Ann and I are both waiting to see if we’ve won this year.
This is some interval entertainment called “I love Skipton” – which I do!
Sara & Catherine are starstruck!
Update: Congratulations to Wold Cottage at Driffield and all the other winners last night. We had a wonderful evening once again and are proud to have been flying the flag for South Yorkshire.
The scaffolding finally went up at Throapham House two weeks ago and a welcome period of fine weather has allowed work to progress swiftly. We expect most of the external work to be complete by the end of September and it’s nice now to see things taking shape. The original second floor servant’s quarters will make some attractive additional rooms and with modern day insulation and roof lights will be a lot warmer and brighter than when the house was originally built.
Guests to Throapham House during this period will find turning space a little restricted in our car park so we will help to guide you out, but otherwise there is less disruption than we expected.
The photo shows the roof slates removed above our guest lounge. There will shortly be a new roof window in here which will give some fine views across Dinnington.
We’ve had a busy few days at Throapham with many of our guests attending the St Leger Festival taking place at nearby Doncaster Racecourse this week. Over breakfast I’ve been telling some of the local history associated with the oldest of Britain’s five classic horse-races and it now seems that Frankie Dettori will be in nearby Firbeck on Saturday morning ahead of this year’s race to unveil a plaque to commemorate Anthony St Leger’s connections with our area.
A more detailed article about this is in the Rotherham Advertiser.
Ann and I are once again delighted to announce that Throapham House has retained its Five Star Gold Award from Quality In Tourism, scoring 100% in both Cleanliness and Breakfast categories following a recent visit by the QIT assessor who stayed in our Dewhurst room. This was our seventh annual inspection and it’s hard to believe we’ve been running this business now for six years. Many thanks to all our guests and suppliers for your continued support.
Unfortunately the bad weather over the summer has delayed our plans to restore our roof during August and it now looks at though this will begin during the first week of September. We expect the work to take about 4 – 6 weeks.
As mentioned earlier, we expect little inconvenience to guests although there may be some restrictions on car parking near the house due to the presence of scaffolding.
Just when I really needed a camera…
Yesterday afternoon Ann and I were playing cricket in the garden with our grand children when we heard the sound of an aircraft. Soon the unmistakeable outline of a Lancaster Bomber came into few, approaching the house low over the fields from the Brookhouse direction.
The Lancaster from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight had been to the unveiling of a memorial plaque at the nearby village of Old Edlington.
It came in really very low and passed directly over our house before disappearing from view over Dinnington.
Awesome!
A similar thing happened with the Red Arrows a few years back. I recall I was up an apple tree at the time when they roared low across the house on their way to an event.
I’ve just spent a very enjoyable Saturday afternoon at the University of Sheffield Engineering Alumni day. Having graduated here in 1978 it was a great opportunity for me to catch up with what was happening at the University, including some ambitious plans to turn the old Jessops Hospital site into an ultra modern teaching facility for engineering students of the future. We had the opportunity to view the model of the proposed building at Firth Court. Ann and I were both born at Jessops – as were both of our daughters – so it was a bit of an odd feeling to think of our birthplace disappearing.
We also had a sneak preview of the Formula Student entry which will be heading for Silverstone next weekend. Here’s wishing the team the best of luck.
It was nice to have it confirmed by Professor Iain Todd that many of the students who study at Sheffield decide to settle in the area after graduation. After all, us locals already know that this is a Brilliant Yorkshire Location but having our brightest young people working here will be a great boost for the local economy for many years to come.
It was good for me to meet other graduates of the Faculty of Engineering which is now ranked among the top in the country. Some of these I’ve known professionally for many years but others I met only for the first time today. I’ll certainly be taking away some of the comments made for my work with the Institution of Engineering and Technology.
Many thanks to Ruth Stanley and Amy Jones from Alumni Relations for organising the day and to the other staff members who gave their time this afternoon to make us welcome. I’ll look forward to the next one.
White Rose Awards 2012 Finalist
Ann and Robert celebrate being shortlisted for a White Rose Award
This is the second year running we’ve made it through to the finals. Having been pipped at the post at last year’s ceremony at Doncaster Racecourse we’re now training hard and looking for an away win at Elland Road in October!
Once again we’re competing with some lovely properties across Yorkshire. Some of these we already know as members of Yorkshire’s Finest Accommodation. We’d like to take this opportunity to wish all this year’s finalists good luck at Leeds.
Click here to download our White Rose Awards 2012 press release.
I opened the post today to discover that we’d been awarded a 2012 Certificate of Excellence by Trip Advisor.
This is great news for us so we’d both like to thank all those guests who have taken the time to provide their comments. We’re delighted that you’ve enjoyed your stay at Throapham House and we hope you will return soon.
Steak and ale pie
Chicken Chardonnay
At last – some sunshine and time to get some jobs done in the garden. After a full day in the sun (in my case up a ladder repairing a leaking summerhouse roof) we didn’t feel like cooking (and by that time I felt I really did deserve another pint of ‘Moonshine’) so we decided to eat at the Black Lion in Firbeck as we’d not been there together for a couple of months.
We were both too tired for a full meal and just went for a main course. Ann had Chicken Chardonnay (£9.95) while I was initially tempted by a salad starter as a main but I recalled listening to “The Life of Pie” on Radio 4 so after much deliberation 
I gave in and plumped for the Home-made Steak and Ale Pie (£8.95).
Both meals were really very good and nicely presented. Also nice to see a steak and ale pie which does not just have a puff pastry top slapped on at the last minute. Our portions were ample and just right for what we wanted.
It was a lovely evening and warm enough to eat outside though getting a bit on the chilly side by the time we left around 9:00pm.
We normally suggest that guests at Throapham House try the Black Lion. Recent visitors have been telling us that the food has been excellent so it’s nice for us to be able to confirm this.
We need good quality pubs and food in the area that we can recommend so please keep up the good work.
(Now, after playing my ‘cello on a Thursday night can I sneak in on the way home to one of the fortnightly jazz sessions… …watch this space!)
