I've lived in Greystoke all my life, and feel very priveledged to have done so.

When I arrived (back in 1964) we lived at Home Farm where my Dad (Frederick Scott) was Farm Manager on Greystoke Estate.  It is owned by the Howard Family who also have Gresytoke Castle.

This is now in the process of having new life breathed into it by Tom Nash.

Lots of work has taken place enabling it to become an amazing Wedding Venue.  He has also had many music and comedy evenings, open air theatre plays, Easter Egg Hunts and much more. 

Originally Stafford House was used as accommodation for emplyees working on Greystoke Estate, and when the last employee (Esme Hayton) and his wife Ann moved out, it lay empty for a number of years before coming up for sale.

My Dad had the idea of buying it to make it into a Holiday Cottage, shortly after my Brother decided that he wanted to make a go of it, so managed to get it re-wired, centrally heated and damp coursed before deciding to move on.

I moved in on 8th March 1986, and there was still lots to do.  The new doors and windows cwould come a few years later, but it still needed completely re-decorating right through.  Yes odd bits were done as and when money allowed, but it was a slow process.

It wasn't until a 2007 and change in circumstance that the real work started, in order to have it ready for my first paying Guests who arrived at the end of April 2008.

From then on it has gone from strength to strength, and with the arrival of yet another year, here's hoping it will succeed the last!

January 2011, my partner Ian moved in. Since then he has developed and then re-developed areas of the garden that are an asset to his abilities.  But, as you can imagine there is always something that needs doing in a garden of this size, well any garden really, so he's always wanting to try new things.

He trained in Horticulture at the Chelsea Physic Garden down in London, before being "Head Hunted" by Lord and Lady Cavendish at Holker Hall near Cartmel for 2 years.  He then moved onto "Hutton in the Forrest" as Head Gardner for Lord and Lady Inglewood which is about 4 miles up the road.

Having heard that Ian was in the "Gardening Fraternity" I thought it might be a good idea to ask if he would mind popping round to give me some advice on the garden, I knew the type of thing I was trying to create, but hadn't a clue how to go about it!

This is my Mum, and though thick and thin she's done her best to bring me up to be an upstanding citizen, and I'm sure sometimes she must despair and wondered where she really went wrong!

When we are busy she helps me out with a little bit of washing up, and some of the ironing duties, which in itself can be an all day chore when we are full.

"Cargo" was our resident pest control officer, but unfortunately he lost his battle with health issues just before the ripe old age of 18 at the end of October 2025  

I rescued him from Wetheral Animal Refuge Centre near Carlisle, as an 8 week old kitten in December 2008, and he was very much his own person, and law unto himself!

He's very much missed.