Hi from a un-seasonally mild Spylaw.  Logs are stacked ready for the first cold snap and we’re choosing the Christmas trees this weekend.  Christmas cakes and puddings are baked and Spylaw will be full of Christmas cheer. The air smells festive with heady cinnamon, clove and mulled wine, special Christmas touches and seasonal fare to welcome you. Can’t wait!

New for 2012 - all inclusive walking holidays for groups of 4-12, including bed, breakfast, hamper lunches and supper with our resident walking guide.  He will tailor the walks to suit all abilities. Just call to discuss further.

On Line Booking.

January 2012 –introduction of ‘on line booking’ so you will be able to book and pay using your credit card, reserving your dates immediately. But if you have any questions, or prefer the ‘old way’ please do call us.  We are always available.

Spylaw Seasonal Specials –

Step into Christmas with short breaks during December.  Join us for a leisurely few days and enjoy a very relaxing special time. B&B is £75 per night, per room.  Self catering £60 per night (Cuddy’s), £95 per night (Homildon).  Warm mulled wine on arrival, log burning stoves and festive fare.

Christmas in Cuddy's Croft - Re-energise after the stress of Christmas shopping. Four nights for £250, or a full week for £350, departing before lunch on 27th.

‘In Between’ Join us for a leisurely few days and enjoy a very relaxing special time. B&B is £75 per night, per room.  Self catering £60 per night (Cuddy’s), £95 per night (Homildon).  Warm mulled wine on arrival, log burning stoves and festive fare.

New Year in Homildon House with the views of the snow covered hills in front of the log burning stove. Four nights for £400 or a full week for £500.

New Year in Cuddy's Croft, four nights arriving Friday 30th December £250 or a full week for £350. Enjoy the snug cottage whatever the weather, and see in the New Year in proper Northumbrian style.Winter Warmers – book a 2012 holiday before January 31^st for 2011 prices for self catering and B&B (3 days or more).

 A very warm welcome to Spylaw Farm. at the beginning of a new Holiday season. Spring is definitely here. The sun is shining, birds singing and vegetables growing! Swallows returning to Spylaw in mid April are swooping, swirling and diving through the skies, looking for more nesting places.  I thought this was an ideal opportunity to let you know some interesting facts about them;

British swallows spend their winter in South Africa: they travel through western France, across the Pyrenees, down eastern Spain into Morocco, and across the Sahara. Some birds follow the west coast of Africa avoiding the Sahara, and other European swallows travel further east and down the Nile Valley. Swallows put on little weight before migrating. 

They migrate by day at low altitudes and find food on the way. Despite accumulating some fat reserves before crossing large areas such as the Sahara Desert, they are vulnerable to starvation during these crossings and many birds die from starvation, exhaustion or in storms. In their wintering areas swallows feed in small flocks, which join together to form roosting flocks of thousands of birds. Swallows arrive in the UK in April and May, returning to their wintering grounds in September and October.

Migrating swallows cover 200 miles a day, mainly during daylight, at speeds of 17-22 miles per hour. The maximum flight speed is 35 mph. 

Our eight pairs are back, which is fantastic.  They are obviously strong enough to endure the migration at the moment. Enjoy watching them at Spylaw, along with the other new arrivals of lapwings and fieldfares.

 Spylaw Produce

Produce is now coming through in the polytunnel and there are already a number of vegetables and salads available. We had the first Spylaw strawberries yesterday! The poultry are now laying well, with the turkeys and geese hatching their eggs.  So fresh eggs are always available.  Why not find Andy and collect your own if your staying and even if you are just passing through.

Our pigs are thriving and very pleased to see buckets of weeds/trimmings from the allotment and vegetable peelings each morning. If you would like to visit them at feed time during your stay, please let us know.

Spylaw Meals - Even if you are staying in the cottages you may like a day off and  a Spylaw breakfast before exploring Northumberland, or supper when you get back is a great idea.  If this sounds good, just ask and we’ll pass you a breakfast menu or discuss the evening meal with you.

Meals are served in Herd’s House Snug and you are welcome to bring your own wine etc. with you...or meals can be delivered to your cottage.

Full sample menus for all our meals are available in the cottages and are updated with the latest seasonal choices.

We hope you have a fantastic stay with us.  Anything else we can do?  Just ask.

 Happy holiday

 Lorna & Andy @ Spylaw     

We're updating our facebook page so please look for more photos and news updates.

The weather has really brightened up over the last week or so and the temperature is up to 14 degrees C at the moment.  The weekend was wonderful with guests staying for a short break DBB and a birthday break. They enjoyed fantastic walks during their stays, visiting the cup and ring marks on the local hills and of course the wonderous beaches, stormy but very atmospheric!

The veggies in the polytunnel are starting to grow and the outdoor rhubarb is already shooting up.The hens are laying again and the geese are exploring to find the perfect nesting site.  Unfortunately the fox took most of our Muscovy ducks during the cold winter and we only have one of last years ducklings left.  We're going to see if we can adopt any and bring them back to Spylaw.

The birds are enjoying the warmer weather and the dawn chorus is beginning again. Very welcome after the bitter and prolonged silent winter.  We're planting trees, heathers and decorating the cottages (inside and out) ready for the new season,  so you'll hopefully notice the changes.

The daffodils are just opening and the bees are venturing out for nectar from all the spring flowers including the heathers.  We're looking forward to the first of this years honey due to be extracted in late May.  Fantastic moon the last few nights, really bright.

Keep a look out on our special offers pages for seasonal breaks.

See you soon!

There is always a very warm welcome awaiting you at Spylaw and here’s our first Newsletter of 2011. Hope you enjoy the update and look forward to seeing you soon. 

After a very cold few months the weather is really brightening up.  The days lengthening, sunsets lingering, fields and hedgerows are bursting into life. But we’re still making the most of the winter nights, taking walks to experience the best winter skies with a touch of stargazing, Thermos, binoculars and a great time exploring the heavens.  No light pollution, no jets, no cars.  The snowdrops have been out for a couple of weeks now and the other spring flowers are starting to push through the warmed soil. The rich bird life of the area is returning to song with lapwings, larks and the resident owls to name but a few.  Our hens are happier now the snow has melted, laying again after their winter break. Nothing like a freshly laid egg for breakfast Mmmmm!

Assessments completed by the Tourist Board brought us good news.  We’re thrilled to have achieved a gold award for our exceptional quality of serviced accommodation and customer service while maintaining our breakfast award again, so we’re set for an exciting 2011. We are very pleased with guest feedback which helped us achieve our award status with new ideas and what you’d like to see, so thank you.  As a consequence, our guests are spending more time around Spylaw, relaxing in the gardens or exploring the local area.  Enjoying snug breakfasts, hearty hampers and warming winter suppers with us, is another pleasurable experience to try during your stay.  All meals are prepared using our own fresh seasonal produce and very local produce. (Self catering guests are very welcome to enjoy meals or order veggie boxes during their stay). 

Our self sufficiency challenge has taken leaps forward, we are now members of Slow Food and to compliment the home grown produce and warm hand -made bread & cakes, Andy now has free range pigs which we keep in a walled garden at Chillingham.  They love it and are having a great time snorting through the vegetation (see blog for pictures!).  If you’d like to visit please just ask.  We have been planting over thirty new trees at Spylaw and now manage a vast mixed woodland, so are self sufficient in logs too;  Very green and contributing to the reduction of our carbon footprint. 

So much going on and even more to look forward to!  Hardly surprising that we’re welcoming old and new customers alike, so come on and join us and experience ‘the Good Life’ for a short while.   

See you soon

Lorna & Andy

Having just been re-assessed by Quality in Tourism we're really pleased to have been awarded 'Gold' for our bed, breakfast and evening meals and retaining our 'Breakfast Award'.

So why not give us a ring and try our award winning hospitality.  You'll find our 'winter warmers' on the special offers page.

We look forward to welcoming you to Spylaw soon.

The snow started a month early this year in mid November.  The weather man said, 'heavy snow'.  Wrong again!  Well actually no, accurate and spot on! And then started the five week freeze.  Not reaching above -5 degrees for days on end and down to -15 degrees at night, meant the animals craved food relentlessly 'feed me..feed me!  So bales of hay and sheep nuts disappeared rapidly and they still wanted more!

There were wonderful sunrises, with brilliant red skies only warning of the storms to come.  And they did! Blizzard after blizzard... and snow ploughs and gritters fought their way through to keep the roads open! 

Visited one evening by a pair of Widgeons, blown off course by the blizzard ,  they rested but were gone the next morning.  English Partridge arrived every afternoon to gorge themselves on mixed corn, usually fed to the ducks and hens and the hedgerows were filled with Field fare taking the apples and berries. Joined by flocks of Yellow Hammer, Chaffinch, Bull finch and the usual suspects, Blackbirds, Robins Hedge Sparrows but no wrens.  What a fantastic sight.  There were so many wild birds queueing for fat balls, apples, peanuts and of course, water put out every morning and replaced every evening.  Such harsh weather.

We've survived through it with a genuine feel of the community spirit , people picking mail up (we've not seen a Postie for weeks!) and supplies for those unable to get out.  Care in the community worked.

With the New Year came a rapid thawing, green field again and back to normality for now at least.

Saturday 6th November - What a wonderful morning it was.  Clear blue sky, not a cloud to be seen, crisp and cold.  Bec and I had planned to climb the Cheviot.  What a perfect day.  Packed lunches ready, yummi roast chicken rolls, filled flasks with tea and an enormous block of chocolate, for energy of course!  Scraping the ice off the car, we set off following the Harthope Burn along Harthope Valley, parking just before Langleeford. The day was glorious and just right for walking.  Climbing up to Scald Hill the views across the hills were spectacular and although the ground was sticky, we made good time,  stopping for a cuppa (Yorkshire tea and chocolate!) before our 'push for the summit!  Off we went! The map contours showed the climb was getting steeper and we agreed, it was, but we just cracked on, stopping every so often to take in the ever changing views and following the Ptarmigans as they took to the skies.  Now we could see the coastline, Holy Island, Bamburgh Castle, and down towards Beadnell, but not quite Dunstanburgh. Fantastic! Climbing over the final stile we couldn't believe the perfect pavement that reached out to the trig point! How very thoughtful! Well Done and thankyou! After that hard climb it was so 'easy peasy' to reach the summit.

Taking in the views from the trig point, our picnic a very welcome break, we looked towards the west.  Dark clouds were gathering and the sun disppearing momentarily behingd them.  Suddenly so cold.  Jackets out, hats and gloves on, we decided to head down.  Passing along the Penine way towards the Scotsmans Cairn, the air became sharp, cooling fast as the sun disappeared behind the hills.  Following the Harthope Burn from the small springs at the top, to the rushing waters further down, the Burn expanded rapidly, joining numerous racing water courses tumbling randomly down the  smooth slopes. Our pace was increasing, the route criss crossing the Burn.   Heavy rain over the previous few days had created cascading waters gliding over the exposed rocks and springs appearing and disappearing beneath the saturated ground, gurgling into underground spaces.  Harthope Linn was a joy.  Truly spectacular!  What a great adventure and back before dark! 

Sorry no photos.  We forgot the camera!

We had a fantastic workshop at Spylaw.  Led by Jenny Blayney, the event was off to a brilliant start with the weather.  A really warm few days with trips to Routing Lynn, Weetwood Moor to see the cup and ring 'Rock Art' , St Cuthbert's Cave and Lindisfarne.  Thoroughly atmoshperic.  The drawings and paintings produced were amazing and we've included some in our gallery. More workshops in May and September next year.

August saw us introducing some new hens to our already thriving community.  We thought we'd like a bit of variety so havechosen three Border Blues and three Border Sussex.  They are very pretty and seem to have settled in OK.  This will mean more eggs for our regular customers and even some available for passers by.