Well doesn’t time fly. We have been here three years and we are open again to guests for the season. We have spent this winter working hard at the cottages, making improvements we hope you will enjoy. Here is an overview of what we have been up to… Hay Barn Before Christmas we focussed on improving and updating Hay Barn’s kitchen – it now features a full-size fridge freezer and larder area for food storage and a new...

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Since Christmas our book club has been a little obsessed with reading about walking which, along with now having a dog, has inspired me to make 2019 the year I start walking more. The first book we read was Ben Fogle’s book Up, an account of his epic journey up Everest. We all enjoyed the adventure so much we then chose Raynor Winn’s best selling book The Salt Path – a heart-felt account of her wild-camping walk along the...

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Books and Banter – our book club recommendations We recently celebrated the first anniversary of Books and Banter – the book club I host in the conservatory here at Halsbeer once a month. I asked our members to score the books we had read during the year to find our MUST READS and DON’T BOTHERS of 2018. Our two top reads were ‘This is Going to Hurt’ by Adam Kay, a hilarious and revealing glimpse behind the scenes of...

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If you are visiting the region this summer and are struggling for things to do with the kids – look no further than Exmouth – the new Queen’s Drive Space is chock full of fantastic food and drink outlets, a spacious and sandy playground, lots of things to see and do, and of course it’s right by the beach. Winner! Most Thursday afternoons during the holidays there are circus workshops being...

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Last year I had a somewhat significant birthday and was delighted to be gifted a voucher for a half-day experience at Yarak Bird of Prey which is only 15 minutes from Halsbeer Farm and Blackdown Yurts. I knew I would never be forgiven if I attended on my own without taking Mark and the children with me, so I booked for all four of us to spend an afternoon flying hawks in mid-May. Never in a million years did I expect my eight year old son to...

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Actually, rephrase that – the question should be how many lightbulbs have the Hammonds changed? The answer is 200! Since August last year we have been gradually replacing all of the lightbulbs in the cottages and farmhouse with the latest low wattage filament light emitting diode (LED) bulbs. Not only do they look a whole lot nicer, but they will hopefully save us a bit of money on electricity and reduce our carbon footprint. It is...

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