Conservation at Coal Yeat

When arriving at Coal Yeat Holiday Cottages you may be a little disturbed by the unkempt approach. Please don't be! The grass is long, uncut, the nettles wave in the wind and the thistles tower proud. This is our natural area and it is left alone to provide a wild and wonderful habitat for insects, birds, mice and voles.

Don't worry as you progress closer to your accommodation the lawn mover kicks in!

Peggy on her evening stroll.

The nettles are the sole food for a variety of butterfly caterpillars. The docks have a specific grub which only eats dock leaves (dock leaves are still used to remove the stinging nettles rash on skin of us humans).The thistle flowers provide nectar and pollen for a variety of bees and insects which in turn feed the birds.

Seeds from the grasses feed the mice and voles and these unkempt areas also provide breeding cover for these rodents. However we also have the majority of the land farmed and it is when the rodents venture into these unprotected areas that they provide food for the owls and birds of prey that hunt over the Coal Yeat acres. Currently we have a barn owl, little owl, a pair of red kites, a pair of moorhens (who hang out with the pigs) and numerous swallows which joined us early in the summer to raise their young.




Among the corners of the fields we planted spinneys of mixed deciduous and coniferous trees. These provide shelter from the prevailing westerly winds and a totally natural environment for all variety of wildlife.

Our track to the accommodation. Bad day to take photos - the mountians are cloaked in cloud

Frogs, we must not forget the frogs that annually, along with their mates the toads, invade the pond at Coal Yeat.  Their mating activities produces rafts of frog spawn which in turn hatches swarms of tadpoles. It is no wonder the pond is full of fish and home to a variety of dragonfly.The toadlets came out in their thousands with the warm moist weather. Peggy and the cat loved chasing them around the garden.

The heather in full bloom

Gorse displaying in full flower

Over the years we have concentrated in allowing nature to flourish by enhancing these natural areas until today we have achieved a biodiversity not seen since Victorian times.



This ethos is carried through into the luxury Lakeland self catering cottages which have been developed to provide an income for Emma and Graham and their two young children Peggy and Doris. A young family born and bred in the Lake District .The Lake District is being denuded of young families, therefore by staying in these luxury self catering cottages you will be helping this young family continue to live as part of a thriving local community.

From the visitors book

We hired both Tyan and Yan for a week, we had a great time and the weather was great. The cottages are like a home from home! We ate at a different place every night, and the best was The Blacksmiths Arms which had great food at great prices!

There is something here for all ages which is great, we will be back later in the year. A big thank you for Emma and Graham, and the cat and dog x