THINGS TO DO IN CUMBRIA AND YORKSHIRE DALES
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What we learned from moving from the city to the country
We both come from small towns and then lived life from university onwards in the now well known, thanks to a dead king and a football team, city of Leicester. Neither of us had ever lived in the country and so not only were we moving house, moving counties, relocating...
Walking Cautley Spout
We have an absolute luxury here at St Marks Stays in that we have a walking route to Cautley Spout Waterfall right here on our doorstep. The highest waterfall in England is worth a visit and whether you take Damian as your walking guide, or simply visit the bottom of...
Sedbergh Cycling Festival
When we first heard that Sedbergh was having a cycling festival we were not sure it was for us, as we are not exactly keen cyclists. However, after cycling friends stayed with us at St Marks Stays, we realised there is a lot more to it, so Joanne took the opportunity...
Walking Cautley to Sedbergh
What are summers for, but to take advantage of the sunny weather when we get it in the UK and the evenings being light enough to hang outside in. We recently decided to take advantage of this and head out on a Sunday evening to go walking from Cautley to Sedbergh....
Cooking on an Aga
Knowing we were buying a property with an Aga, we suddenly paid attention to all ours friends that had one and asked for tips on how they go about cooking on an Aga. There were two clear points. One - it’s really easy Two - you will never want to go back once you get...
Lessons on Renovating
We knew even when we were viewing St Marks that we would be picking up a lot of lessons on renovating and in the short space of time we already have quite a few tips and tricks on decorating a house. Even though this Vicarage from 1872 did not need any big...
Yorkshire Dales Cycling
We knew the Yorkshire Dales National Park was a haven for cycling due to a sticker in the window when we moved in saying, ‘Cyclists Welcome’, but with our limited knowledge and only having one mountain bike between us, we needed our cyclist friends from the Isle of...
What is St Marks Stays?
The hardest question we have had to try and explain since we announced we were buying a property of this size and starting our new business has been, ‘What is St Marks Stays?’ St Marks is a former vicarage with 25 rooms / spaces in total that sits in 3/4 of an acre of...
Being Pet Friendly
One of our priorities for St Marks Stays was about it being pet friendly because we had struggled in the past to find the right places to travel with our cocker spaniel. So opening our home to other dogs was important to us. As St Marks Stays is on a country road we...
Why the lifestyle change?
If you already know us, or are following the blog to learn more about Damian and Joanne, you probably all have the question of, why the lifestyle change? This is a huge change and journey for us and it has probably been in our heads since 2011. Although people only...
Welcome to our journey
Welcome to our journey. Welcome to St Marks Stays and we already love you in that you are interested to follow our journey, our lifestyle and our stories here at St Marks. On our blog we will be sharing with you all about life in our gorgeous Victorian property here...