Alston Old Hall Barn Bnb

Alston Old Hall Barn Bnb 'Absolutely charming accommodation.'

Instruments of torture. I don't iron. I was never good at geometry and there's something about the non-conformist tiny...
13/02/2024

Instruments of torture.
I don't iron. I was never good at geometry and there's something about the non-conformist tiny iron shape and how it fits or doesn't fit over a massive duvet cover that just does my head in before I've started. Is ironing a generational thing? My mum irons knickers, my friends iron mostly nothing, though blokes sometimes iron shirts. And yet I'll confess, there is delight to be had in slipping between freshly laundered and ironed sheets. When the weather is good I hang sheets out in the garden to dry and they come inside relatively flat and smelling sweet, but in winter it's a race through the rain to the 1970s tumble dryer in the outhouse, and then tossing scrunched up sheets into a cupboard and hoping for the best. When a guest arrives in the lean days of winter, I eye the linen cupboard with suspicion before opening the door - one of those days I'll go in there and never return.
Do you know someone who likes to iron?
Would they like to be my friend?

My house has a blue door. It happens to be a colour I love, called 'Mambo' by and that brings a smile to my face, but ...
04/02/2024

My house has a blue door. It happens to be a colour I love, called 'Mambo' by and that brings a smile to my face, but it's also a homage to Frida Kahlo's La Casa Azul in Mexico City. The Blue House was Frida's house, Diego had his own, even if they often lived and entertained there together (the kitchen in Frida's house is a riot of hand-painted walls and ceramics).
I didn't meet someone and move in with them in my 20s or 30s, it just never happened, so I never really had to do that thing where you have to compromise on choice of sofa or argue about the colour of a front door. I just painted it the colour I wanted it painted and then opened it up to people who wanted to stay.
I'm not saying that there is a right way or a wrong way, only that there are many ways to live.

Meet my mum. She's just the best thing ever. I reckon you never know when or where you're going to find a special pers...
02/02/2024

Meet my mum. She's just the best thing ever. I reckon you never know when or where you're going to find a special person in your life. It might be the person you marry, it might be your second child, it might be that guy you had a five day fling with when you were nineteen or it might be your local librarian who never judges your choice of books. It might be a stranger on a plane. Or it might be, if you're really lucky, your mum.
My mum is a soft power sort of woman, a Lady Macbeth but nicer. Rarely does she directly instruct or forbid; she bides her time, chooses her moment, influences and schemes. I don't have her wit, cunning or patience and often wish I did. She's a daily inspiration and a barrel of laughs. Since my dad passed away our place has become something of a 'women rule' place, a matriarchy of sorts. I remember when I lived in Swaziland, where women would pick peanuts in the fields, sell donuts by the side of the road, hold community meetings, dance. I'm fascinated by the fact that when my mum got married in 1971, her name was not on the mortgage for the first house she and my dad bought, because women's income wasn't thought to count. In 1975 the UK S*x Discrimination Act allowed women to open a bank account in their own name and apply for loans and credit. I am grateful to live now and would love to help women educate themselves about their finances. Being an Airbnbhost helps give me the financial freedom to pursue other passions that don't always pay well, like music or film. But I couldn't do any of this without my mum. Credit where credit's due.

We don't get much snow round here because we're only 18 miles from the sea, and we're only a little island, the gulf str...
28/01/2024

We don't get much snow round here because we're only 18 miles from the sea, and we're only a little island, the gulf stream keeps out land relatively warm. I used to live in Berlin and I have fond memories of long, snowy winters and road trips to Prague involving dark nights and big bowls of gulash, but there are pleasures to be found in the British winter too, like walking your dog on a big empty beach, wearing a ridiculous ancient fur coat. From my house it's a 40 minute drive to the beach pictured where on a good day you can watch riders gallop their horses and kitesurfers leap high above The Irish Sea. There's a great cafe there tucked among the sanddunes. Come stay and I'll tell you how to find it

This first unassuming, blurry photo is from four years ago, January 27 2020. My mate Jason sent it to me as he landed a...
27/01/2024

This first unassuming, blurry photo is from four years ago, January 27 2020. My mate Jason sent it to me as he landed at Manchester airport, a photo of police waiting to es**rt him off the plane. It was funny because Jason was always getting into little bits of trouble, but the police had turned up because Jason had been in China, where the streets were empty because of some virus that at that time I didn't think anything of. My life was busy. The venue I was running was moving into its third year of operation. We were now doing supper clubs with and everyone was loving her Mediterannean inspired food; I was up in Glasgow as a delegate of Celtic Connections to find the finest folk bands, like Breabach , who came and played for a full house at our venue the following month. Indiana Aphrodite Isherwood wooed a crowd of kids and pensioners at a Sunday matinee, an important step on our venue's journey to inclusivity and diversity and going on to tell everyone about it. Meanwhile the UK was leaving the EU and I had made a film about it. And back home my mum's darling dog, Freddie, was having trouble with his breathing, and I'd just adopted a cat that was crapping everywhere and which my border collie didn't like. Like I said, life was busy. But three months later I was one of a million and a half people in the hospitality industry in the UK who were lucky enough to be on furlough payment from the government, at home with no guests to entertain. A year later, by May 2021, there were just half a million of those people who were still on furlough. What had happened to the other million? And what of the venues that used to entertain?
Those of you who know me will know this story, or at least part of it. But I thought that through telling the story of how I ended up doing Airbnb, I could add a voice to the quiet that came after January 2020, and which stayed a very long time.
#2020

Last spring I moved back to Lancashire after a six month stint in Edinburgh. Slightly mad on the joys of spring, and wa...
26/01/2024

Last spring I moved back to Lancashire after a six month stint in Edinburgh. Slightly mad on the joys of spring, and wanting to splash some cash to make my mark on my home having abandoned it for Alba for a while, I stopped by a garden centre near Southport one sunny day, randomly bought a selection of plants that I had no idea how to look after and shoved them all into my Mini. There were date palms and other palms and things that have no business being in Lancashire. I brought a few of them inside in December and used one as a replacement Christmas tree, but time will tell whether they and I have lasted a year. We are still waiting on spring frosts to snap before we can put our tropical friends outside again. They make me happy, these palms, spikey, no nonsense, no flowers, they're like the punk rockers of the plant kingdom. I really hope they make it.

The pros and cons or Airbnb, or of booking.com, or online, reviewed travel in general. We live in a world of few surpri...
23/01/2024

The pros and cons or Airbnb, or of booking.com, or online, reviewed travel in general. We live in a world of few surprises. We book places on account of their reviews, because we hear the host is nice, because there are ample USB charging points in the room. But some of my best travel memories have been because of surprises, but they only happen when you leave at least some things open to chance. And not liking where you are staying is ok too. I studied languages at university and probably would never have done so had I not gone on school exchanges, where I was a bit uncomfortable and homesick for a while in someone else's house. Traveling is just another way of experiencing life, and life isn't always perfect.
This is a photo I took of myself in Mexico City a few years back, on a trip that was rich, exciting and varied but on which I was also at times lonely, perplexed or disappointed.
These days, as an Airbnb Superhost, a lot of what I do beyond changing sheets is being hospitable. This means listening to people talk about their lives, in the way that hairdressers, barbers, and bartenders do, laughing with people but also hearing about their own challenges and disappointments. I love it but after a busy summer season it can get tiring, so I am glad of the slow winter days to recharge and recuperate, ready to be chirpy and welcoming and to listen once more.
This year I'm going to be documenting the ups and the downs of being a host, and being hosted. Stay tuned: podcast coming.

Everybody needs a Bruce in their life.My place is not pet-friendly because we have so many pets here already, but if you...
21/01/2024

Everybody needs a Bruce in their life.
My place is not pet-friendly because we have so many pets here already, but if you're in need of a bit of four-legged love come to the right place. The Collies will take you on walks (they'll show you the way) and Bruce will love you forever if you just throw him a stick.

My mum's friend Liz painted this picture of our place as seen from our woods in spring. It's about the time of year whe...
19/01/2024

My mum's friend Liz painted this picture of our place as seen from our woods in spring. It's about the time of year when we start to get excited about bluebell season, but did you know that bluebells are a protected species in the UK and that it is illegal to pick them? Bluebells may pack a punch with their colour but they're sensitive little things, so it's important that we don't trample them. But if you book to stay in April then you can walk the well-trodden paths through the woods behind my house and enjoy the bluebells in all their glory.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/our-cause/nature-climate/nature-conservation/how-we-care-for-bluebells

'Air Bnb was never meant to be the big idea. It was meant to be the thing that paid the rent so that we could think of ...
18/01/2024

'Air Bnb was never meant to be the big idea. It was meant to be the thing that paid the rent so that we could think of the big idea.’
Brian Chesky, founder of AirBnb.

I knew what he meant. Only I was still thinking of the big idea.

Airbnme The Podcast coming soon. Stay tuned.

Sometimes guests become friends. This photo was taken last summer in the dining room of my mum's house, the original Al...
18/01/2024

Sometimes guests become friends. This photo was taken last summer in the dining room of my mum's house, the original Alston Old Hall, with four of my long-term summer guests.
There are apparently three ghosts in this dining room, a builder working on the house in the early 90s met them and reported that they were all called Margaret, and that one of them had a boat on the river! The house was once lived in by Margaret Hoghton, who. moved there in 1496 with her husband, William, but he died in 1501 and she continued to live there. Who knows, perhaps she invited some other Margarets to keep her company just as I have people to stay with me now. The ghosts, the builder reported, were very friendly. I've yet to meet them but I quite like to think of these three old Margarets hanging out by the river with their boat, chatting and eating cake in their old age.

Alston Old Hall was one of several 'halls that was built along the banks of the River Ribble many, many years ago. The ...
18/01/2024

Alston Old Hall was one of several 'halls that was built along the banks of the River Ribble many, many years ago. The earliest document relating to Alston is dated 1212 AD and we believe that our hall was built about a century later.
People often ask if you can swim in the river. The answer is yes you can and I do every summer and absolutely love it. But should you?
By now we know that the sad truth is that the water companies in our country are allowed to leak sewage into our rivers. I am a member of Surfers Against Sewage and when I swim I check their online interactive map, Safer Seas and Rivers Service,, which shows you what sewage has been released in the past 24 hours. The recent BBC Panaroma show on United Utilities had some horror stories to tell, so I do always advise keeping your head above water when swimming, joining Surfers Against Sewage and writing to your local MP to campaign, campaign, campaign. Not just for our sake but for the fish, birds and otters to whom this river is home.
https://www.sas.org.uk/water-quality/sewage-pollution-alerts/

Address

Alston Old Hall Farm
Longridge
PR33BN

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 8:30pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 8:30pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 8:30pm
Thursday 8:30am - 8:30pm
Friday 8:30am - 8:30pm
Saturday 8:30am - 8:30pm
Sunday 8:30am - 8:30pm

Telephone

+447419119700

Website

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