Return of the Ring and Barrow-Downs Mega-moot - Celebrating Tolkien in 2012

[Bêthberry]

A few more pictures and info for link #2 can be found here: The Homestead. (Horseback riding! I can see reliving some REB adventures. )

I have to do some planning, as I was hoping to visit a village in Gloucestershire as well as make Britmoot and RotR. So I have to figure out transportation and such. Also flight plans. (I was hoping to avoid Heathrow during the Olympics.) So I can't give a definitive answer now. You can call me a "so and so".

How close are any of these sites to Loughborough? I have the feeling that only a small number will be leaving to attend RotR, so that's something for me to consider.

I know you have trains and buses and all the modern forms of communication and transportation in Old Blighty but seeing as I won't have web access when I'm there, it's harder for me to bring this all together spontaneously. And I'd like to avoid extra costs at the last minute. And in the early minutes as well. I'm probably the only one with these kinds of predicaments and concerns.

Or maybe I'm just a worry-wurst.

[Guinevere]

I finally made up my mind and registered for the RotR !
I could join you from 13.-16.8.

(if you hire a flat or house for holidays, is this from Monday to Sunday? In my country it's always Saturday - Saturday)

I just hope the place you choose will not be too far away, and accessible by public transportation.

[Oddwen]

Oddwen & Eamane 6th -19th and beyond. I think the bunk barn (first link) looks pretty spiffy. It does seem to have an outdoor communal space, unless I'm looking at the wrong picture. The second place is quite nice too.

Oliphaunts_Rule is unable to get time off for the journey, alas.

[Lalwendë]

Don't include us in the numbers staying anywhere because they're all so near that we can come over in the car for the day - or meet up wherever adventures are being had nearby etc.

To the houses listed...

I know exactly where the bunk barn is, it's on the High Peak Trail and we had a picnic and walk there a few months ago. It's pretty isolated, but also popular and very nice. There may well be a decent bus route there because it's deep in hiking territory but I will have to check - I usually zip past in the car. It's very close to Arbor Low, Gib Hill barrow, Youlgreave, Chrome Hill (the Dragon's Back) and the Silent Woman pub in Earl Sterndale.

The one in Sherwood looks like they'd be flexible with numbers, it's not rented via a holiday agency and in my experience they're more flexible/open minded. Retford, bizarrely, is not an easy trip to Loughborough by train - you need to go into Sheffield and then out again to Loughborough. Though would you only need to do the Loughborough trip the once? Hmm - think about that one!

The one in Turnditch, Belper is 4 miles from Belper station, which is then only 43 mins to Loughborough on the train - an easy trip, you change at Derby. And a group in a taxi for a 4 mile journey would be cheap.

Anyway, I never told you about a dining opportunity none of you would want to miss in the Peak District: Wurst!

[Lalwendë]

Sorry, not editing a post because it'll look messy

I looked up public transport for the barn at Hurdlow (which looks a fab option if you're unsure of numbers and likely to be noisy geeks ) and there is a bus service up the road on the A515, bit of a stiff walk. Though pubs always know about good taxi services! You can get a bus to Buxton, and from there you can get trains to Manchester or buses around the Peaks and out to Sheffield which has excellent rail links. You may find you have willing car owners or renters though - was there talk of a minibus? I'm also fairly certain they wouldn't mind you having a tent there too as they have a campsite, which is very nice and green. My mate's dad used to regularly spend the night in his van behind a pub near there when he'd had too much to drink.

My dad's caravan is in Longnor, a mile or two from there and the people on the site might know some more about it (no, you can't stay there, it only sleeps two!). And the pub in Earl Sterndale is actually the Quiet Woman (she has no head). Gah.

This is useful: East Midlands Journey Planner

And even though you've found some good ones, I've been scouring and this never came up until tonight when I was nosing on the Chatsworth website. This sleeps 12 and is in Bakewell. Works out at £95 each if full occupancy is reached, and they are obviously set up for groups as they rent to stag parties.
Victoria Cottage

Just checked on the second cottage near Retford, and though it's a beggar to get to Loughborough from there, Retford is also on the East Coast Main Line, which is notoriously efficient and it's a 90min trip to Kings Cross from there - work colleagues who live that way out usually catch trains to our London office from there as it's quicker than the Midland Main Line.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Transportation is certainly an important point, Lal, and thanks for giving us foreigners information! For those like myself who are travelling to Loughborough only once, that trip is not as crucial as the possibility of daily excursions. It would be nice if it's possible to get places by public transportation...

[Hookbill the Goomba]

(Quoting Lal's excellent posts for those of you who, like me, hate flicking between pages)

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Don't include us in the numbers staying anywhere because they're all so near that we can come over in the car for the day - or meet up wherever adventures are being had nearby etc.

To the houses listed...

I know exactly where the bunk barn is, it's on the High Peak Trail and we had a picnic and walk there a few months ago. It's pretty isolated, but also popular and very nice. There may well be a decent bus route there because it's deep in hiking territory but I will have to check - I usually zip past in the car. It's very close to Arbor Low, Gib Hill barrow, Youlgreave, Chrome Hill (the Dragon's Back) and the Silent Woman pub in Earl Sterndale.

The one in Sherwood looks like they'd be flexible with numbers, it's not rented via a holiday agency and in my experience they're more flexible/open minded. Retford, bizarrely, is not an easy trip to Loughborough by train - you need to go into Sheffield and then out again to Loughborough. Though would you only need to do the Loughborough trip the once? Hmm - think about that one!

The one in Turnditch, Belper is 4 miles from Belper station, which is then only 43 mins to Loughborough on the train - an easy trip, you change at Derby. And a group in a taxi for a 4 mile journey would be cheap.

Anyway, I never told you about a dining opportunity none of you would want to miss in the Peak District: Wurst!

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Sorry, not editing a post because it'll look messy

I looked up public transport for the barn at Hurdlow (which looks a fab option if you're unsure of numbers and likely to be noisy geeks ) and there is a bus service up the road on the A515, bit of a stiff walk. Though pubs always know about good taxi services! You can get a bus to Buxton, and from there you can get trains to Manchester or buses around the Peaks and out to Sheffield which has excellent rail links. You may find you have willing car owners or renters though - was there talk of a minibus? I'm also fairly certain they wouldn't mind you having a tent there too as they have a campsite, which is very nice and green. My mate's dad used to regularly spend the night in his van behind a pub near there when he'd had too much to drink.

My dad's caravan is in Longnor, a mile or two from there and the people on the site might know some more about it (no, you can't stay there, it only sleeps two!). And the pub in Earl Sterndale is actually the Quiet Woman (she has no head). Gah.

This is useful: East Midlands Journey Planner

And even though you've found some good ones, I've been scouring and this never came up until tonight when I was nosing on the Chatsworth website. This sleeps 12 and is in Bakewell. Works out at £95 each if full occupancy is reached, and they are obviously set up for groups as they rent to stag parties.
Victoria Cottage

Just checked on the second cottage near Retford, and though it's a beggar to get to Loughborough from there, Retford is also on the East Coast Main Line, which is notoriously efficient and it's a 90min trip to Kings Cross from there - work colleagues who live that way out usually catch trains to our London office from there as it's quicker than the Midland Main Line.

If we go for the barn (my preference) we'll probably organise a meeting spot and time and then get the drivers to take as many people there as possible. We'd just find the nearest train station, I suppose.
Wherever we chose, though, it may be a good idea for those of us who drive who live in the south to perhaps pick people up from the airport? This is something we can discuss later on, though.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Hookbill the Goomba

(Quoting Lal's excellent posts for those of you who, like me, hate flicking between pages)






If we go for the barn (my preference) we'll probably organise a meeting spot and time and then get the drivers to take as many people there as possible. We'd just find the nearest train station, I suppose.
Wherever we chose, though, it may be a good idea for those of us who drive who live in the south to perhaps pick people up from the airport? This is something we can discuss later on, though.

For the barn, your nearest station is Buxton. However, Buxton is the terminus of that rail line, which runs from Manchester Piccadilly. To get there, any traveller would need to travel first to Manchester or Stockport. Not such a pain, travelling from London as the West Coast main line from Euston to Manchester is quite efficient.

The other stations in the area (though not close) are Matlock, at the terminus of the Derwent Valley line from Derby (very handy for getting to L'boro and London) and any of the stations on the Hope Valley line which links Manchester and Sheffield.

I have to be honest, you would need transport if you are on the west edge of the Peaks. If you can get someone to hire a minibus and have a couple of cars though, it's a very good choice because it's beautiful up there. It's ironically on the High Peak Trail which follows the route of a rail line closed in 1967!