Coulscott's BlogExmoor - Europe’s First Dark Sky Reserve Thursday 12st January 2012 Towards the end of last year, Exmoor was designated as Europe’s first Dark Sky Reserve. This means that there is almost no light pollution here and weather permitting the stars are fantastic. Here at Coulscott, which is on the slopes leading to Exmoor we have stupendous starry nights and the Milky Way is clearer than we have ever seen it in England. We are delighted that Exmoor has achieved this, as it is official recognition of something increasingly rare. Bed Guards Thursday 5th January 2012 As part of our desire to make Coulscott more child friendly and after a few requests we have bought some bed guards. We have managed to find some very nice wooden ones which should fit in the rooms well. They are quite large things and it should be one less thing for parents to remember to pack. Christmas Photos Thurdsday 29th December 2011 Some new Christmas photos of the cottages. 
   
More Photos of Bantam Cottage Tuesday 27th December 2011 We have taken some more photos of Bantam Cottage with some new bits and bobs in. 
 Photos of Bantam Cottage Monday 19th December 2011 We have taken some photos of the new wetroom, sofa and wallpaper in Bantam Cottage. We urgently need our photographer to come in and take some proper photos of all this winter's improvements! 
 Not Many Breakages in 2011 Monday 12th December 2011 Guests have been careful of all the houses again this year with us getting very little damage so there are a very small number of repairs. The one area where we do get things broken are the kitchens as our slate floors are very unforgiving when things are dropped. We are going to do an in depth audit of the the kitchens to make sure that everything that is missing is replaced as all our spares have been used up as the year has gone by. Goodbye to Bunks in Aylesbury Saturday 19th November 2011 Our bunk room in Aylesbury cottage after much debate has been changed into a twin room. We have wanted to do this for ages but were not sure how to do it. By moving the door so it opens outwards we can now get two beds along the long wall. We are ordering two divans for here and look forward to getting a photo on the website. Spring Cleaning Monday 14th November 2011 The yearly spring clean has started with everything that moves and most things that can't, being washed, steamed or scrubbed. As we have workmen in we go round in circles but are slowly getting there. Builders Working on the Cottages Monday 7th November 2011 Now we are closed until Christmas the workmen have moved in. First on the list is a new wet room for Bantam Cottage. It will be lined with Travertine marble and will have a lovely solid marble basin. The bathrooms in Peacock and Aylesbury cottages are also going to be re-tiled with travertine but will be keeping their baths. When these are finished we will try and get some good photos on the website. Guest's Comments Tuesday 26th October 2011 We have been asking our guests what improvements they would like to see here and the feedback has been very interesting and helpful. Some suggestions such as more towel rails and some larger TVs are really feasible and we will try to implement them. Star Rating for the Cottages Friday 14th October 2011 Today was our star rating inspection which is always a nerve racking experience. We were delighted to get a five star gold award for the Old Farmhouse, which compliments the five star gold we got for the Georgian House last year, this is due to the third bathroom which we had fitted this year. Our three cottages also got higher marks than last year and are heading towards five star levels; however we are very happy to have the four star gold award again for these. Working on the Cottages Thursday 13th October 2011 We are starting to prepare for the out of season work that needs doing so we are ready for next year. The decorator is starting in November and many of the bathrooms are going to be either partially or fully re-tiled. For this we are ordering many, many square metres of travertine tiles. Ozzie is 2 Months Old Thursday 6th October 2011 Ozymandias is growing very fast and is still feeding only from his Mother. It will be another four months until he can cope without her. We hope that she is now pregnant again; though there is no way of telling until one day in about ten months there will be another baby.  Percival the Peacock Sunday 2nd October 2011 Our male peacock has lost his tail and looks ridiculous. No sooner had he lost it, than it started growing again. So he now has a very short and bizarre tail. Our older peahen keeps trying to sit on her nest which she keeps making where the fox roams. In order to save her from being eaten we have to break up the nest. If she would only lay in the animal enclosure she would be perfectly safe and then we could have some peachicks.  More Stunning Weather Friday 30th September 2011 The weather is fantastic. None of us can believe it. After a mediocre summer it is a real treat and our guests are spending sunny days on the beaches. However someone did mention snow; I hope they are wrong. New Tractor at Coulscott Tuesday 27th September 2011 We have got a new mini tractor which as it is designed for the Alps, should deal with our very steep fields. We are starting to use it to mow some of the less scary fields and will try and get it all done before the weather turns wet again. It would be nice to generate some of our own hay for the animals though unless we buy lots of equipment it will be very hard work. Coulscott's Chickens Wednesday 31st August 2011 Our chicken's eggs are still very popular with guests. Having the chickens completely free range gives the eggs a superb flavour. Any over a week old are fed to the pigs, much to their delight, to ensure that humans always have fresh ones.  Ozzie Tuesday 30th August 2011 Ozymandias is growing very fast and has started experimenting with different foods. Hopefully he will learn that gates are not very nutritious.  2013 Availability Tuesday 23rd August 2011 We have decided to alter our changeover days to Friday for all our cottages from 2013. This will enable guests booking multiple cottages to arrive on the same day. We have been asked to put our 2013 availability online so we did so today! Great Weather Sunday 21st August 2011 Summer is much better this year with very few days when guests have been housebound. We are getting some showers so everything is looking very lush and green. Swimming Pigs Thursday 18th August 2011 The joys of keeping animals! Our pigs staged a mass breakout, then swam across a deep pond. Chasing pigs around Coulscott at midnight was interesting. New Website Online Monday 15th August 2011 Today our new website goes online. Hopefully there will not be too many teething problems, although we expect some as we have done the website ourselves! Baby Alpaca Saturday 6th August 2011 After several false starts our pregnant alpaca, Thisbe, gave birth to a little male cria. He arrived very easily at Saturday lunch time and was walking and feeding so quickly. He is a dark fawn colour, very fluffy and is called Ozymandias (Ozzie). Both he and his Mother are doing very well and she is looking after him brilliantly.  New Style Blog Thursday 4th August 2011 To go with our new website we have decided to have a different style of blog. This will stop us forgetting things as we used to when we did our monthly blog. I hope that visitors to our site will find it as informative. |
