In a few weeks the Damson Dene Hotel will, if Channel 4 has its way, be famous. This cartoon, which appeared on the front page of the Westmorland Gazette has been drawn in response to a preliminary flurry of publicity in the local papers about a TV series, based at the Damson Dene, which has the preliminary title of “The Hotel”. It will be shown in 8 one hour episodes on Channel 4, after the watershed. The filming of the programme, which took up a great chunk of our lives last summer, was made by an independent company called Dragonfly who made the well known ‘fly on the wall’ series, The Family and One Born Every Minute. The latter won a Bafta last year. I’m not allowed, just yet, to say any more except that the first episode had me roaring with laughter one minute and weeping the next. Of course, I’m too close to it all to judge how the Great British Public will take to it – but I’ve got a feeling that Dragonfly know what they’re doing.
Posts Tagged ‘Damson Dene’
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011
“The Hotel”- Coming Soon
Monday, February 28th, 2011
The First Daffodil of Spring
There’s a fierce rivalry between the adjacent villages of Crosthwaite and Underbarrow. Each has a pub called the Punch Bowl and in that respect I think it is fair to say that Crosthwaite has the upper hand. They each take pride in their floral displays and here Underbarrow is the undoubted winner. I travel through the villages nearly every day on my way to the Damson Dene and I’ve seen some brutally low temperatures this winter- the worst being -17 C. But the last fortnight has seen the back of winter and the daffodils on the roadside verges have shot up. There are literally thousands in Underbarrow and they will produce a beautiful display- “worth the detour” to see, as the Michelin man would say. And yet the first to come into full bloom, even though it’s still February is in Crosthwaite- as this picture, taken this morning, shows.
Thursday, December 9th, 2010
The End of The Big Freeze
This nipping air
Sent from the distant clime where winter wields
His icy scimitar
William Wordsworth
Yesterday the temperature on the road to the Damson Dene Hotel was minus 17.5 degrees; today it was plus 2. This remarkable turnaround was brought about simply because the wind changed direction from the icy east to the warm west. This is the first time the temperature here has been above zero for a fortnight.
Although the main roads have been clear there has been such a sense of drama in all the news bulletins that most people have been afraid to travel and the Lake District has had very few visitors, which is a pity because they have missed seeing the countryside at its most beautiful. This is how Paul Simons, who writes on the weather in the Times, describes it:
“As if by magic, a winter wonderland has appeared. Every tree, fence and blade of grass looks as if it has been sprayed with icing sugar, glittering and sparkling in the winter sunshine. This is a frost, but no ordinary frost. It is called rime, and appears as a thick coat of white crystals in exceptionally cold weather. And if the wind blows, the rime forms thick streaks on the side of a tree or any other object facing the direction of the wind, making it look like icy spears bursting out”
Monday, September 20th, 2010
The curious tale of Lord Tonypandy’s Damson Tree
In the centre of the lawn at the Damson Dene Hotel is a lovely Damson Tree, under which is a plaque which reads:
‘This Damson Tree was planted by Viscount Tonypandy on the 8th July 1993′
Lord Tonypandy was the Speaker of the House of Commons at the time when proceedings were first televised (he was then known as George Thomas), whose Welsh-accented cries of “Order, Order” were so well known. At the time when I bought the Damson Dene Hotel, ten years ago, Lord Tonypandy’s tree was in a very sorry state, unable to bear fruit and obviously on its way out. I invited our local Tory MP, Tim Collins, who was in the Shadow Cabinet and destined for greatness, to plant a replacement. A planting ceremony took place, which was well publicised in the local papers. Tim’s tree thrived, while Lord Tonypandy’s continued to decline.
Then, to everyone’s surprise, Tim Collins lost his seat in the general election of 2005. He left politics as well as the House of Commons. From that moment on, his tree fell into decline. Within a year it was dead. But at the same time, Lord Tonypandy’s took on a new lease of life. Now, five years later it has made a full recovery and for the first time is laden with fruit. There is no moral to this tale.
Friday, September 17th, 2010
Damson Pie- Grounds for Divorce
Margaret has made two damson pies which are on the menu at the Damson Dene Hotel- and guests are being warned to look out for stones.
Wayne offered the menu to a lady who was dining with her daughter . “Of course I’ll have the damson pie” she said, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. You know, my husband divorced me because of my damson pie. I’d cooked him a damson pie and when we’d finished eating he had 24 stones on the side of his plate and I only had 2. He accused me of deliberately giving him the ones with stones and we had a massive row. Our marriage never recovered”.
Did you enjoy that Madam?” asked Wayne, when he cleared her plate. “It was absolutely delicious, she replied, smiling contentedly. “Happy memories” she added. Wayne couldn’t help noticing that there were only two stones on the side of her plate.
Here’s a spooky thing. Tonight Margaret cooked me a damson pie, from which I cut a small slice, as per the attached photo. That slice contained 26 stones!.
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
Georgeous Gladdies
Gladioli have been out of fashion for as long as I can remember. They got a reputation for being too showy and Dame Edna put paid to any hopes of a revival. But I love them and in January I ordered a large batch for a show garden at Tatton which, in the end, didn’t happen. So at short notice I needed to find a home for 400 gladioli. I planted about half of them here at Yewbarrow House, putting some among the large leaved Canna Musifolia (musifolia means “banana-leaved, so they are huge). This created a very effective display as the flowers of the gladioli seemed to belong to the cannas, causing many a visitor to do a double take. The other 200 plants I used at the Damson Dene hotel, planting them along the border of the Dahlia garden, where they look stunning. The gladioli have been in flower for a good two months (no doubt helped by the gloomy weather) which is fabulous value.
Monday, April 26th, 2010
The Swifts have Arrived
The sun was warm but the wind was chill
You know how it is with an April day
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You’re one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,
A wind comes over the frozen peak,
And you’re two months back in the middle of March.
Robert Frost
The first thing I do when I unwrap Country Life on a Wednesday evening is turn to the inside back page and read Carla Carlisle’s column. She never disappoints. I’m indebted to her for this stanza from Robert Frost’s poem, ‘Two Tramps in Mud Time’. Spring may be late and erratic this year, but the swifts have arrived at Damson Dene dead on time as usual. I suppose that when they set off from Africa, or wherever they have spent the winter, they won’t know what the weather is like in the Lyth valley. They depend entirely on flying insects for their food, so if the insects aren’t about because the weather is too cold or too wet, they can’t survive.
The swifts at Damson Dene nest just above the entrance to Reception, which is a bit of a nuisance as we have to clear their droppings from the pathway every day. But no-one minds because it’s a joy to have them around, whatever the weather.
Saturday, April 17th, 2010
Damson Day
Damson Day is always held in the middle of April to coincide with the damson blossom which is always such a spectacular sight in the Lyth Valley. Except for this year, when everything, including the blossom, is about a fortnight late. But the weather is trying to catch up- we’ve enjoyed a fortnight of clear skies and Damson Day was no exception. Last year, we had a record attendance of 3,000, which will almost certainly be beaten this year. I say “we” because the Damson Dene Hotel is, most appropriately, the event’s main sponsor. Blossom or no blossom, I can’t remember a better atmosphere at the event.
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
A Black Swan on Lake Windermere
A Black Swan is the term which economists use to describe a unexpected and devastating event which scuppers all your plans. The Lake District had its own Black Swan in November when the unprecedented rainfall caused unprecedented floods which frightened away all our tourist trade. This was followed by a family of Black Cygnets when 5 successive snowfalls over as many weeks made certain that the tourists wouldn’t or couldn’t come flooding back.
Some lateral thinking was needed if our businesses were to be saved. We hit upon the idea of ‘Super Sundays’ where hotels would give away their rooms for next to nothing on the first four Sundays of the year. We put the idea to our colleagues and they loved it. So did the public. As soon as ‘Super Sundays’ went public more than 1000 room nights were sold. The idea also caught the imagination of the local TV and the national press. This video is of me being interviewed about Super Sundays for the ITV news and the item was shown on the 6 o’clock news and again at 10.30.