Exmoor Tasting Platters - menu for Exmoor Food Festival

Book your table now for our 'lunch with a difference' - Exmoor Tasting Platters - served as part of the Exmoor Food Festival, 2nd - 11th October (12-2pm each day). For £8.50 a head you can choose 3 different tapas-style servings of things like our potted beef, spinach & garlic terrine, home-cured meats (e.g. smoked pork tenderloin), Somerset cheeses (including Exmoor Jersey Blue)... all served with salad, home-made breads and a choice of home-made pickles. You can add extra tasting portions too.
For pudding, why not try some of our wonderful home-made ice cream (which we make in some slightly unusual flavours like blackberry & elderberry) or a delicious, light and very chocolatey sponge...
To go with your meal we've some good local beers and Somerset ciders, a nice range of wines, organic soft drinks from Devon and tea and coffee from our local supplier.
Look forward to seeing you!

Red deer rutting on Exmoor

October's the red deer rutting season, and Exmoor is a great place to see (and hear) the stags in all their splendour. Here on Exmoor we have the largest concentration of wild red deer in Europe, as well as fallow deer and roe deer.
The Porlock Visitor Centre organises 'rutting weekends' each year, and there are a number of companies offering 4 x 4 safaris on the moor. The Exmoor National Park rangers also organise escorted walks.
Come and stay at Exmoor House for a few nights (being in Wheddon Cross, we're more or less right in the middle of the national park) and you can go in search of the deer herds...

Walking from Tarr Steps

Frank & I don't get out much when things are busy here at Exmoor House; but we had a free afternoon last week and went over to Tarr Steps - hadn't visited this part of Exmoor for a while. We did part of the Tarr Steps/Withypool circuit. Thought we could cross the river partway along, but in fact it's not possible so we returned the same way and came down the hill again! It was the most walking we'd done for a while... We saw deer (Bambi & his mum) and a rabbit too (must've been Thumper), as well as lots of birdlife - and sheep of course. There are the remains of some really old hedgebanks, which are very picturesque, all overgrown with moss. Some of the leaves are just starting to turn, but in general everything's still looking quite green. The heather continues to hold its own too - Dunkery Beacon, as seen from our dining room, is still very purple.