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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Helsbury Attractions #1

We've spent a bit of time out and about this summer checking out some of the new and old attractions in the area. We thought we'd share our thoughts with you as we go so you can include them in the itinerary, the first is Porfell Animal Sanctuary.

Porfell Animal Sanctuary

This is a good day out for smaller children as the sanctuary is on a fairly compact site. Porfell provides a home for elderly and difficult exotic animals. Those ‘retired’ from zoo and wildlife park breeding programmes or confiscated by customs and the RSPCA. When we visited (summer 09) the animals ranged from a Lynx and an Ocelot, Capybara, Wallabies and Racoons through to Pygmy Goats, Llama and Zebra. An interesting talk gave us the opportunity to stroke a Hedgehog, a Ferret and a Monitor Lizard and with Deer that eat from your hand you get a great up-close with the animals feel.

On a practical note, Porfell is well signposted and relatively easy to find and has an ample car park. The café has a limited menu of the sandwiches and pasties kind. Not really a dog friendly day out with lots of poultry wandering around and free-range Wallabies. GTBS Bronze.

http://www.porfellanimalland.co.uk/

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Vet Tourism

Here's an interesting idea, we've had great comments about our local vet, Penbode Veterinary Group, especially in relation to their costs. They are perceived as friendly, efficient and great value for money. I was talking to their man in Camelford this morning and he told me that they get a bit of business from people bringing their dogs down to Cornwall for procedures which would be costly where they live. It's an intriguing idea and one on which I'd love to hear your views. The idea of combining your holiday with a visit to the vet and a bit of convalesence here on site might not be a bad idea!

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Helsbury in History...

An interesting mention of Helsbury [or Hellesbury] as it's called in this profile of Sir Richard Buller, a 17th Century Lord. Helsbury is referred to as an "important Parke" in the manor of Helstone, with "timber trees, sapplins and pollards groweing in the hedge rowes and other partes of the Parke of Helsebury are valued to be worth . .. £82 10s. The under woodes groweing in the said parke being 18 acres amongest which are valued divers sapplins and timber trees is valued to be worth ... £180."

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Virtual Brochure

Our new brochure has recently been launched we've noted that it has become quite a large file, 15MB or so, and although bandwidth is less of a problem nowadays we thought it would be better to make it available in a virtual format, so you can now see it at this link. You can leaf through it and zoom in and also click on links within it. We hope you like it but as always we're interested in your feedback. And if you'd like a copy of the pdf you can get it from our web site here.

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Crossing fields with dogs...

A couple of unfortunate incidents have brought the issue of livestock on public footpaths to public attention once again. Farmers have a perfect right to keep stock in fields with public footpaths running through them and indeed there is little danger from cows unless they have young with them and unless you have a dog. We provide some guidance on this in our visitor guide but here's a useful article that cover's the subject.

This does not apply to Helsbury Park itself of course as we have no livestock on the land at all.

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Here's someone who really gets it...

"Can I just say I have been trawling the Internet for ever trying to find a beautiful dog friendly cottage for my family and beloved Golden Retriever and have never ever ever found anything that comes remotely close to the little piece of Heaven you're offering. For some reason most people seem to think that if you have a dog you must be happy to accept sub standard accomodation. You're the only people who appear to understand that there are dog owners out here who have nice homes despite having a dog and want to replicate their standards of living when they go on holiday."

That's a great description of what we're trying to achieve here at Helsbury Park, check our web site for availability for 2010.

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The pool at night...

I had a feeling it might look spectacular at night and here's the evidence, there some more on our flickr page

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