Exmoor's variety, part 2: Plantlife

Because Exmoor has such a range of terrains (more in a later blog!) it has a big range of plantlife too. I'm going to concentrate here on some of my favourites, and haven't included trees because I'm also going to focus on them another time.

Daffodils in Stowey Wood near Wheddon Cross

Early in the year the snowdrops in Snowdrop Valley - where else? - show that the land is starting to wake up after winter. Slightly later signs of spring are daffodils, primroses, alexanders, wild garlic, bluebells. 

Gorse, with its sunny flowers and coconutty scent, can be in bloom at any time of year ('whenever kissing's in season' as the old saying goes) but is often at its best in late spring. Exmoor ponies love to nibble the flowers and stems.

Heather on Dunkery Hill

Summer brings out the bell heather and ling on the high moors, which are home to luscious whortleberries as well; also known as bilberries, if you're a northerner like me. And, following on from the foxgloves, rosebay willowherb is everywhere. On riverbanks I love to see meadowsweet, also – an invasive import, but so pretty – monbretia.

Gorse in bloom by the Porlock toll road

By the coast you'll see, at various times of the year, sea purslane, wild fennel, teasels, evening primroses, mallows...

And I'll just briefly mention marsh plants, grasses and sedges, ferns, lichens – the latter a telltale sign of Exmoor's unpolluted air – and fungi including brightly coloured waxcaps.

All in all, Exmoor is a botanist's paradise!

Exmoor accommodation for Snowdrop Valley: dinner bed and breakfast breaks

Exmoor’s valley of snowdrops, once a well-kept secret, is becoming more well known. About a mile fromWheddon Cross, this beautiful wooded Somerset river valley is a wonderfully natural setting for drifts of snowdrops and perfect for a February visit.

If you want to celebrate these early signs of spring with a few days away, why not book a short break at Exmoor House? We’re within walking distance of the snowdrops (but if you’re not a walker there is a special bus service that will take you down to the valley and back).

We have a special offer for the snowdrop season: £10 off the normal price of our three night Exmoor dinner bed and breakfast breaks (making the cost from just £164 per person) plus a free cream tea and a free bottle of house wine during your stay. Find more information here:

exmoorhotel.co.uk/whyvisitnow.htm

If you are local to Wheddon Cross you might like to visit our February tearoom… proper home-made food,expertly cooked using good local ingredients. Here are some details:

exmoorhotel.co.uk/specialevents.htm

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Beech leaf gin

Talking to some twitter friends a couple of months ago reminded me that for the last several years I’d intended to make beech leaf gin – also called noyau – but had never got round to it. Our exchange of tweets was the nudge I needed to get going. Late spring or early summer is the time to make this drink, and on Exmoor we have a plethora of beech trees... tall beech hedges are a distinctive feature of this lovely area.


There are several recipes around; I used the one in Richard Mabey’s book Food for Free (an excellent read, by the way, as is his Flora Britannica).

You’ll need a large jar, which you pack about nine-tenths full of beech leaves. Pick the leaves when they’re young, soft and that delicious lime green colour. This year the leaves on the beech tree in our garden were at that stage in mid May (but everything’s been a little later than usual). I think some arriving guests were slightly bemused to discover me peering into the tree and snipping off small twigs into a colander. Make sure the leaves are clean, dry and free of bits and insects.

When you’ve packed the leaves into the jar, pour in enough gin to cover them completely. You need to keep pressing the leaves down while you’re doing this, so that there are no air bubbles. We didn’t have quite enough gin to cover the leaves, so I also used the remains of a bottle of Dutch genever (similar, but this was vintage stuff so our friends in Holland may not have approved) and a bit of vodka.

Leave the mixture to steep for about two weeks. Then strain off the gin, which will have taken some colour from the leaves. Add about 350g (three quarters of a pound) of sugar, dissolved in 284ml (half a pint) of boiling water, to every 568ml (1 pint) of gin. Add a dash of brandy, mix it all up well and bottle when it is cold.

I left the resulting concoction to mature for a couple of weeks before trying it, and can report that it’s rather good - makes a great after dinner drink. It has a unique flavour, which I found slightly nutty (Mabey describes it as ‘a thickish, sweet spirit, mild and slightly oily to taste, like sake, but devastating in its effects!’). Definitely worth having a go.

Spring 2012 events on Exmoor

What’s happening on Exmoor? Quite a lot, as ever! I keep saying this, but it does bear repeating: there is always something going on here, but the area remains peaceful and unspoilt. Here’s some information about things happening over the next few months, takuing us through the rest of winter and into spring.


The big event, from now until early March, is Snowdrop Valley, here at Wheddon Cross. Beautiful and unique – don’t miss it! More information on our website, in my blog post of 12th January and at http://www.wheddoncross.org.uk/ Our dining room opens each day as a tearoom from 4th February until 4th March, so you can enjoy our great food before or after your visit to the valley.

On 14th – 16th February, the West Somerset Railway is running a special Snowdrops & Steam service: combine a scenic ride on a steam train with your snowdrops viewing. For details of this and other railway events, visit http://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/section.php?xSec=2&xPage=1&jssCart=e278a8fbb51ca16b9c3636d860c4b1c3

March 16th – 18th sees the 4 x 4 on Exmoor Jaunt & Challenge, in aid of Wooden Spoon children’s charity. The teams start and finish at Wheddon Cross and enjoy an active weekend while raising funds for a very good cause http://www.4x4onexmoor.co.uk/
Also in March is the West Somerset Railway Spring Steam Gala (17th – 18th and 22nd – 25th)

Easter weekend falls on 6th-9th April this year – book your break at Exmoor House now! Later in the month – on the 21st - there’s the Somerset Stages rally, which is always interesting to watch. More info here: http://www.btrdarally.com/2012-Somerset-Stages.asp And, new for this year, there’s the Exmoor Beauty Cycle Challenge on the 22nd (sister event of the infamous Exmoor Beast): http://exmoorbeauty.org/

The North Devon and Exmoor Walking Festival starts on 27th April and continues until 6th May. A guided walk is a fantastic way of getting to know the countryside better, and on Exmoor we are extremely lucky to have an amazing choice of walks. Find details and updates at http://www.exmoorwalkingfestival.co.uk/

There’s an active theme to these events, which is fitting as Exmoor is such a wonderful area for getting out and about. Later in the year, however, there’ll also be arts and cultural festivals – I’ll cover these in another blog post. In the meantime, for those of you with a taste for outdoor adventures, here are two more websites to check out:
http://www.activeexmoor.com/
http://www.exmooradventures.co.uk/

Snowdrop Valley: February 2012, Wheddon Cross, Exmoor National Park

Snowdrops make everyone smile – they’re such a welcome sign of Spring. Exmoor’s Snowdrop Valley in Somerset, once a well-kept secret, is becoming more well known, and deservedly so.


The narrow road to Snowdrop Valley will be closed to traffic during snowdrop time, but there is a park and ride service from Wheddon Cross village down to the valley and back. This year’s dates for the park and ride buses are 4th to 26th February, with the road remaining closed for a week after that. Of course, you don’t have to get the bus – it’s a beautiful hilly walk (walking boots or wellies essential!).

You can find more information at

http://snowdropvalleyupdate.blogspot.com/

http://www.wheddoncross.org.uk/snowdropvalley.htm

To get to Wheddon Cross, why not use the West Somerset Railway Snowdrops & Steam service? It runs on February 14th 15th and 16th and will be a great day out! For more details and bookings information, visit
http://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/section.php?xSec=58&xPage=1

And while you’re here, you could have morning coffee, lunch or afternoon tea at Exmoor House. We’ll be opening our lovely dining room as a tearoom and serving delicious food, all home-made with care and local ingredients. If there are going to be four or more of you, we recommend that you book in advance. Exmoor House is also open for dinner most evenings – booking is essential for this. Find more information about our food at http://www.exmoorhotel.co.uk/food.htm

Looking for somewhere to stay for a few nights for your Snowdrop Valley visit? Do check out our place: comfy accommodation, great value dinner bed & breakfast packages: http://www.exmoorhotel.co.uk/

No need to just take our word for it, though: here’s a link to What’s on Somerset magazine, where there is a review about us on page 6. http://www.whatsonsomerset.com/WOS%20ISSUE%2018.pdf

Hope to see you soon!

Exmoor ponies in the spring

At Exmoor House we’ve had several people staying who were going to the Exmoor Pony Centre to visit a pony they’d adopted. A free afternoon last weekend coincided with the centre's Easter open day, so we went along to have a look for ourselves: a chance to see some of these unique and fascinating little horses close up.    

Some of the visitors were queuing to groom a patient pony until it positively gleamed; others took a ride round the field. The rest of the resident ponies were feeding, posing for pictures or basking in the sun. Most still had some at least of their thick winter coats, though I suspect they'll now be losing them rapidly.


The centre, with the Moorland Mousie Trust (Moorland Mousie is the pony protagonist of a children’s book) works ‘to promote and conserve the Exmoor pony’. Staff and volunteers help to re-home ponies, mainly excess young foals from the moor. As well as adopting a pony, there is the opportunity to sponsor a foal. In addition you can book a taster session to learn about caring for ponies, or a moorland ride.

No ponies on Winsford Hill that day; perhaps they were all at the centre! We carried on into Dulverton after our visit, calling in to the Town Mills (highly recommended) for tea & cake and visiting the Heritage Centre (lots to see, including this time a display of work by local artists and an exhibition about Exmoor Horn sheep).

It was a perfect sunny spring day: big skies, soft light, hazy shadows... The circular route we followed, from Wheddon Cross to Exford, on to Dulverton via Winsford Hill and Ashwick and back through Bridgetown, shows off some of the amazing variety of Exmoor's scenery.

Spring is on the way on Exmoor

After a long cold winter, it seems spring is definitely on the way (or maybe I'm tempting fate by writing that!). These last few days have been much milder, and the daffodils are coming along well in our garden. The herbs are starting to wake up from their hibernation too, and soon we'll have beautiful fresh lovage, marjoram, chives and fennel (to name a few).

The snowdrops in Snowdrop Valley are still looking wonderful. Park & ride buses from Wheddon Cross continue for the rest of this week; the last day is this Sunday, February 27th. Do remember though that the road down to the valley will remain closed to traffic until March 6th - so between Feb 27th and Mar 6th, the only way to the valley will be on foot. Our dining room at Exmoor House will be open as a tearoom on most days until March 6th, serving cream teas (of course!), homemade rolls with a choice of fillings, hot soup, a selection of cakes, and more. Everything's homemade, including our delicious teacakes. Do remember too that you can book lunch at Exmoor House at any time of year (subject to availability) for groups of 4 or more people; we'll plan the menu to suit you.

In my last post I mentioned the Exmoor 4 x 4 Jaunt and Challenge, which is centred on Wheddon Cross during the weekend of March 19th and 20th. This popular event raises funds for the rugby charity Wooden Spoon. The off-road vehicles follow carefully planned routes, where the landowners have given them permission to go. You can see more detail about the event at  http://www.4x4onexmoor.co.uk/

Also on March 19th and 20th, as well as March 24th - 27th, is the West Somerset Railway Spring Steam Gala. This year the Gala celebrates 35 years of the West Somerset Railway running along the former Taunton to Minehead Branch of British Rail. There'll be many visiting locomotives (including new types not seen before on this line), and plenty of attraction around railway to visit, including sheds and workshops. You'll find updates about the gala at http://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/ssg.html
Whether you're a rail enthusiast or not, a trip on the railway is highly recommended. It's a scenic, tranquil journey between Minehead and Bishops Lydeard. Each station has something interesting to look at, and there are some good walks from the stations also.

At Exmoor House we have a special offer during the rest of February, and March: weekend dinner, bed & breakfast breaks are the same price as midweek breaks. Currently there are some rooms available for most dates, including during the events mentioned here. There's more detail on our website. Why not treat yourselves to a spring getaway?  To make a booking, just give us a call!

Snowdrop Valley 2011: stay at Exmoor House and see the snowdrops

Snowdrop Valley, near Wheddon Cross, used to be one of Exmoor's best-kept secrets. Now the secret is out, and many people come back year after year to see the spectacular display of snowdrops, normally at its best in February. It's a welcome sign that Spring is on the way...

Here at Exmoor House, right in the centre of Wheddon Cross village, our dining room will be open as a tea room most days during Snowdrop Valley time (5th February to 6th March). We'll be serving hot drinks, cold drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), soup, light lunches, home-made cakes and scones, and more - hope to see you. 

If you'd like to make a booking for a group, please contact us to discuss your requirements. Remember, too, that Exmoor House is open most nights for dinner (booking essential).

And why not stay on for a few days to explore this beautiful area further? Check out our website at http://www.exmoorhouse.com/ for details of our accommodation and special dinner, bed & breakfast packages.
The walk down to the valley and back is extremely pretty, but it is steep and can get very muddy. Allow at least 1.5 hours for the return trip and wear appropriate winter clothing and footwear.



There's a park and ride scheme for Snowdrop Valley, run by Cutcombe Parish Council with support from Exmoor National Park, the Badgworthy Land Company and Exmoor Farmers. Buses leave regularly from the village car park (by the Rest & Be Thankful pub); last bus back from the valley is at 4.35pm. This year the park and ride runs every day from Saturday 5th February until Sunday 27th February. Tickets cost £4 for adults, with concessions for senior citizens and children aged from 5 to 15 (under 5s travel free).

The bus route will be closed to all motor traffic except residents, and disabled drivers, who need to obtain a permit before entering the valley. For more details, visit the Wheddon Cross website  at http://www.wheddoncross.org.uk/ or contact the Snowdrop Valley organiser on snowdropvalley@googlemail.com

Note that the road will stay closed for a week after the park and ride finishes, so from 28th February to 6th March you'll still be able to walk to see the snowdrops but there will be no buses running. Snowdrop Valley is privately owned and access is kindly granted by the Badgworthy Land Company.

Donations are always very welcome to help in the running of Snowdrop Valley, so that the village can continue to operate the park and ride in future years.

Snowdrops at Wheddon Cross

Snowdrop Valley, near Wheddon Cross, is always a wonderful sight. The snowdrops are normally at their best in February (though obviously this depends on the weather!). It's about a mile and a half to Snowdrop Valley from the village and is a lovely - though quite steep and sometimes very muddy - walk.

If you don't fancy the walk, you can take the bus. Each year a park & ride service runs between Wheddon Cross car park and the valley; in 2011 the dates for this are Saturday 5th February to Sunday 27th February inclusive. Please note, though, that the road down to the valley willl stay closed until 6th March (so from 28th Feb-6th March you'll be able to walk down to the valley to see the snowdrops but the valley won't be accessible by motor transport).

For latest news about Snowdrop Valley, visit http://snowdropvalleyupdate.blogspot.com/ or the village website at http://www.wheddoncross.org.uk/

As usual, at Exmoor House Wheddon Cross we'll be opening our dining room as a tea room (or tearoom!) during the day at Snowdrop Valley time. We serve home-made cakes, scones and teacakes, lunches (e.g. ploughman's, filled home-made rolls, soup) and you can also enjoy Somerset ciders, local beers and a good choice of wines with your meal - as well as coffee & tea of course.

If you like the idea of a short break on Exmoor to see the snowdrops and explore the area, at Exmoor House we do special dinner, bed & breakfast packages. Lots more details on our website at http://www.exmoorhouse.com/  - we are also open to non-residents for dinner in the evening: come and try our fabulous food, all home-made using lovely local ingredients. Advance booking is essential!

The gorse is in bloom

We did the Hunters Inn to Heddon's Mouth walk the other day. The river was quite high (not surprising really) and the waves dramatic. But what really caught my eye was the gorse, which in a couple of weeks has really come on. I always think that gorse flowers look as if they have some sunshine caught in them.

Gorse is used as one of the Bach Flower Remedies (you might know that I'm a Bach practitioner) - it's to help relieve states of despair, gloom and pessimism. Just looking at the flowers, and inhaling that heady coconut-type scent, always makes me smile.

You can see one of the photos I took when we were walking on the 'Pic of the Week' page of our website.

It looks set fair for a great weekend here on Exmoor. We've still rooms left, so why not pay us a visit?

More signs of Spring...

Just a couple of weeks ago when we were out walking, the grass on Exmoor was the same colour as it gets in Africa (good camouflage for the Exmoor Beast, perhaps). But now everything's a lot greener, the promroses and daffodils are well on their way and the snowdrops are finally finished (they lasted incredibly well this year). Lots more Spring lambs too, and the birds are still nesting like mad.

We have had some snow over the last couple of days, along with some amazing cloudscapes. The snow didn't last too long, but while it did, Dunkery Hill looked like a proper mountain. Funny how the snow makes it look much higher, and much further away. From our dining room window, I can see a tiny bit of snow still lingering in some of the more sheltered combes and dips.

Easter seems to have fallen at a strange time this year - it feels as if it's way too early. Maybe because it's been such a long, cold winter. Bring on the sunshine!

What's happening on Exmoor over the next few months

Here are just a few events on Exmoor in 2010...

* Coming up soon (30th January to end of February) is Snowdrop Valley: don't miss it! We'll be opening our tearoom most days in February, and are offering our special breaks packages too - they're now even better value.

* If you're taking part in the half Ironman triathlon at Wimbleball Lake (20th June) then you should book your accommodation soon: it will sell out very quickly. Exmoor House is the ideal base; Wimbleball is easily accessible from here. We'll be doing a high-carbohydrate dinner for Ironman competitors - featuring our home-made pasta - on the evening before the event.
Exmoor House is also a great place to stay if you're doing a recce or practise before the event.

* The West Somerset Railway's Spring Steam Gala is on 20 & 21 & 25 to 28 March and will form part of the 'GWR 175' celebrations.

* The North Devon and Exmoor Walking Festival takes place from 29th April to 7th May. There'll be a range of fabulous (and varied) guided walks.

* This year's Golden Horseshoe endurance ride, which starts a few miles down the road at Exford, is from 16th-18th May.

At the moment it's very snowy here, with more forecast. It looks beautiful...