10. local produce delivered to your glamping podIf you want to self-cater you can order #LoveLocal Peak District groceries to be delivered to your log cabin or glamping pod ready for your arrival. Or if you fancy a complete break from the kitchen we know the best places to eat out. We can recommend some amazing local pubs – we’ve made it our mission to try them all out especially for you – it’s a hard life!

There are many more reasons to choose Hoe Grange Holidays if you want to bring your horse on holiday. If like Oliver and I you have joined the Your Horse #hack1000miles challenge you will definitely have the opportunity to clock up some extra miles during your holiday in the Derbyshire hills.

The Peak District is also quite hilly so your horse should go home really fit.

If you want to know more watch our video of Frequently Asked Questions on bringing your horse on holiday or contact us via email info@hoegrangeholidays.co.uk

Happy Hacking!

Felicity 

 

Happy Birthday!

Accessible Holidays, Animals, Derbyshire, Family, Group Holidays, History, self catering holiday

Today one of our holiday guests, Eva Tucker, celebrated her 101st birthday whilst staying with us in Pinder cabin. Yes you read it correctly, an amazing 101!

A charming and still quick witted woman, Eva was born in Stockwell in 1913 and has lived through 2 World Wars. It’s incredible to think that when she was born over a century ago horse drawn carriages were the general mode of transport and The Model T Ford was just 5 years old; now we are just a few years away from driverless cars!

The telephone had only recently been invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 and very few privileged people had one; now everyone carries a mobile phone in their pocket, can take calls almost anywhere and you can reach out to the other side of the globe with a video call. Computers were unheard of and the internet had not been invented; now everyone logs on every day to access a mind boggling amount of information and shop online. Most houses didn’t have a toilet and you had to go outside the privy; now most bedrooms have an ensuite bathroom. How times have changed.

Hoe Grange makes an ideal place for such get togethers and family celebrations. Officially our oldest guest to date, Eva enjoyed a relaxing holiday with her daughter and family to celebrate this extra special occasion. She particularly loved meeting our new star of the show, Austin, the orphaned Aberdeen Angus calf, who is proving popular with all our guests – at just 3 weeks old he is rather cute and follows me round like a dog.

Despite her great age Eva is incredibly active and still lives independently in her own home, cooking for herself. She certainly doesn’t look over 100 years old! Eva enjoys scrabble, doing the crossword and a good game of whist. I asked her what she attributed her long life to and she replied “contentment and a wonderful family who look after me”. She has a large family with 6 great grandchildren who keep her busy.

Birthday celebrations
Eva celebrating her 101st birthday

We wish her a very Happy Birthday and hope she has many more!

Felicity

The work goes on!

Accessible Holidays, Building, Derbyshire, Family, Group Holidays, self catering holiday

Now on our new Daisybank holiday cabin I am concentrating on the decking and garden areas , getting things ready for our first guests. Fortunately the predicted January snow hasn’t materialised in the Derbyshire hills and I have been able to carry on working most days – although sometimes it has been very cold.

Decking frame
Decking frame

Firstly constructing the frame, ensuring that the finished height will leave a level threshold to the doorway, making life easier not only for our disabled guests, but for everyone else too.

decking
decking

Then laying the decking planks making sure all  the gaps are  even – I cheated here by making the decking the length of the planks to save cutting – very cunning!

Then the railings and gates are fitted to make one giant play pen to keep your young ones safe. Everything will look much better when the grass has grown and you can sun yourself on the decking with a glass of chilled wine or beer – I can’t wait to try it out!

Everyone must be thinking about holidays today as Felicity has taken quite a few bookings this afternoon – book Daisybank now before your holiday dates are taken!

David

railings

Cabin number 4!!

Accessible Holidays, Building, General, Group Holidays, Peak District, Tourism

Daisybank under constuction
Daisybank under constuction

‘Daisybank’ our fourth self cateering log cabin is well underway in the Island Leisure’s  factory at Perth, Scotland. Delivery to us here in the Peak District will be some time in early December. Its design is almost the same as our Rainster cabin with adjustable wash basin in the shower room and spacious entrance hall for Wellies, rain coats and riding gear.

Daisybank will also have an accessible kitchen, and we hope to achieve a rating of Mobility Level 3 Assisted in the National Accessibility Scheme. All four of our luxury log cabins are accessible to varying degrees from Mobility Level 1 in Pinder Cabin and Mobility Level 2 in Hipley and Rainster.

Whether you have special access requirements or you are looking for an ideal base to explore the wonderful Peak District we can cater for almost everybody’s needs.

With our new extra cabin we will be able to cater for groups of up to 26, but without loosing that feeling of peace and tranquility for smaller individual groups.

Watch this space for all the pictures as work gets on the way over the next few weeks – I will soon be back down a hole digging foundations!

David

There’s GOLD in them there hills!!

Accessible Holidays, Awards, Building, Farm, General, Group Holidays, Horse Holidays, Peak District, Tourism

Gold Award for Serviced AccommodationFantastic news, Our new cabin Rainster has just been awarded 4* Gold by Enjoy England, Quality in Tourism inspector. It was also rated M2 for accessibility under the National Accessability Scheme. It has a superb wetroom shower  only missing M3 because of the standard kitchen lay out.

With it’s extra little touches, such as log effect fire, LCD TVs, entrance porch, 100% cotton bedding and high standard throughout, it is truly a wonderful base for you Peak District holiday. Why not come and give it a try, but don’t be to long as bookings are already steaming in.

David

New Cabin

Accessible Holidays, Farm, General, Group Holidays, Peak District, Tourism

Felicity and I are delighted to announce that we have been successful in our bid for RDPE grant funding from European Union (EU) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), for the expansion of our self catering business  – fantastic news! – we are now able to build two further log cabins with excellent disabled facilities. The Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), with environmental stewardship at its heart, aims to safeguard and enhance the rural environment, improve the competitiveness of the agricultural sector and create sustainable rural businesses.

D - Day, digger arrives to start new build
D – Day, digger arrives to start new build

Ours has always been a traditional family run farm, but with the decline in milk prices we recognised that we needed to do more to generate enough income to survive. Selling the dairy herd last July was a tough decision, but we were determined to continue farming at Hoe Grange and concentrate on rearing beef animals. Diversifying further into tourism and self catering holidays will enable us to maintain our existing beef herd, and secure the future of the farm, whilst conserving our stunning and special Peak District landscape.

Working with the East Midlands Development Agency has been a lengthy, but worthwhile process. The grant has enabled us to fund not just one but two further self catering holiday log cabins, thus increasing our competitive edge in the holiday market, and allowing us to offer accommodation for larger groups.

Marking out for new Rainster cabin
Marking out for new Rainster cabin

Today has been a milestone as we have commenced ground works even in the snow and the footings of the first cabin, due to be completed in May, have been marked out. It is going to be an exciting and intense period and we will keep you all up to date as to building progress here on our blog. The second cabin will be built early in 2011.

Book NOW – our new Rainster cabin with excellent accessible facilities (sleeps 4) will be available from June 2010 onwards – see availability

David 

EU Logo with wordsv1.2Web2     Defra LogoWeb2        EMDAlogoWeb2

8 foot Freddie

Christmas, Farm, General, Group Holidays, Peak District, Snow, Tourism

Freddie the snowman
Freddie the snowman

New Year Cabin guests were surprised to wake up to a heavy snow fall this morning, they set about building a new friend ‘Freddie’ the 8 foot snowman. He peers over the fence from the paddock watching for a new guest to arrive. Their friend had unfortunately got stuck in the snow, so I had to go out on the tractor to find them. Fortunately they managed to get here in the end.

Snow falls in the Peak District of this amount are very unusual these days, but with the use of shovels, road salt and the tractor we have managed to make sure all our festive guests have got here and enjoyed the seasonal break

David

Rendering in the rain!

General, Group Holidays, Horse Holidays, Peak District

David rendering or is he making this weeks Oatie biscuits?
David rendering or is he making this weeks Oatie biscuits?

Too windy and wet for riding  here in the Peak District today, but there’s always an up side!

David set to this morning and started rendering the internal walls of the stables. Being an old stone building there were huge cracks and crevices in the walls which made them difficult to clean properly inbetween horse guests. When finished they should be easier to pressure wash thoroughly, keep clean and thus save time. David can now hardly move his arms, but at least it saves going to the gym.

Just off outside to measure Oliver the horse for a turnout rug before we go to Your Horse Live tomorrow. In previous years we have had a stand at the popular horse exhibition, but this year we are just going for fun and hopefully we will meet up with some of our horse guests who have stayed with us.

Felicity

Increased facilities at Hoe Grange Holidays

Accessible Holidays, General, Group Holidays

electric profile bed with memory foam mattress
electric profile bed with memory foam mattress

Just to keep you all in the picture we have recently added to our accessible facilities in Hipley cabin with the purchase of an electric profile bed with memory foam mattress. It really is extremely comfortable – I think I could do with one at home! It is one of the single beds in the twin room, but where necessary the second bed can be removed to allow full access from either side.  The bed has an adjustable frame allowing independent operation to support the five key areas – neck, back, hips, knee and head, and is ideal for those who need assistance to sit up, or for those with breathing difficulties or circulation problems in the legs. The new bed can be hired for your holiday with us at an additional cost of £30 per week, or £20 per short break.

Shower stool
Shower stool

In addition we now have a high back, high seated armchair for guests with back problems, or those who find it difficult to get up from a low soft sofa – that will be me then after a few glasses of wine! As an alternative to the mobile showerchair,  there is also a stand alone shower seat which is height adjustable – just choose whichever suits you best. All of the above can be booked ready for your holiday with us, just call Felicity.

At Hoe Grange  Holidays we are always trying to improve our facilities so please don’t hesitate to ask if there is something extra that you need –  we want you to feel at home so you can relax, unwind and make the most of your holiday.

Felicity