December 2008

We are starting our renovations with great gusto this month.  Aylesbury cottage is the main focus as it is let for Christmas and New Year and we only have 3 weeks to get it finished.  A new slate floor has been put down which when it has our Persian rugs on it, will look fabulous.  The old kitchen which was very dark has gone and the new one which is ivory is looking super as it goes in.  We have made better use of the space and now the whole of the downstairs looks so much bigger.  Lots of curtains need making which is a task too easily postponed and the net curtains are being replaced with wooden blinds.  The whole effect is now bright and clean.  The new sofas for here will hopefully be ordered in the next few days which will complete the transformation.  They take an age to make as they are custom built but we should get them before Easter.  In addition nearly all the old orange pine has disappeared under Farrow and Ball paint.  This seems to have had a huge effect on modernising everything.  Bantam cottage has also had the same slate floor put down and has lost its orange pine, so now all 3 cottages have been very much improved in the last year or two.

The Old Farmhouse and the Georgian House are closed during January for them to be redecorated where needed and to get the old pine kitchen in the Georgian House replaced with a modern oak one.  We are hoping to get the outsides redecorated this spring but really do need a decent spell of dry weather.  The decorator was booked for last spring but it was never possible to get things done.

We are starting to put up Christmas decorations.  With so many houses it is quite a task.  There are six trees to put up and some lights in the trees.  As we put many of the trees in the windows the sight at night is very pretty.  The older houses seem to have been built especially for Christmas as the effect in them is really quite beautiful.  We have lights in a huge holly tree which as it is so prickly have to stay up all year.  Luckily they are all still working.

Christmas and New Year have come and gone so fast as usual.  All the houses were full and it was so good to see people busy enjoying themselves.  There was some good bright weather so guests were able to get out and enjoy the beautiful North Devon coast and Exmoor.  Even in winter some intrepid souls were going into the sea.  The sea temperature is much warmer than the air so with a wet suit it is actually quite comfortable and the conditions were perfect for some good surfing.  The cold weather makes the hot tubs such fun and are being used a lot.  It is so relaxing lying in hot water with a glass of wine, enjoying the views whilst all around is frosty. 

 

November 2008

Half term has come and gone with our guests enjoying some decent weather.  We still have a lot of visitors coming to stay but are closing a few of the cottages for improvements.  The new kitchens for the Georgian House and Aylesbury cottage have arrived and we await a small mountain of slate for the new floors.  If a spare week can be found the cattle grid which was bought nearly a year ago will be fitted.  This will involve digging a huge hole in the drive so we will have to have no guests staying.  We don’t get very many animals coming into the grounds but it will be a good way of stopping dogs and birds from getting out.

Bookings for next year are going well and it looks as though a lot of people are deciding to stay in this country for their holidays.  As usual our biggest houses are getting taken first with large family groups.  The smallest cottage on the other hand is much more popular for last minute breaks.  We are often asked for various combinations of cottages to accommodate larger groups and have been restricted by the size of the dinning room tables.  To help with this we have ordered an 18 person table for the Old Farmhouse/Georgian House and a 12 person table to go in Aylesbury.  Both of these will shrink down to seat 4 so are hugely versatile.  A table tennis table has been ordered for the Georgian House which will make good use of the garden room and if we can get the pool table working we might put that in there too.

Our peacocks have been released into the grounds.  Unfortunately one of the females has been killed by a guest’s dog that was let off the lead in the grounds - which was very distressing.  The other 3 seem very happy and one even spent the night in the Old Farmhouse porch much to the amusement and surprise of the guests when they came down for breakfast.  We are trying to encourage them to go down into the grounds and away from the houses but they do seem to like to sleep in our barn.  The chickens are laying fewer eggs now with the shortening daylight hours and we have very few to give to guests.  Hopefully they will start to lay properly again in early spring.

Sadly there was no snow here when the rest of the country had it.  We are all hoping for some snow this winter as it is long overdue.   Our hills would be wonderful for sledging, though probably only for the brave.  The proximity of the sea would appear to be keeping our winters very mild, even on the top of Exmoor.

As part of the ongoing improvements we are looking for good quality sofas to replace the bulk of old ones.  We are awash with fabric samples and each day seem to prefer a different one.  Leather sofas would seem to be the most practical but are just not as comfortable.  We are looking for cleanable loose covers but not in the seemingly standard blue and terracotta materials that you see everywhere.

The bedrooms in double bedrooms in Peacock and Aylesbury cottages have been redone with beautiful wall papers and custom built king sized four-poster beds.  They both look beautiful and as usual people are asking where they can buy them.  We could definitely run a bed shop here as a sideline

 

October 2008

The pleasant autumn weather has lasted most of the month with many sunny days and a few of heavy rain.  With it being so mild the grass thinks it is spring and it  is still needing weekly cuts.  We are making big efforts to improve the grounds, have had one of the new pond dug and a third is planned for the end of the month.  We still hope to have an island in the middle so our ducks will be protected from the fox at night whilst they sleep.  They used to let us put them away at night but now do not co-operate at all.  The new pond will also act as a causeway into our 10 acres of fields.  This will be a huge improvement on the tree trunk which straddles the stream at the moment.  Once these fields are accessible dogs will be able to run free here.  The resident cows are usually quite happy to tolerate dogs though can be very curious about them.  We advise quests to be cautious about them and not have their dogs on a lead.

Our handyman is getting on with the mammoth task of painting all the houses this winter.  So far only the inside of Peacock has been finished and it is looking nice and bright.  We are having to close all the buildings at various times just to get the work done.  A new kitchen has been ordered for Aylesbury and the Georgian House and both of these will have nice new slate floors.    Two new king sized four-poster beds are coming next month for Aylesbury and Peacock Cottages.  We have ordered them from the same firm which made the four-poster for the Farmhouse as it is a very solid and well made piece of furniture.

Unfortunately the plans for our proposed games room and spar have not worked as the space is just not big enough.  So it’s back to the drawing board.  We are now considering having a game’s yurt tucked away in the grounds, if we think we can fit a ping pong table, pool and table football into a round space.  Yurts are rather beautiful things and very environmentally friendly.  We think that our teenage guests particularly, would enjoy a yurt.  The spar will be put on hold until the credit crunch is over as we don’t wish to give our guests extra costs at the moment.  It is still something that we are very keen on (particularly our daughters, we wonder why?) for the future.  The very large garden room in the Georgian House may get its own games equipment as this house often has a lot of youngsters staying in large family groups.

The month is ending with a very busy half term and it is nice to hear youngsters around again.  Again the half term seems to be over two weeks.  It is very difficult to gauge when the busy times will be as the different counties have different holidays.  In addition in Scotland and Ireland the times are very different.

 

September 2008

The last week of the school holidays has come and gone and another summer holiday has flown by. It has been a busy summer with all our houses being full and it will be strange now that things are quieter. Out of season we get a lot of babes in arms and dogs staying. One of which tries to eat our chickens and the other which likes to feed them.

We continue to to get many bookings through the Autumn and are going to have to plan how to fit in this years improvements. We have many plans for renovations during the winter and it will be interesting to see what we can fit in. One very important idea, is to convert the car port to a games room and to extend the pool shower room into a better shower and a sauna and steam room. The architect came yesterday and we will get the preliminary plans in a few days. At this point we will know if the idea is even possible. It is very difficult to get planning permission to build anything new so converting an existing structure is our best option. Another vital change will be to get solar panels for the pool. All our quotes are in but it is difficult to make a good decision with so much conflicting advice. A pool is a very expensive luxury now oil is so expensive but worth it as it is universally popular with our guests.

September has been a super month for weather as the long promised Indian Summer has arrived. It is hard some days to remember that it is Autumn but the days are getting very much shorter. We are able to attack the garden now it is not raining and hope to make some more changes over the winter. The main thing will be to get two more ponds dug so we will have a cascade of three ponds going down the hill. The last one will be quite big so hopefully there can be an island in the middle for the ducks to sleep on, away from the ever present menace of the fox. It will also be nice to have more room for some extra ducks.

As our birds are so popular we have expanded our menagerie with 2 pairs of peacocks. We have a nearly mature green peacock and peahen, which will get their full plumage next year and a young white pair which will be a year or so before they get theirs. At this time of year they are moulting but they will clearly be beautiful. They are being kept in a barn with a view until they get familiar with us and their surroundings and so far have made no noise. We have discovered the reason for not getting any duck eggs as our pair of ducks is two males. Fortunately they do not fight at all.

 

August 2008

Well, it is raining again. Luckily most days have some bright spells so guests are able to get out and everyone is being very cheerful about it.  To date this month is being very wet and our streams have winter levels of water in them.  We clearly are in no danger of running out of water.  We provide all our water from a spring on the edge of Exmoor and this has never in living memory run dry.  It certainly is not going to run dry this year.  The water we get from it is so delicious and so chemical free that it is a shock to drink ordinary tap water. 

The vegetable patch is not enjoying the weather though to look on the bright side we don’t need to do any watering.  The out door cucumbers and peppers would like more warmth and all the tops of the potatoes have died back too early.  It is going to be lean pickings.  The green house is defeating the weather with huge crops of tomatoes and peppers. We are getting so much food that we are having to get another freezer.  Much of the produce we hope will be used in our ready meals for guests.  We may also be able to sell things in the Combe Martin farmers market, which runs once a month.

The first of the ready meals have come and there is a good selection of food.  There is soup, main courses and a pudding.  It is a huge temptation to not bother cooking but we must leave it for our visitors.  As soon as our blackberries and apples are ripe we shall be filling the freezer with puddings.  It is certainly going to be a bumper apple crop this year.  Some guests are booking the cook for special occasions though as she gets busier they will have to this more and more in advance.

The Combe Martin Carnival has started this week and it is always good fun.  It lasts for a week with a huge range of activities.  The opening night which is a village fete with stalls and lots of games had to be moved indoors with the weather being the worst day of the year.  A lot of people still came and there was a very good atmosphere.  The one and only Wolf Man opened the proceedings and as a documentary is being filmed about him for TV the cameras were there all night and will be around all week.  Most of the villagers have needed to sign up to agree to being filmed as apparently our faces can’t be shown without consent.  The next really big night is the Carnival Parade and all day we watched the weather with horror.  One hour before the start the sun came out, so all the beautifully made floats were able to take part without dissolving.  There was a good crowd to watch and throw money. The wheel barrow parade followed a day or two later and as usual all the wheelbarrows were excellent mini floats.  After the parade there was the usual superb fireworks display.  This usually lasts about 20 minutes and takes place over the bay. The final night was the raft race across the bay and despite the rain it was hugely enjoyed by all.

The chickens are now providing enough eggs to give a very few to guests on arrival.  They are quite pretty, being all different shades of brown.  We did hope to get some which would lay blue eggs but were told that the birds may not be as friendly.  One of the chickens has become broody and tries to hatch the eggs.  She is destined to be disappointed as there are no cockerels around and we take them anyway.

 

July 2008

Rain, rain, rain.  The month starts off so wet.  We can only hope that it starts to improve for the start of the school holidays.  Fortunately our guest seem to have checked the forecasts as they all come well equipped for bad weather.  They report that there is a lot to do here if the weather is poor and the pool is proving even more popular than usual.  The grass is going mad and it would be nice if we had sheep to cut it instead of mowers which don’t like the rain.

The ducks not surprisingly are impervious to the rain and always like to be out in it.  The chickens have settled in and have been given strange names by our children.  They are impossible to remember and so will always be called “The chickens”.   They are very friendly and will come rushing to say hello, particularly if they think there is food around.   It has taken a month to start getting eggs and then only two of the chickens seem to be laying.  They are turning into the worlds most expensive eggs and it will be some time before we are getting the quantity we need to give some to guests.  As they are free range we have a horrible feeling that one day we will come upon a huge, hidden pile of old eggs.  Most of the young children that come to stay enjoy seeing them and like to feed them scraps, so they area getting a very varied diet.

As the new garden furniture has been so good we have ordered some for the rest of the cottages.  It has all arrived today and despite the weather we have managed to get it all put together and out.  We have even managed to put a small table and two chairs in the front of Bantam Cottage, which will for the first time, give this some outside space even if it is not private.

At last some fantastic weather.  The sun is shining and it is perfectly warm.  Long may it last.  Immediately guests start enjoying the grounds and everyone sounds so relaxed.  All the children are now getting onto the play area and as usual the trampoline is hugely popular.  People are able to get out to the beaches and as most of them are so large they can escape from the crowds if they wish.  A lot of guests come with wet suits as even in the nice weather the sea can be cool and even the children have little shortie wet suits. A few guest are reporting that the local sea trips are very good and so we have decided to test one.  We went on a fishing trip for four hours and it was great fun even though the chosen day was rough and there were a few green faces.  The coast is so beautiful from the sea and we even came back with enough fish for our dinner.  All in all the trip got a definite thumbs up.

A huge crop of black currents and strawberries has arrived here courtesy of a local farmer, so we are busy making preserves, purees and juices.  Not yet enough for guests but if we can get a regular supply we may be able to in future years.

Despite the earlier bad weather we are full for weeks.  We get so many requests for holidays during the summer months and it is difficult for parents with school age children to find any where to stay.  People are already starting to book up the school holidays for 2009, which is very organised of them.  The credit crunch seems to be encouraging English holidays.