New Helsbury Photos

As it's been such a lovely Summer we thought it was high time we updated some of our photos so we commissioned a photographer to spend some time on site to capture the essence of Helsbury. The grounds are all looking stunning and the buildings have never looked better, we're sure you'll agree.

You can see them on the gallery page on our web site or here on flickr.

Helsbury is awarded 5 Star Gold for the 5th year running...

Our recent Quality in Tourism inspection has resulted a 5th year of being awarded 5 stars with a coveted GOLD standard. Scoring in the high 90% and in some cases 100% on all of the criteria we are very proud to be offering our guests a unique dog friendly experience whilst maintaining these incredibly high standards.

Special mention was made of our housekeeping team: "An absolutely excellent standard of housekeeping and cleanliness seen at the time of the assessment. With attention to detail seen at both high and low levels, furniture pulled out and surfaces dust free. Sue and the team are to be congratulated on maintaining this standard."

The Guardian is looking for photos of 'Pets on Holiday'...

If you've been away this Summer why not post some of your pet photos to the Guardian web site:

Pets on Holiday

And if you've been to Helsbury please do give us a mention!

Pool roof in bloom...

Well, I'll say one thing about our green roof it is different every year, this year the sedum is in full bloom and the roof is a shock of pink blooms, absolutely lovely!

Great review of our web site...

Christine Gadson sent this lovely review of the Helsbury web site: "I was just taking a look at a Kennel Club email and your website came up. We do have a farmhouse second home in mid Cornwall so are not at the moment in need of accommodation but your website was so user friendly and the whole complex looks so wonderful that I found myself spending time enjoying it all. I then spent a good 15 minutes in all the galleries - what wonderful photos of scenery, accommodation and of course dogs! A wonderfully inspirational website with such great attention to detail and so much to read. Fantastic! I just had to drop a line to say "well done" on all fronts. Very impressive and it looks like a successful business and well deserved."

Helsbury Park Dog Photo Competition 2013 Entry 3

Shirley & Clive Stinchcombe stayed with us recently and sent these lovely shots of their two dogs, Shirley said: "Thought we would send you a few snaps of our dogs Jack & Archie for you to add to your collection! We had a great time in February and will be back."

Helsbury Dog Photo Competition 2013 Entry 2

Gillian Flack sent this great shot of here dogs enjoying the river walk at Helsbury. She said: "Just a note to thank you very much for the lovely holiday we have just spent at Helsbury Park. Our first visit and we were very impressed. The standard of the cottage and cleanliness were extremely good, and the grounds absolutely superb, great for the dogs, they honestly looked as if they had permanent smiles on their faces !! The pool complex looked good in the pictures but in reality surpassed our expectations."

Helsbury Dog Photo Competition 2013 Entry 1

We're off and running again! Rob Elliott sent these lovely shots of their dog, he said: "Thank you for a wonderful stay in Marhayes cottage.  We have just returned and downloaded some photos from our visit which we would like to share with you for the dog photo competition.  The first two photos were taken inside your cottage after a exciting day out, the third photo was taken at Daymer Bay and we saw some sun that day and the last photo was taken in your field by the river. Many thanks again for a wonderful time."

And the Winner is...

We've had well over 1000 votes in our competition which is fantastic, thank you very much. All the photos received votes, 2 or 3 stood out from the crowd but there was on clear winner and it was HP013, sent in by Neil & Bridget Davey of their lovely dog Porthos ready for a game on the beach.

Neil said: "Amazing! Totally blown away at the news that we had won this years competition and what a great way to start this years visit to Helsbury Park, to  be met by Dave with the fantastic news,  our two Beagles Porthos & Lucy are already looking forward to coming back in 2013, but this time with their friends Barney and Jaz Beagle and their humans, it will be Beagle mania, but we can't think of a better place to have the best holiday ever!

Reinforcement called in at Broadview...

We've had some particularly keen jumpers this year so we've decided to call in the reinforcements at Broadview.  This extra high fencing should deter even the keenest escapee! To be fair most dogs are trying to stay at Helsbury rather than escape but for those more inquisitive ones we have to be a bit more vigilant!

Make your dog feel extra special this easter...

Our friends at the Dog Cookie Company have created these lovely dog treats, perfect for Easter. Christine said: "For all you doggie lovers, we have an EGGciting new product this Easter- our Doggie Liver Cake Easter Eggs. Available in both blue egg boxes and pink egg boxes, these fatless whisked sponge cakes made with fresh lambs liver are great for training and reward as dogs LOVE the taste. They are £5.00 per box and can be sent direct to Helsbury Park if you prefer so they are waiting for you when you get there."

Bird's Eye View of North Cornwall

Check out this spectacular video of the North Coast from the air!

New Interactive Booking Form

We've given our pdf booking form a bit a facelift and also made it interactive which means when you download it you have a choice. You can print and fill it in by hand or you can type into the form fields and select the options as you go, save it and then print it or email it to us. Which means that you get a copy of what you've sent us and it saves you time.

Here's the new booking form.

Quality in Tourism Report

We're very happy to announce that Helsbury Park has been awarded 5 Star Gold for the 3rd year on the run, this year's report saw some of our highest ever marks, with the Farmhouse scoring 96% overall, here are some of the key comments:

"A very thorough standard of cleanliness and housekeeping standards to all properties, which is credit to the efforts of the team."

"Helsbury Park is an accommodation gem offering superb quality standards throughout. Guests are able to enjoy the excellent leisure facilities and access to the accompanying extensive pasture land. A real highlight is the dog friendly holiday experience, which has been very carefully considered to offer outstanding service in this field."

The Winner of the 2011 Dog Photo Competition....

We've had over 1200 votes in our competition which is the highest ever, thank you very much. All the photos received votes, two or three stood out from the crowd but there was one clear winner and it was HP004, sent in by Nichola Hockey, of Rio the Retriever smiling broadly on the beach during his holiday here at Helsbury.

Jason & Nichola sent this message after hearing that they'd won: “Wow! Before arriving we had high expectations of Helsbury and were certainly not disappointed. We were overwhelmed by the attention to detail in the cottages, the view and the new pool complex is stunning. Helsbury Park is by far the best dog friendly holiday accommodation we have stayed in, it is like having a holiday at home, all the comforts of your own home and the beautiful countryside right on your doorstep. We think Helsbury Park is a very special place which feels like home as soon as we have unpacked! A superb holiday for all of us. We're all really pleased and excited about winning this year’s Dog Photo competition. Rio our 4 year old Golden Retriever absolutely loves being on holiday at Helsbury. He enjoys running around the fields, the woodland and being a retriever he is always in the river!”

FREE iPhone App for Helsbury...

We've just launched an iphone app to support our communication strategy for Helsbury Park. It's aimed at anyone who's looking to come, is already booked or is here on site. The Helsbury app has a live availability feed as well as overviews of all the cottages and facilities on site. It also has mapping, emergency info and links to our blog, web site and facebook page.

You can find it here on iTunes as a free download. We'd love to get your feedback on how it works and ideas for other things you'd like to see on it.

Click here to download it

Google Streetview

Here's Helsbury on Google Streetview in case you need to find us...

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2010 Calendar & Price List

As we filled so quickly this year we've got our 2010 calendar and price list launched nice and early so you can get booking for next year. We've also extended our £200 couples discount to cover the whole year and not be exclusive to outside school holidays. As we see so many couples we thought it was unfair to penalise them in our peak times. Hope to see you soon!

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Voting Now Open in the 2009 Dog Photo Competition

Voting is now open in our 2009 Dog Photo Competition, so please feeel free to get involved. The winning photo will get the lucky winner a FREE week at Helsbury. There's also a draw for anyone who votes for a £100 voucher to use against a holiday with us. To see the full entries use the links below:

Aimee Cinderby
Tony Madge
Beth Currie
Dawn Moore
Lisa Castle
Karen Arevalo
Nick and Emma Schlesinger
Lesley and Colin Gentle
Anita Hope
Richard and Sarah Topps
Jim Mundy
Nick Tucker
Anne Chambers
Kirsty Hillen-Clarke
Pauline Droy
Niki Boho
Jayne Lees
Hilary Burt
Ann & Tony Pearson
Andrew Brindle
Lesley and Mike Kadylak
Ian Hastie
Kate Alberink
Claire Lloyd
Kerrie Owen

To vote for your favourite from our short list go to the 2009 Dog Photo Competition Shortlist and follow the instructions.

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Helsbury Park Dog Photo Competition 2008/09 Entry 25

Whoops, just as I was putting together the final list I realised I'd missed one, here's Kerrie Owen's entry of her two dogs Luca and Blue having a look at the view of Roughtor.

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