Spring is here

Hello to all. It has been a little while since we updated you about what has been happening to us at Argument Cottage-well sadly some bad and thankfully some good things!

Firstly, Phil has been really poorly and spent a long while in hospital recently. He is now slowly on the road to recovery thank goodness! Our new routine involves us spending part of each day walking in Guisborough Forest as part of the rehabilitation process.

It is great to have such a fantastic resource so close by, it makes you really appreciate the simple things in life when things have been so hard. We then go for a coffee, tea, soup or snack to any of the many wonderful bistros nearby. At the moment our favourite is the Cats Whiskers on Chaloner Street where the soups are magnificent- especially the pea and mint. Sometime we venture futher afield to Great Ayton, Stokesley, the moors or coast. We found a new gem of a bistro yesterday in Great Ayton call Tallys. They served lovely food at an extremely reasonable price- service and ambience were great too. Things are improving every day for Phil and me, thankfully so is the weather.

Amidst all the chaos of the last few months we have had some really positive experiences too. We achieved a four star grading for the fourth time from VisitBritain for the quality of our accommodation. We were delighted that our continued improvement and good work was recognised. Thanks too to our friend Martin Smith who helped getting the cottage ready for the assessment visit- he was a real star!

We have also had some really lovely guests staying with us during this period. A mum and daughter from Canada who have a family history connection to Guisborough- Hutton Village to be precise. Shirley and Barbara, two really great ladies have kindly contributed information to Martin Smith, for the next edition of The Guisborough Life local magazine. The story revolves around a courageous act by their relative at High Cliff Farm in 1908. Please see the story below about the award he received.

Our current guests, a lovely couple, are on the way to getting married in Gretna Green! Argument Cottage has the first wedding (almost) on site...........our best wishes go to them for a long and happy life together.

Yesterday members of our lovely family took a day out to Grosmont to go on the steam train to Goathland and back (unfortunately we could not make it). Anyway they kindly let us post these great photos to our site for you to see just how wonderful the North York Moors Railway is and the villages of Grosmont and Goathland- real Heartbeat land!

Thanks to all of our guests and family for providing such interesting stories to pass on. We will keep you posted on any new developments in the next few weeks. Not forgetting the help of families during this difficult period. A mention too is needed for our dear friend Denise Nesbitt who continues to support me, with walks with Wilma on Saltburn Beach, chats and wedding exhibition planning. The next one is Dunsley Hall near Whitby this Sunday. Check out Denise's blog on mrsnesbittsplace.blogspot.com.

A big thank you to everyone from Maria and Phil!