For all the news, gossip, rantings and funny things that happen at The Belfry!  Here's our weblog...

Sunday 27th April

I promise it didn't take until today to finish the lounge - taking the photos is the easy part, its getting them uploaded which is one of those 5 minute jobs that never seems to get done!

In addition to the lounge, we then went on to strip the kitchen out, tile and paint it (I wont show you a photo of it - albeit it now looks very pretty but it would be somewhat boring for you..) and decorate Coleridge.  Keats and Tennyson are next and we hope to start in a few weeks time.

It has been wonderfully busy here - we have done a 60th Birthday Lunch for 18 which was a great success and we thoroughly enjoyed Nicola and Peters family and friends taking over The Belfry on the day of the Grand National... it was the day after this we attacked the kitchen for 3 days and did Coleridge too!

The new Menu for May and June is complete and I have left a few things on which I have promised to some not to take off - the duck and also the merangue.

The new beds as referred to below are extremely sumptious having great thick matress toppers too - we have put the mattress from Tennyson (very comfy) into Byron and the 2 new ones are in Wordsworth and Tennyson.  The beds now sit a good 6 inches higher!

Plans are afoot for a large joint stag and hen party we are hosting at the end of May - don't worry, we are closed to non party guests - we have hired a minibus for the weekend and organised a day trip to Dartmouth with breakfast and activity on the river Dart followed by Dinner at Wildfire...I cant say too much about the River Dart activities as we are keeping it a surprise but we shall get lots of photos up after the event!  If you would like us to host a party weekend we can put all sorts of activities together.

Plans are also taking shape for Christmas and New Year too as we have had some tentative booking enquiries.  We shall be doing a Christmas Eve supper, Christmas Day lunch and Christmas Day buffet in the evening and then dinner as usual on the Boxing Day evening....  

Monday 3 March - New Beds at The Belfry!

We have ordered 2 new mattresses - 1 for Wordsworth and 1 for Byron as it has been brought to our attention that they may be slighty past their best. Thank you to those concerned who raised it with us - it is feedback like this that we use to plan our next projects. .

The lounge is almost done - the wallpaper is going up tomorrow and also in the entrance hall.  We can then get the new suite covers on - can't wait!  Just in time, for Easter.  Huge thanks to our great neighbours John and Sonya who have helped paint the hall and lounge.  This has been great fun, especially seeing John move to Micheal Buble whilst painting and Karen with her bright yellow mop and bucket doing a Devonian jig in the hall...we must cut down on the caffeine!

Sunday 17 February

Thank you Shannon...these are super - they are the photographs of the fireworks which James, Shirley, Chris and Louise brought at New Year and which Shannon managed to take with her mobile phone.  The pub emptied at midnight to this fantastic display - a huge thank you to you guys.

Sunday 17 February

Ooops, this hasn't been updated for a while!  You know when you plan to do something to the house and you get part way through and wonder whether actually it was a good idea?.....well we have taken the wall down in the lounge which used to form the office, moved the office techi bit upstairs, ie printers and pc's which you dont really want to see and revealed the old wooden floor.  It was part way through with the plaster dust in every conceivable area and then the sanding of the floor with more that I started having thoughts.

But is is looking great and has made the lounge so much larger.  We aren't quite there yet, just need to get the wallpaper on the walls and the new suite covers on and I shall get a photo on here.

Neil is now relief clock winder for the Yarcombe Church and when David (one of our lovely neighbours) goes away in a couple of weeks, Neil HAS to remember to wind the clock every three days.  Otherwise it will stop.  It is a touch complicated evidently to get going again as the chimes get out of sink to the time so it would have to wait for David to get back.  We are going to have to have "stick it" notes everywhere to remind us...well Neil!

We had a wonderful Valentines evening with hotel guests and locals and had lots of red roses in the restaurants and heart shaped chocolates with coffee, we all talked and talked after dinner until about 1.30am.

I cant believe Easter is around the corner, must go and finish the lounge....

Thursday 3 January 2008...after coffee

Do you remember reading about Paul who got stuck on the landing outside Tennyson with his trousers tangles in his suitcase?...well he has kindly forwarded to us his Christmas painting for this year and how fantastic is this.  It so sums up how the weather at Christmas ought to be...may be we will get a little snow today as it is forecast (fingers crossed!).

Thursday 3 January 2008

What a fantastic Christmas and New Year!   It was lovely to see our families in Nottinghamshire but also great to be back after Christmas to get ready for the New Year with the arrival of our friends, Chris and Louise with James and Shirley...along with 6 wonderfully behaved children.  It was fantastic to have you all here for our first New Year at The Belfry.  We managed to get out on a walk which took us above Yarcombe and along the ridge to Underdown Moor and the views were fabulous.

After seeing tracks in the woods, James went out deer stalking early the following morning with Harry and Josh and saw some deer in the forest.  They were back in time for Chris to join James to make breakfast...the full works.  A real treat and it was delicious.

On New Years Eve we had a BBQ and later a few of us went to the Yarcombe Inn.  Just before mid-night, we rushed back to The Belfry to set off a fantastic display of fireworks which Chris and James had organised and brought down with them...thank you, they were amazing!

They were set off along the beds down the side of car park to the joy of us and everyone in the Yarceombe Inn.

Yarcombe in the distance

Sunday 16th December

We have just recently returned from France - we went to Nice and Monte Carlo - stunning scenery and as usual when we go to France, we ate far too many croissants! Christmas is fast approaching and we haven't even brought our cards yet never mind a present, but The Belfry looks great..we have the tree up in the dining room, Karen our marvellous housekeeper has been busy making fresh green christmasy floral decorations everywhere.  We have the coloured lights up at the front of the building plus we have some new lights in the car park and at the side of the building to light it up the same as the church and The Yarcombe Inn (sun glow / moon glow?...it looks slightly orangy).  Neil helped Alan put the Yarcombe Inn tree up yesterday, it being well over 15 ft it was quite a challenge but it looks great all decked out in white bulbs.  I was dying to shout out of the window, "left a bit...right a bit" but they were freezing and I didn't think it would have gone down too well.   We can't wait for our first Christmas here...but we will be in Nottingham as my youngest Sister is pregnant and just can't travel down..but we shall be back on Boxing Day.  We are open between Christmas and New Year if anyone is in need of getting away for a few days in between.

Next year we will definately be open throughout Christmas and New Year so watch this space...no only joking, we wont put any details up until at least June!

I shall get some Christmas photos up ASAP and of The Belfry in her new lights at night...off to buy a BBQ for New Years Eve and to use next Summer in the evenings and maybe even the odd lunch time.  Have a Wonderful Christmas and New Year.

...

Monday 5th November

I can't believe it is a month since we updated our news - quite alot has happened, not least the removal of the hedge to the side of

The Belfry and look what we have found!!  Not sure what to call him but he has pride of place welcoming guests in the Hall.

We also discovered a water pump which we believe Spring Water was fed to.  We have tried to get it working but not suceeded so if anyone has any suggestions...  Halloween was great with pie and a pint night at the Yarcombe Inn (we had our pie, served dinner then went back for our pint) and we had a couple visitors!

We had a wonderful couple stay (you have all been wonderful actually!) Paul and Jen, I know you will be looking for this!  Paul unfortunately managed to get their suitcase stuck on his trouser belt loop just outside Tennyson. He couldn't get into the room (it was a rather large suitcase) so I managed to get a chair into the landing for him to rest the case on whilst Jen (needing her glasses...which were in the case) and I assessed the situation. Neil had characteristically, looked out onto the landing after hearing Jen and I laughing and decided not to get involved!  With some force from Paul, he managed to dislodge himself from the offending case but only after quite a struggle and I am afraid tears of laughter from Jen and me!

Saturday 6th October

My goodness - what a few weeks!  We finally exchanged on 24th August and completed on 29th August...a little close for comfort but we are delighted to be here and are absolutely loving it.  Everyone here in Yarcombe has made us feel so welcome too.   We found The Belfry for sale on the Internet back in June after both feeling enough was enough, we needed to stop talking about going to Devon and running a B&B (albeit this is a bit of a bigger beast than we had originally envisaged!) and do it.  One evening I (S-J) declared to Neil "what Are we going to do?" to which the response was...well let's just go...let's sort it.  So I did!  The following day I found The Belfry and did some number crunching over the weekend.  We both fell for the place, the concept, the idea...everything before we had even visited.  We phoned the Agents on the Monday, got a viewing for the Tuesday, with Neil driving through the night to get home in time to drive down from Notts and we put the offer in on the Wednesday.

Since we moved in on the 29th, we have been pretty full since, with bookings for accomodation and the Restaurant which has been fantastic - our first guests for rooms and meals arrived on Friday 31st so it was rather chaotic those first few days and thank you so much Mum and Dad who worked their socks off helping us to unpack items out of 120m of bubble wrap and organise where to put things in those first 2 days.

We have since been getting in touch with Paul and Katies long list of Suppliers and Producers to carry on sourcing these fantastic ingredients from them, plus sourcing some more of our own.

Organising the Menu for September was great and we have decided not to alter it that much for October due to it being very well received and everything still being in season.  We apologise to those of you who have looked at the Website for not only the September menu but also the October menu, but we have been held up by our telephone company who only got us onto Broadband a few days ago. Thank you though to Michael from Yorkshire who when I declared my frustration after receiving a telephone call about not getting the website done said "but you Just Can't do everything". Aaahhh.  

So on to October, Halloween and Bonfire Night with tar barrell rolling in Ottery St Mary to look forward to.

In the meantime, thank you Paul and Katie for all your help and guidance in our first few weeks.  What a wonderful and special place you have created here at The Belfry....we shall take good care of it and hope to see you here as a guest one day.  In the meantime, we wish you all the very best in whichever way life takes you.

Saturday 25th August

Two months since the last 'blog entry?  That's shocking!  It's not as though the weather has been good and we've been sunbathing!  Nevertheless we've been rushed off our feet what with one thing and another.

The one thing is, of course, doing what we do and welcoming loads of guests, despite the foul weather (thank you all for coming.)

The "other" is finalising negotiations to hand over The Belfry to its new owners.

Yes, indeed you read that correctly.

Next week we hand over to Sarah-Jane and Neil Martin, a lovely couple who are going to be just great for the old place.

I won't get all gushy here about how great it's been as all our guests have been pelted with our farewell emails already (unless they've changed email address...which happens).  Suffice to say, it's farewell from us and a big Good Luck to Sarah-Jane and Neil.

Thanks for reading the 'blog folks.

Next entry will be S-J and Neil's with their message to you.

All the best,

Paul and Katie

Saturday 30th June

Some things don't change and our blogging is as sporadic as ever.  Left you with a bit of a cliffhanger last time, Paul's operation was successful and his recovery was much faster than we had hoped and so I only had to cook for a week and that was definitely long enough!  We are now back to normal and the kitchen is back in far more capable hands and the July menu is available.  There are some lovely new dishes on the menu and I would highly recommend the home smoked salmon and I thought the peppermint pyramid was good but the walnut whip dessert is heaven.  We have just realised that we are almost full up for all of July and August so just an odd gap here and there.  Living next door is working really well and Teddy enjoys his journeys to and from work, although just lately he has refused to leave the house as it is obviously far too wet to venture outside unless absolutely necessary.

Sunday Twenty-somethingth of May

It's been so frantic recently that we can't remember the date...we know it's Sunday because the Monaco Grand Prix was on but otherwise...ah well.  We have finally moved into our new accomodation having completed decorating and shifting belongings.  We're still getting used to the space but everything's grand.  As May draws to a close, looking back it's been a busy month, certainly the busiest May on record but it's gone in a bit of a blur.  We've been working on some new recipes and ideas for presentation and preparation, we've hired a new housekeeper and although it's early days we think she's the bee's knees so fingers crossed!  Jemma is back for at least the rest of this year so and is being trained up by Paul on foody matters and this will give us the opportunity to take another step forward on the dining side.  We have a little bit of enforced downtime coming up next week due to Paul going under the knife but after a (hopefully) short period of mending it will be all hands to the pump for the summer...let's pray for a good 'un!

Thursday 10th May

Another month has gone by between 'blog entries!  What a busy time too.  Just after our last post here we concluded negotiations to rent a cottage right next door to the hotel (that was built as the hotel-owner's accomodation in the first place but sold off 25 years ago).  Our plan was to move in there to give ourselves a bit more living space.  The opportunity was too good to miss.  The downside was the cottage was in pretty desperate need of a makeover just to be liveable-in and so over the last few weeks we've combined being hoteliers and DIYers!  As it's been a busy time too in the hotel (with our best staff doing their exams!) we're feeling a little pooped at present!  Still the results will be worthwhile and we'll get a lot more personal space. 

Last weekend we had a great-fun party in who took over the whole hotel for their annual get together.  Paul suggested he do one of his epic 8 course discovery menus, with specially selected wines at each course and having collated everyone's likes and dislikes a couple of weeks ago he set to work planning and preparing.  The result was a really foody evening and we enjoyed the time as much as our guests.  Jemma and Emma Jane took time out from cramming for Uni Finals and GCSEs just to come and help us out and the four of us finished the evening exhausted but pleased with a job well done.

Anyway, for those of you who are dying to know...here is the menu.  If the idea appeals and you fancy getting a party of 8, 10 or 12 together to experience the Discover menu, give us a call. 

Canapés

Hoi Sin Pork

Cheese Aigrettes

Vegi Sushi Nori

Lindemans Bin 30 Sparkling Rosé - Australia

Amuse Bouche

“Bisque” of Braised Fennel and Parmesan

Onion Bread

Mayval “Manstree” 2005 - England

Appetizer

Risotto of Smoked Chicken

Salsify, Asparagus, Roast Chicken Jus

Sancerre Serge Laporte 2005 - France

Intermezzo

Granny Smith Sorbet

Entrée

Tournedos Rossini

Honey glazed carrots, roasted beetroot, mustard mash

Glen Carlou Grande Classique 2002 – South Africa

Cheese Board

Grapes, Crackers, Smoked Tomatoes

Dessert

Chocolate Rocquefort Pyramid

Walnut Cream, Tobacco Syrup

Black Muscat Elysium 2005 - USA

Digestivo

“Le Loup Blanc”

Pear Mousse, Cream Meringue, Black Pepper Caramel

Pedro Xinenez Viejo - Spain

Coffee, Liqueurs and so on…

Tuesday 10th April

So that was Easter gone already and we had a really busy time, but the best news is we have a new resident at the hotel.  His name is Teddy and he has been with us for a week and has quite happily settled in.  He is quite an elderly chap but I don't think anybody has told him that!  He has just ventured downstairs and paraded around the dining room to soak up all the admiration he could get so I think he will be fine, so far he has behaved impeccably and seems to have very good manners and I am sure he is looking forward to meeting you all.

Thursday 22nd March

Let's talk about pork.

That's not something you get asked every day is it?  You may have noticed that the old "Recipe of the Month" feature...well...isn't.  I've not updated it (until now) for too long.  The reason is I get asked so often how to cook the aromatic pork belly that I've left it as is.  In fact, following the mention on the Telegraph that the recipe is on the site I've had calls from people mid-cook asking for advice and more info...and these are people who have just read about the dish, not even been here!  The web's such an amazing thing, eh?

Anyway, pork.  Or rather belly of pork.  Or rather my recipe for aromatic belly of pork.  I suppose it's become a bit of a signature dish here at The Belfry, not that I do that sort of thing on the whole, but it's very popular and I'm quite pleased with it so my guess is it will stay on the menu.  What is surprising is the number of people who've never had pork belly before.  I suppose these days "fat" is a four-letter word (phat? No, that's something else entirely.) and so it's a cut that is often avoided.  But once in a while it has to be done.  Sure, the pork belly is fatty, and yes you gotta eat the fat (or else why bother?) but, trust me, it's worth it.  In parts of Eastern Europe it is only the fat that's considered worth eating.  I wouldn't go that far but it's a thought!

Monday 19th March

Time flies when you're having fun.  It's been a while since we posted a blog entry because it's been just a tad on the busy side.  But that's OK we've had a good March so far.  The end of the month sees the end of our fourth complete year and on the 2nd April we begin year five.  As always at this time of the year we look forward to the busy time and think about what we can do that's new and different and an improvement on what has gone before.  Following the wonderful review in The Telegraph the trick has been planning our season without losing sight of what we do that has worked before.  You see, when we had to rely on word of mouth and our web site to promote The Belfry then our guests come for the first time expecting a decent quality of experience.  After such a high-profile accolade as Paddy Burt's it is inevitable that some customers' expectations will now be higher and that means we have to step on the gas a bit.  But as I said, we don't want to lose sight of what has always pleased out customers.  Those of you who know us know that we always try to give the best and we'll continue to do so.

So, lots of new dishes and ideas in planning for April and beyond.  So interesting new plans for later in the year which may or may not bear fruit and with luck seeing many of you again.

Saturday 24th February

All I can say today is....Click Here!

Understandably we're chuffed!

Thursday 15th February

A hotel full of romance yesterday with balloons and flowers everywhere. Today we finished our refurbishment of Tennyson and it looks wonderful so that is all the rooms upstairs completely refurbished.  So just the hall upstairs which will have to wait until later in the year when it gets quiet again as we would have to shut the hotel to do that.

Also we've just heard that we've been reviewed by a well known critic and the review will be published soon.  This is national newspaper stuff and consequently quite nerve-wracking for us!   You know what it's like:  You get everything 100% right for most people and then one or two things go pear-shaped when the critics are in!  We had a shower shut itself off and the freeview box in their room went gaga for a bit!  Typical.   Still, they say there's no such thing as bad press - we'll see.  At the end of the day our guests know we give the best we can and run a friendly relaxed place.  We're never going to be an out-of-the-box perfect example of what the critics say a hotel should be, but then that's what most people like about us!

Thursday 1st February

Well that was January over already!  Our best news this week is we have a new member of staff, Vanessa, who has joined us as a housekeeper and what a relief that is.  Vanessa will be here Monday to Friday and we still have Jemma and Emma Jane at the weekends which gives Paul and I more time to do things like 'blog!  This weekend and next week is all about Tennyson, photos will follow but first we are off to Honiton to choose the new carpet.

Monday 22nd January

Just off for a couple of days to visit our friend in Eire in her new house.  Forescast is for snow here though.  Bet we'll miss it all :-(

Friday 19th January

History really does repeat itself as there were echoes of June 2005 in Yarcombe this week as the village pub changed hands!  On Monday Alan and Lyndsay took over as the new landlords of The Yarcombe Inn and we wish them every success.  They are from Bristol and so know the west-country ways and have great plans.  Those of you who know us and have followed the 'blog will note a distinct absence of comment regarding the pub over the last few months.  This was the sad result of what one might call a "series of unfortunate policy decisions" by the previous landlords.  Nevertheless as we all celebrated in 2005 when Trevor and Victoria arrived, and as we wept when they left last year so we rejoiced in Alan and Lyndsay's arrival in 2007.  A Happy New Year for the Yarcombe Inn!  We have, of course, been across the road to sample the hospitality (purely for research purposes, you understand) and found a generous welcome and a warm, happy place filled with locals and a lively skittles match.  Just what you expect of the village pub.  Just like old times!  As soon as their website is up and running we will provide a link.

Sunday 14th January

It is always great when guests return and lovely way to start off 2007.  It is even better when they choose to come here to spend a special occasion and it is even better when they arrive with home made chocolate cake and share!  At the beginning of every year we imagine we cannot be busier than the last year and then worry that nobody will come this year, but this time last year we hadn't had a guest and we have just had our second busy weekend so it looks good so far.  This weekend also saw a first for us at The Belfry, we extend our warmest congratulations to Hannah and David on their engagement.  Well Valentine's Day is only a month away!

Wednesday 10th January

Katie's Birthday today! A lovely (if a little chilly) day out with friends, splendid!

Monday 1st January

Happy New Year to all!  That's it.  The rest is just too blurry at the moment!

Friday 22nd December

The hotel is closed and our Christmas break is here (I know we only just got back from holiday).  Time for us to do a marathon around the UK visiting friends and family that get neglected all year.   Although first stop is Paul catering for a dinner party for eight people having eight courses with eight different wines all of which needs to be packed in the car!  So we head off and will be back in the new year ready to open up on 5th January for our first 2007 guests.

Tuesday 12th December

Some very sad news, Mr. Pink has been poorly for a few days and we lost him today.  He had a lovely life and was a big character who seemed to make a big impression on people he met whether they wanted him to or not.  Only once did he disgrace himself by stealing biscuits from a plate in the lounge but being such a big cake lover he simply couldn't resist home baked cookies especially if they were ginger.

Saturday 9th December

A full hotel this weekend but all friends and family here to celebrate Paul's birthday and he chose to mark the day by cooking everyone dinner but for dessert a simple chocolate fountain, perfect for Paul as he is a complete chocoholic.

Wednesday 6th December

Somebody is 40 today and it isn't Katie!

Wednesday 29th November

We are back from our summer holiday fully refreshed and ready to go.  It is always a strange thing to arrive back in a summer frame of mind and immediately jump into Christmas!  At least this year we weren't greeted by a foot of snow on waking up.  So Paul has been busy in the kitchen and completed the December menu with some lovely new dishes, ably sampled by Katie of course (tough job).  New wines are on the list and ready for all to sample and the Otter Brewery Christmas beer is here, Otter Claus.  Yet to be tasted purely for quality control purposes.

Friday 13th October

Answer me this...what is it about "non smoking" that is unclear?   Yet again we find a guest has smoked in their room despite being fully aware that this is a non-smoking hotel.  To make matters worse we even had a conversation whilst they checked in about where they could smoke (outside) and about how we were perplexed as to how some people think opening a window counts as outside.  Despite that conversation this particular joker has put a room out of action whilst we clean the curtains and carpet and deodorise the room.   We already have a zero-tolerance policy to smoking in the building (we have to, our fire insurance is quite explicit in that regard) but now were are introducing something even harsher than zero-tolerance.  Is this possible?  Oh yes.   From this point onward anyone who smokes in the building, at any time, anywhere will be charged an extra night and asked to leave immediately, and our guests will confirm their agreement to this when checking in.  It is ridiculous that we have to do this but ultimately it is for the benefit of the vast majority of our guests who do not find it difficult to respect us and our house rules.  

Monday 2nd October

I think the Autumn must be here, although it seemed to arrive for a night and go away.  The heating went on for an hour but now we are back in the warm sunshine it has gone off again so perhaps we will hold it off for a bit longer.  It has been a great couple of weeks with more lovely people and I extend thanks for the lovely flowers and letters received this week.  We have taken the opportunity of slightly quieter days to design the Christmas Card for this year and to generally catch up.  Although some unexpected DIY repairs were needed this week as someone set fire to one of the guest rooms ( a long story to share over dinner).  We can smile now but coming back to a hotel full of smoke was very scarey.  Mr Pink was most perplexed. This week is going to be fun, we have several old friends coming back for visits and no doubt a few glasses of wine, great stories and late nights await ...

Wednesday 20th September

Thursday 31st August

Here's food for thought...

Mr and Mrs O, who stayed last week felt compelled to write about us:

overall a good clean small Hotel serving good food that is trying to be up market but still needs work to get there

At first I found this quite amusing imagining a kid's story about a small hotel wanting desperately to be like Mr Grand and Mrs Royal.  But the more I've though about it the more offence I've taken at it.   It strikes me as bizarre that people expect everywhere to aspire to some kind of generic model of what a hotel should be.  It's odd enough that the firms awarding the stars have such fixed opinions about what constitutes acceptable or not, and I've written about this elsewhere on the site as you may have read.

What I find really quite insulting is the implication that we are somehow trying to be something that we are not and falling down on the job.  I'd say "nonsense"!  But then I would say that wouldn't I?  

When all's said and done we are not trying to be anything.  What we try, and try very hard to do is provide our guests with a good time when they stay here.  The only claims we make are that this is a nice relaxing play to stay (it is), nice people are very welcome (you are), the food is good (it is), the wine list is excellent (it...hic...is!) and you'll enjoy your stay.  Inevitably, like anything in life, we're not to everyone's taste and we do try to, if not dissuade, then certainly inform those whom we feel might not "get" what we're about.  In any event, not everyone wants the same things out of life or out of a stay at a small guest house.

If our previous lives of international travel and living in hotels taught us anything it was that so many places focus all their effort on fixtures and fittings and none of it on guests.  At The Belfry we do our utmost to break the mould and do things differently.  So no, we're not Mr Grand or Mrs Royal...we're better than that.

Thursday 24th August

Yeah, yeah, I know.  This regular 'blogging idea has become more of a monthly news report!  sorry and all that, but it's been so incredibly busy.

We did manage to sneak off down to Plymouth for the 10th National Firework Championships which was simply incredible!  It was our sixth year there and this year bigger and better than ever.  Dr Roy Plowry's world record attempt for simulateously launched rockets was terrifying from our vantage point at anchor just 300m away!  Why so?  Er....over 56,000 rockets all launched within 5 seconds?  At 300m that's quite something to witness!

Back home we've been full, full, full every night.  Since late May, excluding one or two nights when we've had a room or two free we've been full every night!  Never known a Summer like it...and good weather too.  Can't complain!  Cheers all.

Monday 24th July 2006

Apologies once more for the sporadic blogging.  We just can't believe how busy it is at the moment!  The weather is just fantastic here and although we don't get to see much of it we did sneak off down to the beach a Wonwell in the South Hams last week for a picnic with J & T, which was a much needed breather!  With all our rooms full every night we're keeping our staff active and with four part-timers on the books now it's sometimes quite a hive of activity here!  We're looking forward to sharing a few choice happenings with our regular readers in due course (a respectable amount of time must pass to protect the innocent...and the guilty!) but more of that at the end of the season.

As always July has seen Lavender on the menu, this year a refreshing Lavender jelly with last year's gin, honey and lavender ice cream (not last year's batch you understand...last year's recipe!)

If any of you have ever witnessed one of our occasional power-outtages caused by our delightful and temperamental dishwasher (usually accompanied by colourful language and mechanical abuse from the kitchen) you'll be relieved to hear we've finally bitten the bullet and ordered a replacement.  This year repairs have cost nearly a third of the cost of a new machine!  Commercial machinery?  Isn't it supposed to be better than domestic?  Ah well...

Anyway folks, enjoy the rest of July and we'll see you soon we hope.  August is nearly full, mid-weeks only, so why not come and see us for a late Summer break.  October is when our house-party season starts to take off so why not get a gang together and take over the whole place for a weekend?

Thursday 6th July 2006

I never knew there were so many people who didn't like football!  June has been our busiest month ever and July is filling up.  The weather has been absolutely wonderful, and although it is very hot - 28 to 30 degrees, we are lucky to have a nice gentle breeze most of the time. I am not sure Paul would agree though, the kitchen has been quite warm topping 35 last night!  We have had a couple of storms during the night which tested out our new roofs and we no longer need a bucket in our lounge each time it rains.  Thankfully 1970s building standards can be overcome easily these days!  The new menu is just about ready with some lovely dishes for you to try and some new wines to go with it, particularly a lovely Pink Cava as a Summer special, hopefully we won't drink it all!

Sunday 18th June 2006

This spell of glorious weather has kept the phone ringing all this week.  This time last week we were looking at a quietish second half of June, (thanks to some event or other going on in Germany this month)...but...thanks to a terrific unbroken spell of Summer (and our popular "Offside Rule Offer") we are now pretty well full for the rest of the month...and July is getting busy too.  So no rest for the wicked.  

Wednesday 7th June 2006

At last the Summer has arrived, the weather is absolutely glorious and much enjoyed by our guests staying with us, lovely to welcome back some old friends and make some new ones.  Latest addition to all the rooms is full length mirrors, not yet on the walls but with many wedding groups coming up this year I am sure they will get some use.

Friday 26th May 2006

I cannot believe a month has passed by since we last told you what we are up to here. We have just had four days when the hotel was closed!  A difficult choice to make in our busiest time but when rain dripped through the roof we thought it was time to replace them before a guest got wet.  So for the last four days we have had all the flat rooves around the hotel replaced which must be done when the weather is reasonable, so our fault that we have just had four days of rain.  So with four days to kick our heels we decided to make best use of the time and refurbish another room.  Coleridge got the treatment this time photos coming soon ...

Sunday 14th May 2006

We seem to have acquired some children.  For the last few weeks Dan and Jemma have been working in the hotel helping us out while we are busy and they are home from university.  Many guests have assumed they are our children much to Dan and Jemma's amusement and our horror (have we really got that old!).  They will both be back in the Summer and we look forward to seeing two of the nicest people we know.

Friday 28th April 2006

We've just complete the roll-out (if six counts as a roll out!) of digital TV service to all the guest rooms.  We've played with a number of different boxes and settled on a neat little digi-box that has a good 24 hour programme guide accessible from the handset.  So that means our guests can now watch a further eight hundred channels of reality TV and makeover shows!

Sunday 23rd April 2006

Busy?  Not half.  Paul had this "great" idea to demolish the old bar and build new one, thus providing us with a lot more useful space and a better looking dining room.  What was planned to take two days took, of course, four.   But as Dan was back from Uni for the Easter break he helped out and over the last two weeks we've managed to get all sorts of jobs done.  Anyone who has stayed in Coleridge will recall that the bottom of the beautiful stained glass window was boarded over (and as it turns out, painted white on the outside!).  Well, Dan scraped all the paint of and we removed the boards.  Now the window runs floor to ceiling giving a much better look a view out over our little garden...which is now having a new path laid and a few tons of gravel put down.  It goes on...

That's not to mention the busy Easter weekend and the continuing run of returning guests!

The DIY goes on along with some major works in May so watch this space....

Here's our before and after shots of the bar area.

Friday 31st March 2006

As the financial year draws to a close our charity box has been collected and counted. We just wanted to thank all our guests who have contributed to our adopted charity, thanks to your genorosity, Ferne Animal Sanctuary, is £50 better off which will be put to good use looking after all the homeless animals, £5 will feed the smaller animals for a year, £10 will feed a cat and £25 will feed the larger animals horses, donkeys and so on.

Wednesday 29th March 2006

How quickly time is moving, at last Spring has arrived and our daffodils are putting on a great show and we have had some sunshine.  Best of all the evenings are lovely and light now.  Purely for research purposes, we have popped over to the pub to meet the new owners and sample the food and drink.  All of which are great !  It is lovely to see the pub continuing to blossom and Graham and Rick are sure to make it even more successful. 

Last night we hosted a meeting of the Blackdown Hills Business Association meeting which brings together all manner of producers, suppliers and business from the region and I was suprised to learn of some of the things on offer in these parts.  I was particularly taken with The Cheese Gig, Kath Gig's business which provides gift parcels of West Country Cheeses sent direct on your behalf.  There is now a vineyard in Monkton just ten minutes from here, lookout for a link to their forthcoming website soon.  And if you fancy learning something new like Glassblowing, Stain Glass making or Soap Making, well The Old Kennels in Dunkeswell run a truly varied series of courses.  Check them out by clicking here

Next week we are hosting a party for a local chap to bring a number of his key customers together.  It just so happens that the gentlement in question went to school with Paul back in the 70s!  That we should end up as near neighbours is just one of those odd, but very pleasant things!

Sunday 12th March 2006

Our fourth year at The Belfry begins today!  It's incredible to think we've been here three years already!  The busy period that started in mid Feb hasn't abated (as you can tell by the infrequent 'blogging recently!).  We're going to have another good winter month to round off our third trading year.  We moved in on 11th March 2003 and opened for business on 2nd April (the 1st would have been foolish!) and with our third trading year coming to an end we're looking to the future and starting to make some plans.

The biggest shock of the last month....well, we thought it was one thing and now it's another...both of which involve our mates in the pub.  They came to us a few weeks back a bit distraught having discovered a member of staff was stealing from them.  So we put our heads together and with a bit of technical jiggery-pokery (a laptop, a web-cam, some motion detection software and a box with a hole in it!) we successfully filmed said staff-member opening the till and removing cash five days running.   Anyway it all was handed over to the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary and the rest is history.  It was a shock and surprise as the guilty party was a neighbour and trusted employee.  Shame. 

But bigger things to come, it seems.  Trevor and Victoria told us last week that in fact they had sold the pub and were moving out on the 20th March after only 8 months there!  We were gob-smacked and we will miss them terribly, they've become great friends.  But they have rejuvenated the village by giving us back our pub after years of neglect and mismanagement.  It is hardly surprising that someone came along out of the blue and made them the proverbial offer they couldn't refuse.  We've met the new owners, Graham and Rick, who seem very nice and we look forward to welcoming them to Yarcombe.

Friday 17th February 2006

We are updating the wine list again - not too many changes a couple of wines will disappear as the latest vintage is not up to standard and a most exciting new entry from Lebanon.  We took some convincing but having been forced to sample a bottle it really is quite delicious and unlike anything I have ever tried, writing a description will be fun.  Also newly discovered is Luscombe organic drinks, a lovely selection of soft drinks, ginger beer, raspberry vanilla lemonade and a lovely St. Clements, so we hope to have those stocked for lovely Summer afternoons on the terrace.

Thursday 16th February 2006

The most important news today is that it is Trevor's birthday, so we raced over to the pub this morning, after breakfast, to indulge in champagne, smoked trout and chocolate brownies and then came back to try and work.  It has been a week of romance, with a full house on Valentine's night we had a wonderful time but nobody can beat the most romantic story of the village.  James and Sarah.  A flight over Yarcombe might not sound like your idea of romance, but after several loops around the village Sarah finally noticed that James had written "Will You Marry Me" in very large letters of plastic in the farmer's field behind their house.  We wish them every happiness.

Sunday 12th February 2006

Every year there comes a day after which if we want time off we have to book it well in advance.  This year it was 9th Feb, which is incredibly early!  I suspect we might be a touch busy this year!  We've just had a great couple of nights with some of our guests who booked our Valentine's weekend package and we're chock-a-block in the restaurant on the the day itself.

Other news?  We took our annual trip to the Expowest catering show and met up with all the suppliers to the industry.  We picked up some great ideas and hope to be introducing some great new west country products along with some new recipes and ingredients.

We've had the last batch of pheasants from the local shoot although there is one that comes and sits on the hill behind to hotel at about 10 each night and makes a rare old racket, so there might be just one more for the pot!

Monday 30th January 2006

It's been too long since I updated the blog.  Although we've been reasonably quiet we've still had the best January on record and all the year end admin of tax returns and the like has kept us busy busy.  We have more business booked for 2006 than we expected with bookings every month this year and through to July 2007!  There is still some availability for the weekend prior to Valentine's day so give us a call!

Sunday 1st January 2006

Lastnight was time for a party in the pub, they managed to squeeze 150 of the locals in and the revellers enjoyed a lovely local roast lamb and a great band.  Spectacular fireworks and a marvellous time was had by all.  What a difference a year can make!

Friday 23rd December 2005

We are now closed for Christmas and will be heading off to Mum and Dad later today to be thoroughly pampered and spoilt, eat too much, drink too much and sleep enough.  Wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  The hotel will reopen 6th January and we look forward to welcoming you back in 2006.

Thursday 22nd December 2005

The roadworks which have shut the A303 have finally finished and so we no longer have the diverted traffic through the village.  Peace has returned to the mornings, whilst not a great number of cars it was still significantly busier. 

Tuesday 20th December 2005

Carols at the Inn this evening with lots of performances, the Singing Kids of Yarcombe were great and the solo choir boy had all the ladies misty eyed.  Various villagers popped up and did a turn and then we all polished off lots of mince pies and mulled wine.

Tuesday 6th December 2005

Paul's birthday today but I will not give away the age.  We were closed for the night and went out with friends and family for a lovely meal at The Holt in Honiton, we can now thoroughly recommend this for food, run by The Otter Brewery it is a great place for lunch or dinner.  The entertainment was great that night although I am not sure two singing birthday boys appear every evening ;-)

Sunday 4th December  2005

Pub quiz night in the village and we can attend.  A lot is at stake, we have only been able to enter once before and we had a resounding victory much to the disgruntlement of some of the regulars.  We need not have worried a resounding win and once again we took the pot although the regular group who have won every other week were not there so January's quiz will be interesting, perhaps we will be busy!

Thursday 1st December 2005

Did I read that correctly?  December?  Already?  Blimey!  The snow has been and gone (for now) although it would be nice to have some for Christmas time.  We're all unpacked and the holiday is but a distant memory now that we're back in the thick of it.  We've a busy December coming up and we're getting the tree and decorations ready.  Not much else to report from Yarcombe....still waiting to hear the results of the Western Region Village of the Year competition!  Oh, yes, and it's Sue's birthday today!  Happy Birthday Sue!

Friday 25th November 2005

This was the day before we left to come home (Wednesday).

This was the day after we arrived home. (Today.)

...and that's all I've got to say about that!

Actually, no.  It's good to see everyone in Yarcombe and catch up on all the news and such.  It's just so cold!  What's this white stuff?

Getting back into the swing of things is going to be fun.  Got some new ideas for the menu and we picked up some smart Christmas decorations whilst we were away. (We always do that.  Our tree has decorations on it from all over the world.)

The local shoot has provided us with a supply of pheasant for the next few weeks and I've got some good recipes to try out with that.

Friday 28th October 2005

Our regular guests and friends J & T from Plymouth came to stay today for their 10th Anniversary!  Many congratulations to them.  We had a great crowd in the restaurant and everyone seemed to have splendid evening.  Our penultimate night of the season was one of the best, it seems.  But within 48 hours we, ourselves will be on hols.  It's been one long year since the last one that's for sure.  I'll post again if there's anything to report before next week but if not my next post will be with a sun tan!

Thursday 27th October 2005

It's been a busy old week here and I can't believe I've not posted any news for a week!  Time flies and all that.  Trying to catch up on our end of season chores this week before we close for our holiday on Tuesday.  Time to cut back some of the bigger stuff in the garden so we took advantage of what may well be the final fine day of the year!  So with the magnolia, crab apple and jasmine all severely hacked we once again have a visible left hand end to the building (and eighteen sacks of green waste!)

Its been great to see a lot of returning guests this month, not least Mr and Mrs C, formerly of Twickenham and now of East Devon!  We saw them in May when they were looking for property and now they're almost neighbours.  It's the magic of the Blackdowns, you know!   Right, must get on...

Friday 21st October 2005

The day our new website went live!  After a couple of weeks of technical broohaha (where does that come from by the way?) and content gathering we finally gave the instruction to Cre8Media to move the draft to the live servers.  And here it is!  We're very pleased with the result and have already had a couple of emails to say how good the new site is.  So thanks to Emma C and Neil M for their kind words.  Onward into the weekend... but holiday beckons!

Monday 17th October 2005

What a busy old day!  We had a lot of breakfasts to do and as soon as our guests we all done we charged over to the village hall to begin setting up our display for the judging!  It was a bit of fun with loads of people from the village turning out to put together a kind of mini agricultural show.  Anyway we got everything set up and the three judges arrived on time.  Just as they were shaking hands with the organisers to start the process there was a fly-past of a couple of bi-planes which the committee had arranged, perfect to the second.  The whole village cheered and clapped and the judges weren't quite sure whether to join in or not!  Excellent!  Anyway, we all said our bit and then cleared off back to the pub.  Not what you're thinking though.  As it was a fine dry day we were helping Trev and Vic to paint the outside of the pub, which is now a lovely pristine white again!  We finished off the Keats room after that, which finished us off as well!

Saturday 15th October 2005

Full house tonight with a couple of groups of friends in - and much laughter in the restaurant.  Busy busy.  But! The new bed for the Keasts room arrived and it's terrific!  A couple of touches here and there and we're ready to let it again.  Had much fun this morning trying to get a sensible photo for our "village of the year" stand with the guys from the pub.  Trying to get Trevor to behave is never the easiest thing! 

Thursday 13th October 2005

A short break today as we're having a new carpet fitted in Keats this evening and rather than try to juggle the disruption and noise with cooking dinner and looking after guests we closed instead, so we get a night off!  A busy weekend ahead but it will be good to get Keats finished and we're really pleased with the result. 

Met up with Trev and Vic from the Yarcombe Inn today to chat about our stand in the marquee for the next round of the village of the year judging.  We decided on a simple statement along the lines of "Joining forces to put Yarcombe on the map for good food and hospitality."   Might just pop in for a half later as we're not working tonight!

Wednesday 12th October 2005

It was really lovely to welcome back Bill and Janet again.  This must be their eighth stay with us in two and a half years so that puts them up there with Neil, Peter, Steve and Diane and Pat and Maureen.  It's always such a laugh to catch up and it was nice to be able to introduce them to our mates over the road in the pub.

Monday 10th October 2005

Bit of a result today.  Having had a bit of a problem getting hold of panettone (for the bread and butter puds) after I stopped using the supplier (that's another story) Katie suggested having a go at making one.  Quick Google for the recipe and two hours later...unlimited supply of panettone!  Yipee!

Sunday 9th October 2005

Last night was great fun.  Mr and Mrs U from Kent were in for dinner as were our most regular diners Mr and Mrs M.  It was Mr M's birthday and we took everyone over to the Yarcombe Inn after dinner and the whole pub sang "happy birthday!"  The splendid irony of it was the fact that he'd been bought a T-shirt which he was then wearing on which was written "Do I look like a f******g people person?"  Much fun had by all.

Saturday 8th October 2005

Rotten day today.  Well started that way at least.  Not a nice task but I had to ask a guest to leave today.  I won't bore you with the details but over dinner last night they were, how shall we say, a little aggressive over a minor detail.  Oh alright then...drunken shouting of "where are the chips? what kind of place is this?" wasn't the best start to a relationship.  A great shame.  We do try our hardest to make everyone happy but sometimes you wonder if people just want a confrontation.  Anyway, enough of that.  Clearly nothing we did was going to make an unhappy guest into a happy one and that makes us unhappy too.  Still, the rest of our guests today are lovely (as most of you splendid folk are) so we just have to worry about them now.

Wednesday 5th October 2005

Ah! Sardines!  Well that was probably not what you expected, eh?  But today I took delivery of a half dozen or so wonderful fresh sardines from Kingfisher.  Just slam them under a hot grill for a couple of minutes a side and a squiz of lemon and you're away,  Marvellous.  Definitely on the menu for October!

Tuesday 4th October 2005

Read a really nasty review of us on a website today.  Despite all the lovely things people say and write about us one unpleasant one like that can really bring you down.  Anyone would think we had deliberately set out to give a bad experience rather than working as hard as we do to make things right for our guests.  This individual is going around and posting the same comments on as many places as they can find.  Why?  If they weren't happy they could have told us.  If they didn't think it worth the money we'd have listened and tried to work it out with them.  If I was being honest I'd say this; anonymous moaning is just cowardly, petty and vindictive.  I say anonymous - they think we won't know who they are.  But we do.  The funny thing is we don't remember them as being unhappy guests, they seemed OK.  But we must have done something really bad to make them want to try and put people off so much.   Or maybe we didn't.  Mayber they're just odd.  :-)  Fortunately the person who told us about it is one of our regulars who was just going to write a nice about us himself, so thanks Ian! 

Monday 3rd October 2005

Work on Keats has slowed up as we've both gone down with this nasty flu-y cold thing that's going around.  Typical.  We've booked out two days to decorate today and tomorrow and we both feel dreadful.  Ah well.  Lemsips all round.

Wednesday 28th September 2005

Got the details for the next round of the village of the year competition.  Yarcombe is going to be judged for the Western Region final on October 17th.  Trev (from the pub) and I had a chat about what we could do as part of the effort.  Probably do some kind of joint display to show how a pub and restaurant can co-exist and actually need eachother to do well.  Should be fun.

Sunday 25th September 2005

We decided to start work on Keats today and convert it from a twin to a double.  There have been so many occasions where we've only had a twin free and an enquiry has come in for a double that we figure it will be worthwile.  The room could do with decorating this winter anyway so we've brought it forward.  Hope to get it finished in about 3 weeks.  I know that sounds like a long time but we're pretty busy for the next couple of weeks and will just have to grab an hour or so here and there to work on the room.

Thursday 22nd September 2005

The weblog begins!  The Belfry Blog is something we've wanted to add to the website for a while, so in anticipation of the launch of the new site on the 21st October the 'blog begins a month early!  For the slightly more irreverent view of the world perhaps and with the insider information of what's going on here.