Come to Rutland and enjoy the Active Rutland Walking and Cycling Festival from 18th May – 1st June 2013!
The Festival is a celebration of Rutland’s beautiful landscape and the many walks and cycle routes in and around Rutland. The walks and cycle rides are all led by qualified volunteer walk and bike leaders, making this festival free!
The first week of walking (18th-25th May) offers a variety of different length walks at different times and locations around Rutland. The second week (26th May – 1st June) will offer the 7 sections of the Rutland Round over those 7 days.
With two of the walks starting and finishing at Greetham Valley, it is the perfect excuse to pop in for some well-earned refreshments in our lounge bar!
Over the two weeks there will also be cycle rides to suit everyone, ranging from family to nature rides and even a led cycle ride around the whole of Rutland Water, including the Hambleton Peninsula. There really is something for everyone!
Rutland is the perfect place for walking, and has long attracted ramblers, who enjoy finding their way around the tiny villages, little known tracks and country lanes. As well as the popular Rutland Water there are many other footpaths covering varied terrain with several famous walking routes as well:
The Macmillan Way was originally developed to raise money for Cancer Research, and was opened as a fully signed and waymarked route in 1996. This route passes the south banks of Rutland Water.
The Viking Way winds its way southwards from the Humber Bridge, through the Lincolnshire Wolds and finishes in Oakham.
The Hereward Way follows a path through Rutland, passing through villages including Empingham, Whitwell and Barnsdale, before reaching Oakham.
The Jurassic Way follows the band of Jurassic Limestone that runs along the northern boundary of Northamptonshire, along the Oxford Canal, via Middleton Cheney and Woodford Halse to Braunston on the Grand Union Canal. Here it passes between Market Harborough and Corby, following the Welland Valley to Rockingham with its castle.
Full details of the free events can be found in the Active Rutland Walking and Cycling Brochure, click here for details. Why not make a ‘Staycation’ of it and enjoy accommodation at Greetham Valley? We are offering some great late deals on self-catering and B&B breaks during the festival, starting at just £15 per person per night!
All the guests at the fabulous Bee Gees Night at Greetham Valley last Friday were invited to fill in a competition form to win two tickets to the next Greetham Valley Great Night Out – and we received over 200 entries! The lucky winners, drawn today, were Ann and Tony Jones from Melton Mowbray who win two tickets to attend the 
How big???
Spring has finally sprung and the wedding season is now upon us. Oh the dresses, the hats!!! (slightly different to those of our fishing friends!!). Even on a grey day the smiling faces of the wedding party are enough to cheer us all up.
The old adage ‘first impressions count’ could not be more true than within the hospitality industry and the Greetham Valley Receptionists are very often the first members of staff whom visitors to the Hotel meet. We are fortunate in having such a genuinely warm and welcoming team of ladies on our Reception desk, each of whom appreciates and promotes the friendly ethos of our family run venue. Maybe it is a ‘Rutland’ thing? Rutlanders are by and large a friendly crowd – we are delighted that visitors have swerved off the A1 or A47 to find Rutland Water and the smallest county in England!
Since the Hotel opened 6 years ago, we have continually refreshed the delicate shade of ‘Sundust Yellow’ with which we originally emulsioned the majority of the internal walls. But for the past month we have been trying to decide on new colour schemes for the hotel bedooms to give them all a fresh look. And those lovely people at Dulux have just delivered some beautiful colourpots for us to try. 
Celebrity chef Jean-Christophe Novelli 
Great excitement for two guests from Australia this week! This lovely couple are staying at Greetham Valley while touring the area and for the past two mornings have spotted what they described as ‘a very large black feline’ strolling across the valley below their hotel room. With glee, they told Gail, their breakfast waitress this morning, about their sighting of the ‘Rutland Puma’ (known locally as the 
One of our guests had a surprise for us on checkout this morning – her AA inspector calling card! She needed to speak with a Director to go through her verbal report, so armed with a cuppa we settled down in the Lounge Bar. She was incredibly helpful and enthusiastic, comparing our previous report with her current findings – and we are delighted to say our ratings have increased across the board! In summary, we are a very good AA3* Hotel with a WOW factor!
