A week in the life of:

The winter may not necessarily be the busiest time in the tourism industry but it is never without a dull moment.

It would be funny if it wasn't tinged with sadness; following visits over the past few months to visit their elderly aunt, the most recent to celebrate her 100th birthday, our guests returned once again this week for their aunt's funeral. Mmmmm, I had forgotten to tell Tom that the funeral cortege will be collecting the lead party from our guest house before departing for the local church. Oh my giddy aunt, poor old Tom nearly had a heart attack himself when he saw the hearse pull up outside, the funeral guests were sitting enjoying the sun in the rear garden as poor old aunt waited patiently. Now I wonder how many of our neighbours were watching trying to work out whether it was me or Tom leading!!!

Leaving Winter Behind

It can be darn cold up in these Rossendale hills so unless you are wrapped up against the elements then you may miss the beauty offered by winter in the valley. The extra peace and quiet the winter months give you is also accompanied by extra cold and rain!!!!!

A very pretty rear decking we may have, oh so restful and lazy in the warmer months, but when Jack Frost comes along we are the wary owners of our own private skating rink!!!! Are we mad taking the risk of feeding the ducks the uneaten pieces of morning toast!! Really must stop wearing the 3" heels to serve breakfast, they don't bode well on the rink.

However, here we are in February and we can be forgiven for thinking we're at the back end of spring. Whilst the guests were enjoying their locally sourced and extremely tasty breakfast I watched out of the kitchen window as the magpies began building their nests. Have you ever stopped and actually watched the nestbuilding in progress?? Amazing!! You gotta laugh, just two weeks ago I watched as the very same magpies were rolling, yes rolling, they were playing, in the snow on the rooftops of the chalet bungalows across the river.

To increase our offering of local produce we've decided to serve locally made jam and marmalade, visitors love it. Jams with such strange combination of fruits that set beautifully but cherry, oh no not cherry. We're not sure whether to offer it as cherry juice, it just does not set!! The taste is marvellous but don't expect it to sit on the toast cos it won't, it'll run off!!

So from rain, ice and snow we move into the beautiful sunshine and the welcome spring. 12degrees today. Rossendale has so much to offer the visitor and our local tourism team has it allhttp://www.visitrossendale.co.uk