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After a few months concentrating on other things we are now back in earnest with our regular Old Cider House blogs.
There is so much to do in the Quantocks and it’s such a shame not to tell people about them.
So here’s our video on the Nether Stowey May Fair.
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As we move into the winter months we find we have more time to really appreciate both the Quantocks and devote to our visitors and guests.
We have more time to cook and produce our hearty evening meals (as part of a dinner, bed and breakfast package perhaps?), using locally sourced produce including local venison and game and warming puddings. We also dust off the furmity pot – this is a breakfast porridge of oats, raisins, light brown sugar, cream and rum famous for being the meal that the Mayor of Casterbridge ate before selling his wife. We still think we’re the only establishment (B&B, guesthouse or hotel) in the UK to regularly have this on the breakfast menu (please remind us when booking in to get us to get some on the go for you).We also can get into beer making mode (it’s difficult to make real ale in the hot summer months) and we’re already thinking about our beers for Christmas and 2013 in our mini microbrewery – the Stowey Brewery. We’ve already barreled our green hopped beer– made from our home-grown fresh hops (on sale in the local pubs later this month/early November).
Picking the hop harvest
The late autumn gives us the opportunity to redecorate and give the en-suite rooms a spruce up. Our next bedroom is the Stowey Room and after listening to feedback from our guest are creating a twin/double room, rather than just a twin. This will give guests the opportunity to use the room with two single full size beds or a zip and link six foot super-king. We are also going for a slightly more contemporary look and we hope to maximise space as well. Hopefully, we’ll have some photographs in the next blog.
Whilst the Quantocks are never particularly busy, they take on a wilder aspect in the late autumn and early winter with fewer people around. There are plenty of walks from The Old Cider House from short pub strolls to all day hikes over the Quantock Hills to the villages on the other side of this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. So if you are looking for a short winter break then we think you will enjoy spending them with us here in Nether Stowey.
Christmas packages (Christmas Eve & Day, Boxing Day, departing 27th) £295pp
New Year packages (New Year’s Eve and Day, departing 2nd) £195pp
Call 01278 732228 or e-mail info@theoldciderhouse.co.uk for information.
PRIORITY BOOKING PERIOD TO 30th SEPTEMBER – 5% discount
It’s Good Friday and whilst rooms need to be turned around for the Easter rush, at the moment Ian is talking on BBC Radio Somerset about working in a guesthouse at Easter.
Ian & Lynne, 10 years ago, with the key to the door
Easter is sort of the beginning of the season and this will be our 10th Easter. It only seems like yesterday that we were waiting for our first guests to arrive, all the rooms freshly decorated after the house had been completely renovated (it was a family home before) and having to fill the place in order to pay the mortgage! Now 10 years later and we are still enjoying the life as much as we did then. Nothing much has changed; we’ve got through a number of beds and toilet seats (it’s amazing how many loo seats we replace), we’ve seen colleagues in the area open up and close down and we’re now on our 4thcomputer.
Best of all have been the guests. We still keep in touch with those business guests who came for a week and stayed for a couple of years, and this weekend we have a guest who arrived during our first month in 2003 with his two dogs. Lots of guests (and guest dogs) have become friends and it is always lovely to see a familiar face.
So, here’s to the next ten years!
an, Lynne & Ozy
Bed and Breakfast, Guesthouse Accommodation, Nether Stowey, Quantocks, Quantock Hills, Somerset
Filed under: Dog Friendly Quantocks, Short Breaks, St Valentine's Day, The Old Cider House
The second half of February beckons in spring – or so we like to think. The weather is definitely warming up and despite a few cold spells there are a few green shoots in the garden.
As we do not have a ‘season’ as such and we have guests all year round January and February allow us to make proper, warming stews for those returning from long strolls in the Quantocks. There is nothing better than to come back to a roaring log fire for a couple of tea and a slice of cake before a rest in preparation for an evening in Nether Stowey. Added to this, there are plenty of events in the first six weeks of the year to keep us out of mischief, including; Farmhouse Breakfast Week, Chinese New Year, Burns’ Night and we even supported British Yorkshire Pudding Day (honestly it exists – look it up).
Of course, St Valentine’s Day is well supported and we ran special events on both the Saturday before and the 14th. We had great fun producing a five course meal for the events with a wine accompanying each course. As usual, we ran a fun quiz and we enjoyed ourselves as much as the guests.
An old romantic with his heart shaped desserts
We are also just about to launch Dog Friendly Quantocks. This is an imitative born out of a frustration in us not being able to find dog friendly accommodation and pubs etc. when we went on holiday. So, we thought, why not set up a scheme to make the Quantock Hills THE most dog friendly destination in the UK? With the help of the Quantocks AONB we have put together a website and this should go live in a week or so’s time. Don’t worry we’ll let you know when it’s up and running.
Plenty happening in the next few weeks and we’ll blog then.
Ian, Lynne & Ozy
Bed and Breakfast, Guesthouse Accommodation, Nether Stowey, Quantocks, Quantock Hills, Somerset
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As the last of the New Year guests depart, we can take a deep breath and reflect on the Quantocks in 2011 and get on with all that 2012 promises.
Christmas and New Year were hectic here in the Quantock Hills. Our New Year break guests particularly energetic, approaching the two night break with gusto and enthusiasm for food, games and our New Year’s Day walk into the Quantocks. We will be doing the same again next year with our Somerset Christmas break starting on Monday the 24th December (3 nights) and the New Year Break 2012 on Monday the 31st (2 nights). Book early to avoid disappointment!
New Year guests enjoying a breath of fresh air in the Quantocks
So, what does the New Year hold? Well January, after the excesses of Christmas and New Year in the Quantocks we are having a vegetarian start to the year with a special vegetarian main course as an alternative to all our dinner menus. As we write we are preparing a squash and fennel lasagne inspired by Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall. Sounds good, and details of our special menus and reviews can be found on Ian’s one-off blog by clicking on this vegetarian Quantocks link.
Last year we supported British Farmhouse Breakfast Week by providing guests with special breakfasts and we will be doing the same between 22nd and 28th January. So if you fancy a bowl of West Country furmity then book a standard B&B room and enjoy an extra special breakfast on us.
As January can be a bit slow are also running a number of special value breaks – See The Old Cider House website for details. These include a antidote for the most depressing day of the year, Burns Night and Chinese sausage new year!
Back to roasting the squash for the lasagne. Until next time…
Lynne and Ian, The Old Cider House, B&B and Guesthouse, Nether Stowey, Quantocks, Quantock Hills, Somerset
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It’s December and preparations are in hand for Christmas. Chutneys have been made, menus finalised and the decorations dragged out of the loft.
Christmas in Nether Stowey is magical and just feels right. On Christmas Eve the Village meets up at the Village Cross for a carol service which really puts everyone into the mood and usually we can pop into the Rose and Crown for a swift half of Stowey Brewery Ale afterwards (this year it’s a 7% old ale – served by the half!) before returning to the house for a glass of locally mulled cider in front of a roaring log fire.
Carols on the Cross in Nether Stowey
Our Menus usually have a theme to them with a Medieval feel to Christmas Eve – chestnut soup, boiled ham with home-made damson chutney and roasted winter vegetables and preserved fruits. You can really imagine what the Village must have been like when the Castle at the top of the street was built in the 11th Century.
Christmas Day is special with a bucks fizz breakfast and then a short stroll round the village before getting back to the house for a sherry and mice pie. A few light nibbles at lunchtime and a snooze in front of the Queen’s Speech. Dinner is candlelit with all the trimmings and a fun quiz. Then, whilst we have coffee, there are presents from Father Christmas, carefully delivered by Ozy the Labrador.
Boxing day is a relaxed affair and for those that are up to it, we take a stroll up into the Quantocks. Still thinking about what to cook…
And so that’s it. All we have to do is the preparation!
See you next year.
Ian & Lynne, The Old Cider House, Nether Stowey, Quantocks, Quantock Hills, Somerset, Christmas Beaks
