by | May 19, 2012

Country Weekend Shooting Parties…tweedy knickerbockers optional

As you may know, here at Landed Houses, we’re rather into shooting, and, obviously, tweedy knickerbockers. Anyway, we thought we’d tell you a little bit about Clay and Laser Clay shooting at some of our houses…courtesy of Matthew Nimmo, at Birds Hill Days.

LASER Clays

Laser Clays are great, because you don’t need permissions and there aren’t the same health and safety concerns as there are with Real Clays (although, you still need a decent bit of space).
 
The laser clay system used by Matthew is specifically designed to travel to venues, all around the West Country, and are brilliant for a bit of friendly competition on a weekend away.
 
How They Work

A Clay is fired through the air from a trap (just as a normal clay would be), but with a laser clay, 5 people can shoot at the same time, using concerted 12 bore shotguns.
 
The clays do not break as they only reflect the laser back to a receiver in the gun, so perfect for a front lawn, orchard or a spare meadow.
 
Your scores are displayed on an electronic scoreboard and it gets very competitive. Great for events where drinks are served as the only way you can hurt yourself is to drop a gun on your toe. Also quite handy for evening entertainment, as you can shoot the converted shotguns in a low-cut ball dress and not lose any dignity.
 
Ideal for larger groups and takes between 2 to 3 hours.

 Real Clays
 
A more serious prospect than laser clays, and one that needs a little more grit and less wimpiness. Definitely not to be done in a ball dress, and definitely, definitely not one to mix with alcohol.
 
Birds Hill Days shoot with 12 bore shotguns, and they use a light load to cut down the recoil. Fine for both experienced and beginners, girls and boys.
 
Ypou can shoot clays at houses with the right permissions (usually our larger estates), or you can go to Birds Hill Days’ main base.

For more information, please do feel very welcome to call Matthew at Birds Hill Days on 01984 634468 .

For Tweedy Knickerbockers, visit Ladies-Shooting at  http://ladies-shooting.com/

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by | May 19, 2012

All About The Bare Bow

 This week, here at Landed Houses, we’re learning all about bows and arrows (ha! Did you read it as a verb?!), and we have a great teacher – Matthew Nimmo, of Birds Hill Days. We asked lots of (quite girlie) questions, and he answered as straight-faced as he could manage…

So, Matthew, archery. Are we talking cross-bows with steel bolts, or long-bows with er…long arrows?

Well, we teach Bare Bow, by far the most natural way to shoot. 

Bare? Golly. So, very Naturalist?

No. Bare as in just you and the bow. We teach without using aids, such as sights.

Oh. So it’s much harder to hit stuff?
 
No, not at all! It is all about body positioning. If your body is in the right position, the arrows will go where you look.

Ah! Like shooting a 12 bore? But quieter.

Er, yes.

And where do you shoot? In the woods, Robin-Hood-survival-stylee? Bambi watch out?

Well, not really. The majority of Archery we do is at our training ground or at the houses we work with, like Northmoor.  And we use large round targets, rather than the Field Archery style of using dummy animals. Beginners need to be able to hold a bow and shoot straight before they can progress to Field Archery.

Ah. Understood. Well, tell us more about how it works at the big country houses – we’re Landed Houses, as you know. We have a particular obsession with beautiful manor houses in particular.

Really? I wouldn’t have known. I work with a few Stately Homes too…

Oooo, stop…focus! Archery.

You really are quite odd. Anyway. We work with big houses, mansions and estates in the West Country – so Devon, Cornwall, Somerset… a few in Gloucestershire and Dorset. The houses host the parties (usually for at least a night, but also over weekends, or for a week’s holiday). If the guests would like sporting entertainment, we either send equipment and instructors over to the house, or we bring them to our base on Exmoor.

Is it good for big groups, like for team-building, or as a family and friends competition? (Get us…we’re being all serious).

Yes, it’s perfect. We can teach up to 6 at a time in rotation so, larger groups can stay together and the time between go’s is minimal. For a group of up to 24, I would allow a min of 2 hours for them to get the best out of it. And it’s great if there’s a competition element with prizes or whatever.

Prizes! We love prizes. Right – final question… which houses do you work with?

 Too many to list! But some of our favourites are 

 Bath Lodge, Bath

(Archery/Laser Clays/CO2 Pistols)

Ston Easton Park, Somerset

(we’ve only just met these, but it looks like a great house)

Northmoor House, Somerset

(Archery/Laser Clays/REAL Clays/Co2 Pistols)

Huntsham Court, Devon

(Archery/Laser Clays/CO2 Pistols)

Eggesford Barton (Devon)

Archery/Laser Clays/ REAL Clays/Co2 Pistols

Waterhouse, Bath

(Archery/Laser Clays/CO2 Pistols)

Thank you Matthew, for your patience!

 

To find out more about Matthew’s country sport business, do visit his website - http://www.birdshilldays.com/
  


 

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by | May 10, 2012

Things To Do In The Peak District – Adventures!

Holidaying as a group is tremendous fun, but it does help if you’ve lots to do, and activities that suit everyone.

One of our new houses, Cliff House, in the Peak District, has sent us a huge and useful list of  adventurous and adrenalin-fuelled things to do in The Peak District, which we thought we’d share with you.

Go Ape in Buxton - http://www.goape.co.uk – - A fantastic tree climbing high wire experience. Not to be done after a heavy lunch, or wearing high-heels. Definitely not to be done wearing a toupee.

 Go karting – Harpur Hill Industrial Estate, Buxton, SK17 9JL. Always a good one for the girls to thrash the boys…once all that testosterone kicks in, a lady’s naturally superior driving techniques gets her that chequered flag every time. 

 Adventure days – such as caving, climbing, abseiling, kayaking, canoeing, mountain biking etc. Cliff House recommend the following companies:

www.acclimbatize.co.uk

www.peakpursuits.co.uk

www.peakoutdoortraining.co.uk

www.bluemountainactivities.co.uk

Landed Houses recommends padded pants for mountain biking. And kayaking, actually. In fact, just wear padded pants full stop, and laugh at your friends when they get numb-bottoms from perching on rocks for a rest.

Clay Pigeon Shooting - www.yeaveley-estate.co.uk/ – clay shooting & fishing

You don’t need tweed, or suspicious-looking dangly things hanging off your knee-socks. Just go and shoot! It’s brilliant fun (ladies…see Ladies-Shooting for expert sartorial advice… and superb tips).

 Quad bikes & Paint ball - www.wildparkleisure.co.uk – near Ashbourne

 Once again…we shall mention the padded pants…

All of these fabulous activities can be thoroughly enjoyed, before returning to Cliff House, Monsal, for a long, hot bath and a slap-up dinner.

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by | May 10, 2012

Learning About The Peak District…

Here at Landed Houses, we’ve just started working with Cliff House, Monsal, in the Peak District. Cliff House is our first big house in Derbyshire, and in researching its listing, we’ve most definitely fallen in love with the Peaks. We sent Carlie off to find out more.

Wow! What an amazing place! In my head, the Peak district was a place of mud, with lots of obsessive fitties in dayglo lycra running about the place. But golly I was wrong – it’s the most beautiful place, full of amazing views and gorgeous little villages.

Monsal Head, where Cliff House is perched, is particularly lovely. The house itself is above the village of Great Longstone, which is steeped (ha!) in history. On the village’s website (http://www.greatlongstone.net), I learnt about St Giles, which is a medieval church with gravestones dating back to the 1600′s. I also learnt about the hill fort – Fin Cop – which makes fascinating reading. No one knew why the hill fort was destroyed, nor by whom, and  ongoing archaeological work is starting to reveal the story behind the mystery.

I’ve a real thing for hill forts, and ancient history (huge fan of Ch4′s Time Team), and apparently in 2011 the archaeologists discovered the skeletons of  7 women and children, whose bodies had been dumped in the fort’s ditch some 2,300 years ago. The poor things were in amongst the destruction debris of the main defensive wall. The Longstone historical society surmise that they must have died when Fin Cop was sacked, and its once-proud walls were levelled into the ditch. Even now, they still don’t know who attacked, nor why. 

Tearing myself away from the hill fort, I came across a Blog written by local resident, Mike Watson. He has some great photos of the local area – my favourite being the sheep on Longstone Moor, and ‘The Steep and Treacherous Path Above The River’. You can see them here… http://viewman.blogspot.co.uk/

There’s so much more for me to find out about the Peak District (I haven’t even started on Matlock yet), and I’ll share my work on here. I hope to and visit in the summer, and meet Justin (in charge of Cliff House), and the rest of his team.

If any of you fancy visiting, you can stay in Cliff House, or some of the other properties Justin manages (he has links from the Cliff House website) – you can see details here… http://www.cliffhousemonsal.co.uk/

Do shout if there’s a particular area you think I should see, or learn about!

Carlie, at Landed Houses.

 

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by | May 6, 2012

Carlton Towers in Midst of Media Frenzy

One of our estates, Carlton Towers in Yorkshire, has recently starred in Sky Atlantic’s ‘The Guest Wing’ – and were a little unprepared for the impact they might have on the world’s media!

Speaking to Amy (one of the Carlton’s team) on the telephone the other day, we were chatting happily about dates for an upcoming shooting party, when Amy was suddenly pulled away from the telephone. ‘Really sorry,’ she typed later that day, ‘to rush off. A film crew and a newspaper arrived at the same time as our weekend’s guests…’

Hugely impressed, we asked to hear more.

Amy writes…

Well! We’ve officially taken Thursday night television by storm! Our TV début, The Guest Wing (on Sky Atlantic) has so far seen us getting fit on the front lawn with Gavin Walsh Bootcamp; being the setting for a wonderfully lavish dog show with 150 beautiful (and don’t they know it!) Afghan Hounds, and proudly entertaining an American gourmet dinner party hosted by our very own Lord and Lady.

The Guest Wing, produced by Landmark Films, has delved right intothe centre of the action to see exactly how stately homes, and more directly the owners of such properties, keep afloat in the 21st Century.  The featured four properties are Chillingham Castle (Northumberland), Muncaster Castle (Cumbria), Maunsel House (Somerset) and, of course, us in Yorkshire, Carlton Towers.

As you know, Carlton Towers looks very much like Downton Abbey, and we think it is this ‘Downton Abbey’ effect that has triggered the media interest following The Guest Wing.

We were interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Midweek programme and Radio York in April, and appeared in The Daily Mail, The Telegraph and The Daily Express for reviews and features celebrating the success of the programme described as “an exquisite treat” (The Daily Telegraph) and “a fantastically enjoyable documentary” by the Sunday Times.

Now that Carlton Towers has had its share of media coverage in England over the last few months it’s now time for a new venture: we’ll be appearing on Japan’s equivalent of BBC1 over the Jubilee week, so we’ll keep you informed of that project. The documentary will focus on items given the Royal Warrant and where they’ve ended up today…surely you can guess?!

www.carltontowers.co.uk

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by | May 4, 2012

Gamekeepers Beware!

As part of Landed Houses’ series on Country Sports, we’ve invited Teresa Bird of Beech Tree Game Farm, to pen a guest Blog for us. Teresa breeds Kansas Pheasants (both day olds, and poults), raising them from her hatchery on her Devon farm. Thank you, Teresa!

Teresa writes:

My laying ladies are wet – when is this weather going to improve? Although I’ve just seen a ‘sun’ on the Met Office’s forecast…mm…fingers and everything else crossed!

 As most of you keepers and shoot owners out there will know, this weather will mean there will be trouble ahead……so bear that in mind if you haven’t ordered. If eggs are short so will poults be; us gamefarmers may be clever, but we haven’t worked out yet how to make a chick without an egg.

 Despite this wintery weather, though, outside work still needs to be done. The incubators are on (with the first hatch in shortly), the rearing field is taking shape, and the eggs still need collecting twice a day, and whilst thinking of that…I need a new pair of water proof leggings. There seems to be only so many times one can bend over in them…Oh! Or perhaps a larger size should be sought? Oh dear.

 So, despite the horribly wet laying season, lets hope a dry rearing season will follow – we don’t want a shortage of pheasant poults!

Will keep you informed,

Teresa B.

 

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by | May 4, 2012

The Jubilee at Carlton Towers – Yorkshire Style!

Carlton Towers has invited every Landed Houses site visitor to peruse their plans for the Jubilee… ooh… all looking rather lovely!

A Yorkshire Jubilee Luncheon– even The Queen would find it delicious!

Come along to celebrate this moment in history by booking a table at the Yorkshire Seat of the Duke of Norfolk’s residence, Carlton Towers. Dine in style in the grand Staterooms and enjoy 3 courses of home cooked Yorkshire cuisine.

Since he started working at the property last year, our head chef Andy has cooked the most delightful dishes for all sorts of events including wedding breakfasts, corporate lunches and charity dinners. Andy is looking forward to showcasing his talents even further by launching his first Sunday Roast event at Carlton Towers. He chooses the finest local produce to create sumptuous English dishes and this event will be no exception.

We are now taking bookings for this prestigious occasion and invite people from far and wide to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee in stately surroundings with family and friends. It would also be a lovely opportunity for Brides and Grooms-to-be who have already booked with us to sample our food and atmospheric setting ready for their Big Day!

Jubilee Sunday Luncheon 3rd June 2012:

Doors open 12.30pm – enjoy drinks at the bar before being seated for lunch

 Sittings between 1.00pm – 2.00pm – dine in style in our regally inspired Victorian Staterooms

3 course luncheon – tables for 2 or more available

 £25 per head

Dress code smart / casual

To book your table in our grand Staterooms please contact 01405 861662 or email info@carltontowers.co.uk

Please click here to download our Jubilee Sunday Lunch Menu Selector

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by | April 28, 2012

5 Amazingly Cool Things To Do On a Rainy Day In A Big House

We love big houses – you know we do. All year round, no matter what the weather. But one of our utter favourite things about big houses, is how much fun you can have in them on a rainy day.

Do you have cabin-fever? Feel like banging your face against one of the four walls? Would like to stuff a wet kipper in the mouth of the next person who moans that they’re bored?

Then choose from our Landed Houses‘ list! 

Build an amazing den, complete with network of tunnels and early-warning invasion systems. Can’t remember how to build a den? Of course you can! Use furniture, chairs, duvets, sheets and rugs – your early warning invasion system can be strategically placed wind-chimes, or whoopi cushions, or whatever. So… you’re all set. You have your dens…now comes the battle – go! Go! Go! Grownups have to have one hand tied behind their back if they’re playing with children. If it’s all grown ups, then tie up whatever you like. 

Bake and ice a lovely cake, ready to take with you as a picnic cake next time the sun comes out. Or stuff it all down, if you’re too glum and the rain just won’t stop.

Go puddle diving. This takes a lot of nerve, and a chilled attitude to mud. You’ll need wellies, a rain coat and trousers and socks that you can get dirty. Apply all safety gear (swimming goggles may be a step too far). Run out into the rain, and find some puddles. Jump as much as you can, making the biggest waves possible, preferably soaking anyone who tries to steal your puddle. Revel in it. Then go home and get changed.

Dressing For Dinner (or lunch, or tea). Staying at a holiday house might mean a slight lack of dressing up clothes (although you might be surprised – quite a lot of our houses have dressing-up trunks tucked away). Anyway, you have each others’ clothes! Swap them! Decide on a theme, and spend the afternoon creating and assembling your outfits, ready for a meal, where you spend at least until pudding in character.

Have an Olympic Games – either truly Olympic (with hurdles and everything…Long Galleries are good for this), or with board, card or billiard games. Keep a big sheet on display, with who’s won what, and award prizes at the end. 

If anyone has any other sterling suggestions for rainy day activities, do yell, and if we feature the idea, we’ll send you a very lovely Landed Houses pen.

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by | April 27, 2012

Huge June Special Offer at Northmoor House!

Fancy a last-minute break in June with a gang of friends? Then try Northmoor House, in gorgeous Somerset.

One of our favourite houses has got some FANTASTIC deals on for June…

Every weekend is £2000, for 3 nights…

15th June £2000

22nd June £2000

29th June £2000

As Northmoor easily sleeps 24, that works out at £27 per person, per night. Premier Inn eat your heart out!

And you don’t need to worry much about the weather, Northmoor has plenty of space to avoid any sort of cabin-fever.

What are you waiting for? You know you want to book it! Call Melinda on 01398 323 720

 

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by | April 26, 2012

Plas Dinam Set to Welcome First Guests!

Oh, it’s so exciting to see houses open for the first time, and working with the gang at Plas Dinam has been great. We received this email from Eldrydd Davies this morning…

‘All is full steam ahead at Plas Dinam! The house has just about made its conversion from our much-loved family home, to being ready to welcome guests. We’re now at the fun stage of filling the house with everything guests might want… the children have been open-mouthed watching it all go through the entrance hall. Yesterday we had a 7 foot-long  gorgeous new sofa, new super-king-sized beds, a 50″ TV, surround sound systems, piles of huge fluffy bath towels, a new dishwasher – oh! – and a bread maker!’

It’s so lovely to hear such enthusiasm, and brilliant for our Landed Houses team to be part of the launch.

Plas Dinam will be available for guests (up to 28 at the moment – although there will be more rooms next year) who want to hire the house for special occasions, or a fun family holiday. 

As you can imagine from the list of new things above, the Davies family is determined that their guests should have a comfortable, luxurious stay – they really have tried to think of everything. In fact, we’re tempted to test them, just for the comedy value…

  • Boiled egg slicer?
  • Plastic-backed picnic rugs, for impromptu alfresco dining?
  • Cocktail shaker (got to love a Dry Martini)

Ha! Anyway.

Huge congratulations to Plas Dinam; Edmund, Carlie and the team wish you lots of luck and a house full of guests all year long.

Bottoms Up, Plas Dinam, we know you’re going to be great!

 

 

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