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Progress at Offcote Grange Cottage HolidaysPosted on Thursday, August 14 2008 by Pat Walker in category Life at Offcote Grange This page is aimed to give you a brief history of our family and achievements, since I think 1979 which is the point of aquiring Offcote Grange our present home. Pat and Chris are married with 2 boys Lee and Adam, Lee aged 29 is currently at University studying Political Science, Philosophy and Logic for his PHD along with his PGCE is RE and Adam aged 26 a qualified motorcycle mechanic now at home creating much sort after designer trainers with the help of his much loved 150 year old singer patcher sewing machine and also slowly but surely learning some of the skills in the building trade. Have a look at his website www.ghettro.com , its facinating. Pat still works for the Fire Service after 37 years as station manager and Chris has now been retired for over 3 years and gone back to his roots and first love of building. Pats Hobbies are painting, reading and gardening and Chris loves creating with his building and has his collection of vintage motorcycles, vehicles and engines. We have 5 wonderful cats all with differing characters, 6 very friendly pet ferrets and 6 chickens. We both love animals and have gone through the sheep, duck and rabbit phase over the years. We like to be involved with local issues and as such Chris is currently chair of Ashbourne Arts and is a member of the parish council. I for my sins have been secretary of the Derbyshire Fire Engine Society since 1976 and am secretary of the local accommodation group- Derbyshire Dales Ashbourne Accommodation Group. We have recently joined the local ACE car club and Chris is a member of the Vintage Motorcycle club. We keep busy with one thing or the other. We both enjoy travelling to far away places and are trying to cover the world at some point. In 1979 we purchased Offcote Grange at auction, everyone though we were mad- maybe they were right as 29 years later we are still pouring money into restoring it. When we bought the house it had a demolition order on it, and a condition of purchase was that we would withdraw the order and restore the hpuse to its former glory. It was a massive project and an estimated 10 years for restoration looks like being around 35 years. There wasnt one wall that wasnt falling down and with around 30 rooms in the main house and a range of outbuildings all in the same state of neglect this was a nightmare. We started this project with a 10 month old baby who had to suffer living in conditions like being in the 1800's, no loo, only cold water, no electric in some rooms, no heating, water running down the internal walls-hell - but thankfully we had enthusiasm. I get a bit cheesed off when people say you are lucky living here. Its only because we took a big risk, invested all the money we had, did all the work ourselves and put up with living for several years in a slum and the rest of our life in a building site- not lucky just pure hard work and determination. And it gets better- if you think that was hard work at the same time as working on Offcote and with a baby in tow and with full time jobs we purchased a second cottage Hillside Croft again derelict and with 6.5 acres of secluded pastureland- and this hadnt been lived in for over 100 years. Over the years we have worked hard doing almost all the work ourselves, Hillside Croft took us 14 years to complete and has now been let as a luxury self catering holiday cottage for 15 years. See www.hillsidecroft.co.uk for details. Three years ago saw the conversion of all the outbuildings into a second luxury self catering cottage Billys Bothy see www.offcotegrange.com. and the completion of restoration of all the outbuildings into garages and a workshop. Which leaves us still with Offcote Grange- about one third completed and around 20 rooms still to do. For those of you interested in the work in progress keep an eye on this blog and we will keep you updated, if you are staying with us please ask for a guided tour of this lovely house which dates incidently back to the 1600's. Life is busy but very satisfying, I could do with a bit more me time to let me enjoy the work in the garden - a beautiful walled garden full of plants which you are welcome to visit by arrangement, or to create some new masterpieces ( in my dreams) but maybe I will have time when retirement calls. We have had a few setbacks, in 1988 we had quite a serious fire at Offcote Grange, and just before that Chris had an accident in sawing off his thumb- a quick shout from one of the kids to his dad when using the circular saw and job done. We never really set out to run an accommodation business- we just drifted into it gradually when making a decision on what to do with the properties- we are a bit like magpies and dont like to see anything we have created being given or sold to someone else. Its hard work but enjoyable- its nice to meet people and to give them something special to come to for thier holidays. We can now offer self catering, bed and breakfast, corporate accommodation with the relevent equipment, and pampering with massaging, nail treatments, sauna and use of our cinema room. January 2008 we arrived home from Florida to find that the land around our house which used to belong to it when it was still a working farm was up for sale, Chris had always wanted to buy some of this back and luckily we have managed to aquire 9 acres making 10 in total around the house and cottage. Visitors will enjoy the use of this by having more land to wander in and picturesque scenery and gardens to meander in.
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