Solar Thermal Update

We did a pretty good job of tracking our use of solar thermal water heating last year and the results are in the chart below. Overall we created over 7000 kWh of energy from the sun, all of which was used to heat water in the cottages and in the pool. The best performer was Westhayes with the Farmhouse and the Pool coming out even. Marhayes did pretty well considering the roof is not South facing so all in all a good result.

PV power comes to Helsbury...

With Cornwall being the centre of the "Solar Goldrush" it seems only right that we would be part of it and here we are with our first set of PV panels up and running. They are going on Westhayes, Broadview and on the Stables by the Farmhouse to power the pool. We'll be tracking their output on a weekly basis.

Guests feedback

We've been reviewing all our feedback from last year and we'd thought we'd share some of the comments we've been getting:

"What a wonderful week we’ve all had at Helsbury Park – Broadview is just perfect for us and your fields and excellent facilities made for an outstanding, super dog orientated holiday!"

"Marhayes and Helsbury Park exceeded my expectations by a long way, it does what it says on the tin and more! We had a very enjoyable week, the setting was amazing, comfortable and well equipped."

"The accommodation excelled our expectations in every way (the master bed, I must say is by far the most comfortable I have experienced whilst on holiday). Westhayes is a real home from home – only with a slightly better view!!!"

"Really enjoyed our first stay at Helsbury Park, the pool is excellent very clever design and was used every day… we will definitely be coming back."

"This is our seventh year and eighth stay at Helsbury Park and yet again it has been a fantastic holiday! Thank you."

"We had a brilliant holiday with plenty to do on site and locally for us, our teenagers and, of course, the dogs. Would highly recommend Shona Moon as well."

"Really enjoyed our holiday – bungalow and setting really lovely – dog walks great – swimming pool brilliant – hope to see you again in the future."

"Now after visiting Helsbury Park we have had to ‘rethink’ the phrase ‘dog friendly’. Other establishments purporting to be ‘dog friendly’ we now realize are merely dog tolerant (in varying degrees) ... Helsbury Park turns that attitude on its head. Facilities for both 2 legs and 4 legs are second to none."

"Loved to see our dogs running free on your land, swimming in the stream they had a lovely holiday."

"This is our 5th visit and we’ve had a lovely week again. Although not big swimmers we both enjoyed the pool – very exclusive and notably chlorine-free and lovely showers too."

"Dave & Leza you have done a beautiful transformation, the accommodation & facilities are out of this world, whenever we visit Helsbury Park we know we are in Heaven."

"We had a fantastic holiday. We have only recently rescued our Chocolate Lab and it was great to see her have such a lovely time. You must be very proud of Helsbury Park. We look forward to returning!!"

"Once again a fabulous holiday made even better this year by the new excellent pool & facilities & unseasonal sunny weather. The bed was the most comfortable we have slept in. We will definitely be back. Many thanks."

View across Helsbury

Lovely photo across the Park here at Helsbury taken in the snow on Christmas Day.

Check it out here

Helsbury Dog Photo Competition 2011 Entry 27

Wow, we're up to 27! Sharon Wigfull sent these superb images of her lovely Setters who were here in November, the weather was lovely and Sharon said: "Just like to say thank you on behalf of our setters for a fantastic holiday. Despite it being November the pictures show what great weather we had. The beaches are fantastic for surfers or dogs what ever time of year. We will certainly be back for our 3rd visit next year!"

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

Changes for 2011...

As you will have noticed, we're going to be letting the Farmhouse from March of next year which means we've made some changes to the way Helsbury works for 2011. The key changes are around the pool, once you arrive on site we'll give you a briefing on using the facilities in the pool including the cover, the coin-operated sauna and the new button access system. This means the pool will be available at any time of the day and night, which we hope will please our guests.

The second major change is that we're making our office building available to all guests so they can access the internet to catch up on work or email in peace. Internet access in remote areas like Helsbury is not great but we have a 3mb broadband connection and a wireless hub which should be enough to allow guests to keep up to date.

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