Spring and Coronavirus

It is quite difficult to get enthusiastic about fishing given the current worldwide concerns about Coronavirus. My enthusiasm being further dampened by the fact that we have been quiet over the last couple of weeks with relatively few fish caught and no quality photographs!

With the sun shining brightly today it does feel very Spring like here at Cherry Lakes. The Weeping Willows are a lovely lime green colour as their leaves are beginning to come out; the Daffodils are in full bloom and I have found several 'deposits' of Frog Spawn. Last Friday when I was cleaning the deck on Egret Lodge I saw something that I have never seen before.........two Fire Crests were 'courting' and flew within about 10 feet of me before settling in a close by tree. As a bit of a 'twitcher' I was delighted, particularly as I understand these little birds are quite rare as we are on the northern edge of their range. The Fire Crest has a brighter head than the Gold Crest (which unsurprisingly more yellow/golden) which is seen occasionally around Cherry Lakes.

I hope this was a good sign!

It will not be much longer before Spring really gets a hold here and the bareness of winter will be replaced by vigour of Spring. I always look forward to Spring but this year I am even more desperate than ever.....I think it's because of the external doom and gloom.

Just to cheer us all up I have included here some photos of several cracking Cherry Lake Carp caught last Spring.

Danny Taylor's stunning 30-02 Mirror in the lead photo above was caught on 02 April. This Carp has not been caught since and I very much hope she has put on some extra weight. I am really looking forwards to seeing her again.

Gary Owen's 35-08 Ghost Mirror was caught exactly a year ago on 16 March the day after Leon Sprague caught his impressive 32-13 Ghost Common.

I am very worried about the health impacts of Coronavirus for many of the people and guests that we know, as well as my own elderly parents. I have convinced myself that as a 'brace of' 58 year old's, Judith and I will be alright if we catch it! I am equally worried about the huge economic damage being done to companies large and small. The dangers of over-reacting are as damaging as not responding. I am glad I am not having to take these decisions!

As we are getting an increasing number of calls about the Coronavirus I thought it might be worth saying a few words about our approach.

We feel Cherry Lakes is a great place to come at anytime, and especially at the current time when you might not want to be near people. Personally I cannot think of a better way to self-isolate than sitting in one of our Lodges, enjoying the view and catching some nice Carp!

As such we are going to do everything we can to stay open, maintain our high standards and honour the holiday bookings we have taken for the weeks and months ahead. This includes looking to recruit extra staff to give us more operational flexibility.

In order to protect both our guests, our staff and contractors, as well as ourselves, we have increased our cleaning activities. We have also placed anti-bacterial soap and sprays in the Lodges and Cottage. We have been following Government advice including, and very reluctantly, stopped greeting guests with handshakes and hugs! It feels so strange keeping our distance.. If you are planning to visit over the next few months and you want to also wipe surfaces down etc with your own anti-bacterial wipes then please feel free to do so. We will understand and not take offence!

As we are operating normally we are working within our usual terms and conditions. These can be found under the prices tables on each page of the Pricing section of this website https://www.cherrylakes.co.uk/accommodation/lodges/heron-osprey-grebe/prices/

In the event that we cannot honour you reservation (for example because we are all sick with the virus), we will contact you directly to cancel your holiday. In these circumstances you will be offered a full refund as well as 50% off your next future booking.

If a guest is unable to come due to illness, we hope they can get a refund of their holiday costs through their insurance, and we will do whatever we can to support their claim process. However we will not be making any refunds as our normal terms and conditions will apply. We will of course be making our normal efforts to re-sell late cancellations. If we are able to successfully re-sell the cancelled holiday then we will return the monies raised minus our normal administration charge.

We very much hope that you and you family are not too badly affected by the virus both from a health and economic perspective. Fingers crossed for everyone.