Fun and games at an Exmoor village fête

Scarecrows guarding the signpost (photo by Debi Jones)

Every village on Exmoor does something to celebrate summer, the season of fairs and festivals. On the first Saturday in August – this weekend, in fact - is the Wheddon Cross and Cutcombe fête and dog show, which takes place on the village playing fields just a short walk from Exmoor House.

A 'Mrs Mopp' scarecrow takes a break (photo by Debi Jones)

In the good old English tradition, a fête wouldn't be a fête without at least some of the following: china smashing, splat the rat, barbeque, tombola, Pimm's tent, fortune-telling and stalls selling books, plants and bric à brac. Most, if not all, of these are generally here, often with a few extra surprises too. Buy a ticket for the grand draw and you could win any of a wonderful array of prizes – one of which is dinner for two at Exmoor House.

We really enjoy looking at all the competition entries: there is always some fab baking (Frank won the best-in-show cup one year; the judges loved his goat's cheese flan), as well as great photos, very inventive crafts and of course luscious home-grown produce. Sometimes the competitions include a prize for the best scarecrow. No scarecrows this year, but I couldn't resist including a couple of pictures of some from a year or so ago.


Afternoon teas (not to be missed) are served at the village hall. After prizes have been presented, the fruit, vegetables, cakes – and so on – from the competitions are auctioned to raise money for village good causes. The auctioneer from the sheep and cattle market down the road does the honours and the pace is fast and furious. Snooze and you lose, as they say. Bidding is often fiercest, and prices highest, when it's time for the whortleberries to be sold (you may know these by one of their other names: bilberries, whinberries, blaeberries...).

If you're in the area, do come along and join in. You'll be made very welcome.

Snowdrops, steam trains and snacks

Combining a ride on a steam train with a visit to Exmoor’s beautiful Snowdrop Valley sounds like just the  ticket! This year’s Snowdrops and Steam days out on the West Somerset Railway are on February 16^th, 17^th, 18^th, 19^th and 20^th.

  
The steam trains depart from Bishops Lydeard at 10.25 or Minehead at 10.15. You get off at Williton Station to join the special coach service to Wheddon Cross, arriving there around midday. To get to the valley itself, you can either walk (allow about 1 ½ to 2 hours; the paths are steep and can be very muddy) or travel on the snowdrop bus.

Your coach back to Williton leaves Wheddon Cross about 15.00, to catch the 16.45 trains to Bishops Lydeard and Minehead. Visit WSR for more information, prices and booking details (as I write this, some of the Snowdrops and Steam dates are selling very fast).


While you’re in Wheddon Cross, do call in to Exmoor House for some hot soup, home-made teacakes, a cream tea or a ploughman’s lunch…

And to see just why Snowdrop Valley is so special, take a look at these photos

On the Wheddon Cross village website you’ll find details of various walks to Snowdrop Valley; here are some examples.

Exmoor House in the media...

‘Cosy, welcoming guesthouse in Exmoor’s highest village, with excellent food’ is how BBC Countryfile Magazine describes Exmoor House. The article, recently added to the Countryfile website, is about walking the very scenic Coleridge Way section between Wheddon Cross and Porlock.

Exmoor House also features as Paul’s Top Pick of places to stay in the online travel guide Somerset & Exmoor Great Escapes (you'll also find us in the 'Unique Places' and 'Walking' sections). 

Produced by greentraveller with Visit Somerset and Exmoor National Park, the guide is packed full of ideas for all sorts of things to experience in our wonderful county, with something for everyone. The accompanying booklet and video - both of which you can view from the Great Escapes web page - will give you even more ideas and inspiration.

 

In the new edition of Hilary Bradt’s book 'Slow Travel in North Devon & Exmoor' is a lovely review of our food. Here’s an extract: "The meals are the essence of home cooking, with a small menu carefully created with truly local ingredients, and good vegetarian options". 

Hilary says of the book: "No other guidebook to the region goes into anything like this level of detail and I think I have achieved my aim of inspiring even local people to say 'I didn’t know that!'." Find more details at Bradt Guides.

Feeling inspired to visit Exmoor? Escape to Exmoor House Wheddon Cross!

Exmoor House cereal bars recipe

We often get asked for the recipe for our cereal / granola bars, which are very popular (particularly as part of a picnic lunch as they are excellent for an energy boost if you are out walking or cycling on Exmoor). They were originally inspired by one of Ina Garten’s recipes, but the mix has kept on evolving: this is the latest version.   

Put these ingredients into a pan and heat gently until the butter has melted:
Butter 250g
Honey 150g
Malt extract or soft brown sugar 50g
Orange or apple juice 200ml
Dried apricots finely chopped (or any other dried fruit) 350g

Then mix with the following ingredients:
Self-raising flour 150g
Rolled oats or porridge oats 300g
Wheatgerm 100g
Ground almonds 75g
Dried coconut 100g

Put the mixture into a deep baking tray / traybake tray, greased and lined with baking parchment, size 12 x 9 inches, and bake at 180°c for 25 minutes approx, until lightly browned on top. Cut into bars or squares when cold.

Enjoy!

If you’d like to try them but would rather Frank made them for you, then you’ll just have to come and stay with us at Exmoor House, or visit our Snowdrop Valley tearoom in February.

Gluten free and dairy free lemon cake recipe

The other day Chef Frank was out and we had guests checking in who don’t eat wheat or dairy (you might already know that at Exmoor House we specialise in catering for special dietary requirements). So I adapted a recipe from the back of a packet of Dove’s Farm gluten & wheat-free white self-raising flour blend, in order to offer our guests something to eat with a cup of tea when they arrived. As an aside: interestingly, many ‘free from’ recipes are either wheat free / gluten free or dairy free, but not both.

Here’s what I did.

Ingredients:
125g gluten/wheat-free self raising flour
100g dairy-free margarine (we like the PURE sunflower one)
125g caster sugar (granulated also works fine)
2 eggs
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp poppy seeds
for the topping: juice of half a lemon; icing sugar

Method:
Put all the ingredients (except those for the topping) into a large bowl and beat or whisk really well. Pour into an oiled/greased and lined 500g loaf tin.
Bake at 170-190°C (according to your oven) for 45 minutes, or until the cake is springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean. Leave the cake in the tin, on a cooling rack.
Now for the topping. Add some icing sugar, bit by bit, to the juice of half a lemon, mixing all the time, until you get a light syrupy consistency and it tastes sweetish but still nice and lemony. Make lots of little holes in the top of the cake with a cocktail stick and pour the syrup over it; leave the cake to cool completely before turning it out of the tin.

Of course, for quality control purposes I had to try a piece, and then had to resist the temptation to scoff the lot…

Read more about the food at Exmoor House

Lunches and meetings at Exmoor House Wheddon Cross

Do you like the sound of a private lunch with friends or family, made especially for you? Do you need a local Exmoor venue for a small meeting, with catering? You could reserve exclusive use of the lovely dining room (or the comfy guest sitting room) at Exmoor House for your group.
Prices would depend on what you would like to eat and drink. We’ll cater for a minimum of four

The dining room at Exmoor House

people and a maximum of about twelve and we will design a menu around your requirements. Tailor-made food: quite appropriate, since Exmoor House was originally a tailor’s shop.
We take pride in our food, all properly home-made using good local ingredients. There’s more information here:
http://www.exmoorhotel.co.uk/food.htm
and here:
http://www.exmoorhotel.co.uk/specialevents.htm

And of course if you'd like to discuss your ideas, or come and have a look around, do get in touch.

Exmoor events: West Somerset Railway Spring Steam Gala, Exmoor National Park Big Adventure days, Simonsbath Festival

Whatever time of year you visit Exmoor, there is always something going on. Below are a few examples coming up in the next few months.

Steam train at Bishops Lydeard station

 The annual West Somerset Railway Spring Steam Gala runs from March 27th - 30th in 2014, with guest engines reflecting this year’s theme, the Atlantic Coast Express. There are special events, exhibitions and attractions to visit at stations along the route between Bishops Lydeard and Minehead. And, brand new this time, visitors can download a free augmented reality Heritage Hunter app. 

 
 


Exmoor National Park’s Big Adventure

Woodland near Nutcombe Bottom

Days for all the family start on April 16^th with an adventure on Haddon Hill. You can take a moorland safari, learn bushcraft skills or join the hunt for the Exmoor Beast! If you can’t make that date, the next adventure is at Nutcombe Bottom on May 29^th: build a woodland den, visit the tallest tree in England and explore Dunster Forest.



 

Simonsbath Festival, from May 5^th to June 20^th, is now in its third year and going from strength to strength. As well as a great range of concerts, the programme includes film nights, guided walks, poetry, historical talks and family fun days: something for everybody.  

Exmoor House is at Wheddon Cross in the heart of the National Park: if you stay with us you will be very conveniently situated for getting to all the events, and of course you can enjoy our wonderful food.

The History of Exmoor House

One of the things that attracted us to Exmoor House when we were looking round for an Exmoor bed and breakfast or guest house to buy: it has a very interesting history. You might think that Exmoor House, with its large picture window, looks a bit like a shop, and you’d be right: it was built as a tailor’s shop for Robert Melhuish, back in the early 1900s. Not just a shop, though: as well as the fitting and cutting rooms, and plenty of living space for the tailor, his family and staff such as apprentices, there was a village reading room attached.

The house, like much of the area around Wheddon Cross, was part of the Bouverie Estate, which was sold off in 1926. At that time the reading room was described as the ‘Village Club Room’ and there was also a skittle alley at the back of the building. Mr Melhuish paid £20 a year for the Exmoor House lease (‘a very low rent’ according to the sales particulars) and the village club committee paid a nominal rent of £1 a year.

Mr Melhuish specialised in making hunting gear, which would have been in big demand at that time, though we know that he did make other garments too (we’ve met somebody who had his wedding suit made here). Dunkery View, the house next door, was also a tailor’s shop and there was plenty of work for both businesses.

A neighbour tells us that Mr Melhuish sometimes used to ride his pony over to the  Brendon Hill chapel (also known as the Beulah Chapel) near Ralegh’s Cross, to preach there. Another neighbour has memories of their grandfather cycling up the hill from Dunster, carrying a bolt of cloth on his back.

Exmoor House stopped being a tailor’s shop in 1945. For a while it was an ‘open all hours’ general store. Some people in the village remember the reading room being set up as a kind of Christmas grotto each year so that children could go there to choose their presents.

In the 1960s the house was split up into flats and bedsits, and we believe that it became a guest house in the late 1960s or early 1970s. An advertisement from the Exmoor Review of 1973 proclaimed that there were ‘three bathrooms with a continuous supply of hot water’. We have a few more bathrooms now! Intriguingly, though, some old photos taken when the house was still a tailor’s shop show ‘guest house’ signs on the wall. We think that the family probably rented out rooms to passing journeymen.

Nowadays we have people from all over the world staying in our lovely – and charmingly quirky - house to enjoy this beautiful part of Exmoor. The former shop is now the dining room for guests and the reading room is our guest sitting room. There are plenty of books and magazines in there  - and no TV - so it’s still a good place to read. I wonder what Mr Melhuish would think if he came to visit?

Dulverton by Starlight, Sunday 8th December: more Exmoor Christmas shopping

I blogged a couple of weeks ago about Dunster by Candlelight. That isn’t the only magical pre-Christmas event on Exmoor, though. Dulverton by Starlight takes place on the same weekend as the Dunster festivities, but on the Sunday, so that you could take a three day break and visit both.

On December 8^th all the shops in Dulverton will be open. There is a great selection of interesting places to buy all sorts of Christmas presents, to suit all tastes. Dulverton is an attractive place to wander round, with proper small independent shops and plenty of local Somerset produce for sale. You won’t go hungry either – the town has some very good places to eat, from pubs and restaurants to cafés and tea rooms.

And even if the stars in the sky are not visible, there’s still a starlight effect from the many light-festooned Christmas trees around the town.

The organisers promise a full afternoon of festivities, culminating in a grand firework display. There is also a raffle with excellent prizes (the draw is on 14^th December).

For more information, visit http://www.dulvertonbystarlight.co.uk/index.html

Want a lovely place to stay for your early December break? Take a look at our website http://www.exmoorhotel.co.uk - Exmoor House offers bed and breakfast (and dinner too), and is near both Dulverton and Dunster (in between the two, in fact).

Dunster by Candlelight 6th and 7th December: Christmas shopping (and more) Exmoor style

Over the last few years, it seems that there has been a big increase in Christmas markets in England. Many of them are German style. Nothing wrong with that, but how about a really English Christmas shopping experience?

Every year on the first Friday and Saturday evenings in December (the 6^th and 7^th this year), Dunster village on Exmoor has a ‘big switch off’ and the streets are illuminated by candle lanterns instead of electricity. It really seems like going back in time, especially as Dunster still has the look and feel of a medieval village. To complete this experience, no cars or other vehicles are allowed into the village during the candlelit festivities.  

 Most of the village shops stay open until 9pm on both nights. There’s lots of inspiration for original and unusual Christmas gifts (and even a special Christmas shop) but it’s not all about shopping. There will be plenty to see and do even if you are just browsing. Plenty of places to eat and drink, too, with everything from street snacks to a three course meal, or maybe simply some hot chocolate or mulled wine to keep you warm.

The festival kicks off on the Friday at 5.30pm, with a lantern lighting procession featuring stiltwalkers. Entertainment each evening includes a variety of musicians and singers, both in the streets and at the Parish Church, so there is a real buzz. You’ll also find displays by local attractions at various venues, and maybe talks by local celebrities. Full details are in the programme, available in advance and on the night (it costs £1, with all the proceeds going to the Somerset charity St Margaret’s Hospice).

You may be wondering: with no vehicles allowed into Dunster on the Candlelight evenings, how do we get there?  The answer: use the Park & Ride buses, which go to Dunster from various places including our village, Wheddon Cross. The buses from Wheddon Cross start from Cutcombe Market (where there is free parking, although if you’re staying here at Exmoor House it’s only about a 5 minute walk to the market). The first bus to Dunster is at 4.30pm, and they’re approximately every half hour after that, with the last bus back to Wheddon Cross leaving Dunster at 9.15pm. Return fare is £3.00.

As I write this, we have a few rooms left for the Candlelight weekend. Dunster itself will be pretty hectic, so if you stay at our place at Wheddon Cross you can experience all the fun of the fair (as it were) and then escape to a calmer atmosphere afterwards. Best of both worlds!

Visit our website www.exmoorhotel.co.uk for lots more information (including details of special dinner bed and breakfast breaks).

Squash soup: an autumn recipe from Exmoor House

The other week some kind guests brought us a present: a large squash from their allotment. This turned out to be a Boston marrow winter squash, which resembles a pumpkin in texture and colour but is more lemon- or gourd-shaped. It can be used in all the same ways as a pumpkin (e.g. baked, included in casseroles, and to make pies, purées and soup). If you’ve stayed with us at Exmoor House, you’ll know that we love good food and enjoy trying different ingredients and flavour combinations.

In autumnal mood because it was a lovely autumn day, I just fancied some soup. On the web I found many recipes for squash soup, some of them quite fancy. I decided that mine would be simple and basic, so that the squash could speak for itself – it adds a lovely velvety texture and has a sweet, mellow taste. The soup could then be jazzed up if required. Here’s what I did… by the way, I deliberately haven’t mentioned any quantities here, because it will depend on how much squash you’re using. You might need a very large pan, though.

Cut the squash into chunks and peel it. Fry the chunks in olive oil with some chopped onions. Add vegetable stock (or chicken stock if you prefer) plus some fresh herbs (I tied mine in a piece of muslin to make a bouquet garni, bruising the herbs so that the flavour went into the soup) and garlic. I also added pepper, but not salt. Bring the pan to the boil and simmer until the squash and onions are soft. Liquidise the mixture (removing the bouquet garni first, which I nearly forgot to do!).

We ate the soup with a dusting of smoked paprika as a garnish. You could also use other spices such as cumin, or perhaps small pieces of crispy bacon, fried sage leaves, crème fraîche, cream, most cheeses… I’m sure there are many more possibilities, so do let me know if you discover one that is particularly fabulous.