Helsbury Dog Photo Competition Entry 17

Gail Radley sent these shots of her dogs enjoying the river at Helsbury. She said: "Thank you for a lovely week at Broadview again.My exclusion from the outside world a rare treat!"

The pond is looking stunning...

Hats off to Andy, our groundsman, he has got the pond looking absolutely amazing! It really is an idyllic spot to relax, especially in the evenings when the sun is setting. Click on the image to see it larger.

Helsbury Dog Photo Competition 2014 Entry 19

Sue Jackson bought her little dog Mollie to Helsbury recently and sent these lovely photos in. She said: "We had a lovely, very relaxing weekend and would loved to have stayed longer. It’s a great place to explore from but with wonderful facilities onsite. Our cottage was huge, very comfortable with underfloor heating which we all enjoyed – particularly Mollie! "

Bridge over the River Camel...

There won't be many new bridges over the River Camel any time soon so we're very lucky to have had permission to build this lovely bridge providing access to the land we have on the other side of the river.

 This bridge provides walkies on another 20 acres of land including another huge fenced paddock and more lovely woodland. It will be finished over the Winter and ready for guests in 2014. Just in case you need reminding you can see some images of the land at Helsbury here on our website.

Helsbury Dog Photo Competition 2013 Entry 17

Sandrine Farr and her family stayed in Boradview this Autumn and had a lovely time, here's what they had to stay: "We have just returned from a week's holidays at Broadview and we had the paddock next to it to ourselves for the week (none of the other guests used it - they had the Park closer to them I suppose) and whenever we went to the Park it was also always empty! So my dogs had a wonderful stress-free week!"

Helsbury Dog Photo Competition 2012 Entry 18

There are times when we get feedback which just blows us away, and this is one of those times, some lovely photos and a poem no less!!

Helsbury Park – a piece of Doggie Heaven,

We are used to lovely place as we live on the coast in Devon!

But at Helsbury Park, WOW, what can we say,

It had everything and more for us to do each and every day!

We’d be up bright and early - first ones at the door,

Out through the paddock, eager to explore!

Running through the meadow, roaming the woods, splashing in the river,

Mum taking lots of photos, something about a ‘competition winner’?

Back to the cottage for a drink and some cookie treats – a gift from Leza and Dave,                     

We both agreed that they were yummy and now our definite fave!

Off out to the beaches to frolic in the sand and sea,

Daymer Bay and Rock were amazing and Padstow had plenty to do and see!

Sleepy and content by the fire while the girls went to the pool for a swim,

Either Mum preparing dinner or we all dined out at the local Inn!

Every day an adventure, even better than the one before,

We loved every minute and wanted to stay for more!

Then sadly, we watched Mum pack our things away,

Our holiday had come to an end, a very very sad day!

But now we are happy and full of celebrations,

We’re coming back next year – hurray – love Esmee & Lyra the Dalmatians!!

P.S

The humans loved it too and walked around Helsbury with smiles on their faces,

For doggies and their owners it really is the very best of places!

Visitors Book 012

We get as lot of lovely comments, but not many of them come hand written so it's nice to see that the art form still exists, here's a lovely letter we received recently. Click on it to see it full size.

Helsbury Dog Photo Competition 2012 Entry 8

Sharon Etzel and her family travelled all the way from Germany to be with us, she sent this lovely review of her holiday:

"We drove practically non-stop for 13 hours from South Germany to get to Helsbury Park for our first visit. We arrived, unpacked the car and went out for a dog-walk down the valley. Literally within minutes of arrival, after a pretty exhausting journey, we were agreeing that it was worth every mile and that we would definitely be coming back in the future!

We had a fantastic fortnight at Helsbury Park. Over the years, we have stayed many times all over Cornwall, but in terms of accommodation and location, we have never had it so good.

Thank you so much for providing such a wonderful place to stay. As I wrote in our feedback form: We loved it, our teenage boys loved it (and that's an achievement in itself!) and of course, our bearded collie Talisker loved it.

OK, the weather wasn't wonderful, but that certainly didn't stop us having a fantastic time, because Marhayes was so comfortable, the grounds so lovely to walk in - and the weather often improved as we drove the short distance to the north coast.

We had a magical experience one morning at Helsbury down towards the river: we were stopped in our tracks by the sight of a fox close by, ears pricked, intently watching some small animal in the grass, leaping into the air and diving after its breakfast."

Helsbury Dog Photo Competition 2012 Entry 3

Suzanne Harris entered this lovely photo of her two dogs Bob and Charlie here at Helsbury, she said: "Sorry it has taken a while to drop you this email but just wanted to say thank you for a wonderful week spent at Helsbury Park in March. We are already looking at dates and hoping to stay again. Thought this one showed just how much Bob and Charlie loved the river at Helsbury Park and that they were very sad to have to go home. Hope to be back soon."

Spring is (finally) here...

Well it took it's time! Finally the daffs are out and the sky is blue!

Wildlife Gallery

Just a quick update, we're still keeping our wildlife gallery page up to date, latest spot was a Tufted Duck on the pond, particularly pleasing as we've worked hard to keep the pond clear of weed over the winter so nice to see that the birdlife appreciates it. Other recent highlights include a rather brave fox, a pair of woodcock, massive flocks of Starlings, the stoat (my favourite) and the Heron who seems to be a regular visitor to the pond now. There were lots of deer prints in the snow over Christmas, including quite a few on the deck outside the pool, they must have fancied getting in from the cold!

Helsbury Dog Walk Map

We've been meaning to do this one for a while, it's a map of the key tracks which you can use for walking your dog here at Helsbury. In truth you can take your dog anywhere on site but these are the areas we tend to maintain as tracks throughout the year. It shows which areas are gated and roughly the best areas to walk. The map represents about 3 miles of tracks which are available here on site, as a guide to get down to river and back would take 20-30 minutes, if you take a full loop of the park then you'd be looking at 45-60 minutes of walking. Or you can do what I do which is to try and go a different way each day, there's at least 6 variants so ideal for a week's stay!

You can download it from here, it's a pdf, Helsbury Dog Walk Map

Some lovely shots...

Mike Hawkes also sent these stunning shots he took on site here at Helsbury a few weeks ago, it's a spectacular time of year...

Up close and personal...

There are many great experiences to be had at Helsbury not least of which is getting close to nature and the jewel in Helsbury's crown is definitely the family of Buzzards who live on site, they seem to be getting more and more comfortable in their surroundings and even seem to be happy to pose for photos!

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Spring is (nearly) here...

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Winter sun...

Although it's cold we are having a lovely sunny time down here in Cornwall, this photo taken by one of our guests on a beautiful crisp morning walk with the dogs pretty much sums it up. We're also glad of the sunshine for our solar panels too!

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Helsbury Park Dog Photo Competition 2010 Entry 5

Andy and Louise Grant sent these lovely shots of Harry and Charlie enjoying their stayhere at Helsbury, Andy said "Charlie and Harry really enjoyed sniffling and snuffling through the bluebells at Helsbury Park"

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Young Red Deer in the Field at Helsbury...

Protect your dog this summer...

As the grass gets longer the weather warms up it's not a bad idea to consider giving your dog a dose of a really good flea and tick treatment. We use Advantix on our dog which you can get from most vets, it has a range of benefits as well as being very easy to administer it...

• is a highly effective parasiticide against the most common and important external parasites
• repels ticks, sand flies, mosquitoes and stable flies before they can bite and suck blood
  
• reduces the risk of parasite-transmitted diseases and the stress for the pet
  
• has been developed specifically for dogs
  

For more information, check the Advantix web site.

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Flowering Now at Helsbury...

Wild – Primrose, Violet, Lady’s Mantle, Dead Nettle, Stitchwort, Bluebell, Wood anemone, Celandine and some Campion. Still some late daffodils/narcissi, Primroses and Heather in the garden. Lots to see and even more for us to identify!

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