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Our long awaited holiday to America whizzed by and we are now settled back at home. We had such a good time and enjoyed so many aspects of the trip.
One of the highlights, as well as seeing our old friends, was our trip to The White House. As we expected, breakfast wasn’t included but the accomodation looked extremely impressive!
This week The White House is taking a well deserved and long awaited break and so we will be “off air” for a short while. We are very much looking forward to meeting up with old friends in New Jersey and also on the itinerary is, yes, you’ve guessed it, a visit to THE White House!
Unsure if they also offer Bed and Breakfast, guessing they don’t, but we’ll soon find out….. Watch this space as we will be back soon with news of our trip.
And meanwhile, we are leaving our own White House in the very capable hands of our elder daughter Melanie.
On Friday evening I attended the Wells Literary Festival with a friend to listen to Jeffrey Archer discuss his latest book in the series The Clifton Chronicles. It is many years since I read one of his novels, although I remember them as extremely entertaining.
As a speaker he didn’t disappoint, chatting about the “overnight” success of his first novel – well over a year in the making; his rise to the best seller list; and the mechanics and creativity of the writing process itself.
Following the talk, I bought all five books in the series and have already finished reading the first – can’t wait to begin the second….
The Festival continues until the end of the weekend and tomorrow I will be there again, this time with my husband Rod, to hear Mary Berry.
Well recommended for those of you who haven’t yet visited the festival and it would be great to hear from any of you who have been to the event either this year or in the past.
What a beautiful weekend we had here at The White House in Dulcote. The weather was glorious and we packed loads in; including a visit to the Wells Food Festival and a new load of jam making after a trip to Wookey Hole to collect blackberries.
The Food Festival was very busy and the smells from the numerous stalls were divine. We came home with bags loaded with goodies, including local cheeses and dried meats. Just managed to resist temptation to buy a huge plum pudding for Christmas Day but only after confirming we could also buy online at a later date!
Wookey Hole was awash with Blackberries and although I was on my own for this trip; a waddle of Geese and herd of young cows kept me company (or watched over me to make sure I didn’t take too many) and so Sunday evening was spent making 10 huge pots of Blackberry and Apple jelly (using the lovely Bramleys that Ros gave to me last week from her garden)
And just before we settled in for the evening my daughter Lucy took this lovely photo which really captures just how special a weekend it was.
At the beginning of this month I wrote about the Dinder Flower and Produce show and our haul of prizes. Well, a funny thing happened in the hairdressers earlier this week……..
I was in The Cutting Bay in the centre of Wells (well recommended if you can excuse the pun)enjoying a chat with my lovely hairdresser Vicky when she asked me if I had entered anything in the show. I very proudly mentioned I’d won first prize for my Victoria sandwich cake and she suddenly stopped cutting and said in a shocked voice “IT WAS YOU!!!!!!!!”. Turning to her partner she repeated “IT WAS HER!!!!!!”.
Turns out Vicky has won first prize for her Victoria sponge cake for the last three years and I knocked her off the top spot.
Luckily I came home without green hair and after a laughing conversation about the British Bake Off we agreed we would be creating weird and wonderful show stoppers next year to try to out do each other. Bring it on…….
Yesterday I joined my daughter Lucy; good friend Ros; and hundreds of other walkers from Wells Cathedral School, on a hike through Ebbor Gorge for Save the Children. Thank goodness he day dawned beautifully sunny and, after registering at the school, we set off to Wookey Hole on our way to the gorge.
The scenery and views were stunning; the gorge itself is limestone and was designated in 1952 as a 63.5-hectare biological site of special interest. Donated to the National Trust in 1967 it is now managed by Natural England as a Nature Reserve.
The full hike was 10 mile, and we managed 5 mile, all uphill, before finally giving up the ghost and calling Rod to plead a lift home.
It really is a fantastic place and well worth a visit during your stay at The White House Bed and Breakfast.
Although today is the first day in October, the sun has finally decided to shine on us her at The White House and we are enjoying balmy days although the temperature is beginning to dip in the evenings.
Reading the latest edition of Somerset Life there is an article focusing on Autumn days out and its good to see Bishops Palace within their recommendations. With 14 acres of gardens and our famous springs that give Wells its name, it makes a great day out. And if you are lucky you might even see the swans ringing the bell for food. My daughter Melanie and I were lucky enough to see this last summer and there’s a great clip on you tube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stGckjlM2tU so that you can see what you are missing……
My timing hasn’t been great this weekend when I, for reasons attached to what I still call “my paid job”, swopped the peaceful surroundings of Dulcote for a busy City life in London during probably one of the most fantastic sunny spells we have had all summer!
Its been great to catch up with friends in the evening and to also see “War Horse” in Drury Lane (well recommended to anyone visiting London) but I’m already pining for The White House and country living. Can’t wait to return on Monday evening and breathe in the fresh air, re-join my family and enjoy an enthusiastic welcome from Bob.
Wells Food Festival returns on Sunday 11th October. This annual event grows every year and last year attracted 7,500 visitors to Wells.
This year, with over 100 producers and street food vendors, the Festival includes an Artisan Market, street food stalls and a family marquee as well as activities; debate; and “The Soup” in Bishops Barn; and a pop up tea room in the Town Hall.
Here at The White House we can’t really get our heads around the fact that a full year has gone by, it seems only a short while ago that we were wandering around the delights of the Festival last year.
Definately worth a visit and I’d be delighted to hear from any of you who have visited the Festival in the past.
The weather here at The White House Dulcote seems very Autumnal and at the weekend our thoughts turned to jam making. Our shelves are now groaning with Blackberry jam following my foraging trip with my good friend Ros (and more later about her bravery when Bob attracted the attention of a fieldful of young cows…..)
Sunday saw us turn our attention to the ancient plum tree in the kitchen garden and I’m pleased to report that the jars of plum jam have now joined the blackberry ready for our next guests to arrive and taste them.
Lucy and I gathered a huge basketful from the lower hanging branches with the aid of a step ladder but we had to enlist Rod and a lacrosse stick to reach higher hanging fruit. Me thinks he enjoyed hitting me on the head with a load of plums just a little too much…………………