July 2010

Fishing coaching at Forda

We have long planned to offer fishing coaching at Forda and at last the person who we have always thought would be best for the role has moved to the area, having fished at Forda on holiday for the last ten years. He is Colin Blackburn, who is a fully qualified and certified coach and of course knows our lakes very well (and some years ago taught our son Harry how to fish!). Colin is married to Jayne - see new staff below ! The coaching is available for complete beginners, youngsters and anyone wanting a refresher course.

Staff changes at Forda

Many of you have met Bee, the third member of our team, over the past year or so. Sadly she is leaving Forda but we are very pleased for her, as she is going to follow her passion for animals and farming. Some of you may even see her as she will be caring for some of the animals at the local attraction "Big Sheep" and will be involved with some of the entertainment there.

In her place we are very pleased to welcome Jayne. She and her husband Colin (see fishing coach above) have recently moved to the area, having spent their holidays at Forda for the last ten years and having fallen in love with the place!

March 2010

Forda mentioned in Daily Mail Travel on 19th of March 2010!

We are absolutely delighted to (unknowingly) have been featured in last Saturday's travel part of the Daily Mail in a nice spread about Cornwall!

Forda is now blogging and on Facebook!

It took some time and a long, hard think before we made this move, but we now have our own space on Facebook and are even indulging in a little Forda Blog!  With internet trends leaning heavily towards social networking sites we decided it the time is right to dive in and join the craze. We tried many - Twitter, Facebook, Bebo etc. but have decided to stick with Facebook. It seems to be the preferred site in Britain and we were staggered by the amount of friends and aquaintances we found in the process!

If you would like to have a nose in blog or and become a friend on facebook, you can either click on the little icons at the bottom of the page or visit our blog on:   http://fordalodges.blogspot.com/ and find our facebook entry under Forda Lodges. Follow this link www.facebook.com

New website!

Well, as you can see, we have been rather busy over the winter revamping our website! There is now much more information on the local area, places to eat, places to visit and a good guide to local beaches, activities and things to do that are a little out of the ordinary. We do hope that you will find these things helpful in planning your holiday here at Forda in Cornwall and like the new look of our site!  

May 2009

Gold Award

Our two cottages – Forda Barn & Stables have just been awarded the top rating of “Gold Award” for 2009/2010. This means they are rated in the top 624 cottages in the whole country!!

New Team Member at Forda

We are delighted to welcome a new member to the team at Forda – Birgit (or “Bee”) has joined us, having managed the Bude Tourism Association and Bude TIC for the last few years (where she achieved the best TIC in Cornwall award for 2008). She is an excellent and very welcomed addition to the Forda Team – so she will be answering the phone and your emails sometimes, in addition to Jim & Gillian.

March 2009

New comfy suites in all the lodges! (Right)

Winter Works

After all the major refurbishments over the last three years (kitchens, bathrooms, roofs etc), this year it is more cosmetic but still important! We hope everyone will enjoy the new fires in all the lodges and the new kitchen lighting in the “A” frames – there were favourable comments from regulars who came at Christmas and New Year ! We have also upgraded all the “fire” equipment, with new extinguishers and smoke and heat detectors, and changed the door locks in the “A” frames (smaller keys so less wear on your pockets!). There is also a new fireplace in the Barn lounge. Following the record wet 2008, the freezing ground in early January provided the ideal conditions for a lot of new drains and pipe work and repairs and stoning of paths, especially around the ponds which had deteriorated in the wet last year.

Digital TV

We are one of the first areas to go digital in 2009 so we have all new flat-screen TVs and all the freeview channels in all of the accommodation together with new DVD and video recorders/players.

Waitrose in Holsworthy & Sainsburys in Bude!

We know some of you are fans of Waitrose and Sainsburys – the local news is that they are planning to take over the Somerfield stores in Bude and Holsworthy – planned changeover is for June 2009.is for June 2009.

Bude Tourist Information Centre and Bude Canal Centre

We did not enter any awards this year but were thrilled that Bude won the best Tourist Information Centre in Cornwall award. Bude now has a lovely new refurbished TIC and shop as well as a new Bude Canal Centre, to go along with all the work on the refurbishment work on the Bude Canal – well worth a visit the next time you are here.

Forda and Bude Rugby

Cornwall and Bude are rugby-mad, Kilkhampton is the home of England’s Phil Vickery (his family run the local farm shop) and we have a son who is rugby-mad. So when it came to deciding on Forda’s local sponsorship, there was little choice. Forda is now the name on the shirts of Bude rugby – under 13’s in 2007/08 (winners of the Cornwall Plate last season!) and under 14’s in 2008/09.

Ducks!

So many of you are fond of the ducks – and their morning and evening lodge visits for bread. They are still thriving and looking forward to your next visit. Photo above right: Ducklings crossing the bridge

Swallows and other birds

Over the last few years swallows have realised that, with a bit of effort, they could build nests in a safe position on the patios of the 'A' frames. Many families have been successfully raised – a real joy for anyone in the lodges, watching the parents flying in to feed them and then the young flying off for the first time in July and August. In 2008 fewer swallows came but we all enjoyed a new experience – using the old swallow nests as a base, two pairs of wrens built their nests on top, successfully raising their young. Photo above right: One of the swallows with its young

Winter 2007 - 2008

At the South West England Tourism Awards this month, we were very pleased to again be a finalist and this year we were placed in the top three for Accessibility for the whole of the South West. Also some baby news – many of you have met Jo, one of our therapists, and knew she was expecting. Her baby, Logan Matthew, arrived on October 10th, weighing in at 8lbs 4ozs. Mother and baby are doing fine.

Growing Pups

Please do not expect to find us now as two cute Andrex puppies! We are two years old in August and we are now two big handsome boys – but still friendly and playful so we look forward to seeing you at Forda. from Boris & Buster (photo avove right)

Winter Refurbishments

Last year many of you enjoyed the new kitchens and flooring etc in the “A” frame lodges. This winter the Delta lodges have had their makeover, with new kitchens and roofs. That means that all of the lodges now have new kitchens, bathrooms and roofs! We have also replaced the glass in all the lodge velux windows. A few of them were misting and it was a good opportunity to replace them all with new insulating “K” glass.