We appear to be collecting milestone birthdays this year which is really rather exciting. I turn 40 in July (eek), my mother-in-law turned an ‘0’ last week on the same day as Mark, and my grandmother-in-law aka “the legend that is Gron” will be celebrating her century in August. We hosted a family celebrating a 70th staying in the cottages for Easter week, the same family that celebrated a 60th here ten years ago so they obviously liked...

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We recently visited Forest Beef in the Blackdown Hills to see their herd of rare-breed longhorn cattle and brought home a delicious meat box to try their produce. Read about our trip and what we thought of the meat and eggs on my Blackdown Yurts blog. You can order a meat box for your stay from Forest Beef’s website and you can visit yourself on 11th June 2017 for their farm open...

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What better on a wet and windy February day when that ugh feeling gets a hold of you than a sumptuous salon-quality spa treatment in the comfort of your own home? Nicole from Haybarn Mobile Beauty arrived on the dot for our 11.30am appointment and quickly transformed the snug into a cosy salon area with her professional massage table complete with heated blanket (ooh), soft towels and snuggly blankets (aah). I asked how come her company was...

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Eek! As I write Mia is on stage in the opening night of Scrooge the Musical in Kentisbeare Village Hall. To be honest I have been a bit bah humbug about Christmas before now. I didn’t really see the point – the blatant commercialisation of it seemed offensive, as an atheist it doesn’t hold any religious significance for me, and maybe it just lost its magic as I grew out of the naivety of childhood. This year though, like...

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One of the joys of moving to a new place has been the gradual discovery of our new environment. Since March we’ve witnessed a multitude of plants emerge, grow, flower and fruit with the changing seasons. We’ve delighted in the summer swallows sitting chattering to one another on the telephone wire, the green woodpecker with its lilting flight from tree to tree along the drive, the cries of buzzards and, more recently, hoots of owls in the...

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Six months in and we’re still here! It’s been a busy summer with fabulous weather and cottages and yurts full of happy holiday-makers. We’re now looking forward to a “quieter” few months getting on top of the admin and maintenance! The six-month milestone and some recent conversations with guests about the history of Halsbeer has made me spend a bit of time looking into the past. In particular I was keen to see...

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