Thursday 26 May 2011

Starting to get a few bookings coming in now...



Starting to get a few bookings coming in now...which is very exciting!

Despite the fact that you know the area is a popular holiday destination, and that everyone says you are in a great spot for B&B, there was a moment then when everything was finished when I thought 'OH! Supposing no one ever comes?'

The advert on Walestouristsonline has generated three bookings in as many weeks - so was a good choice for the ad it seems.

Today the 2011 Marine Conservation Society (MCS) Good Beach Guide is out and all the local beaches have great scores on water quality...some marks down for some for not having lifeguards, but some of us just like to enjoy beaches by sitting and watching, and soaking up the scenery. In any case our two most local beaches, Mwnt which is walking distance, and Poppit Sands(a 15 min drive) both pick up a 'recommended' award!

It's been really windy here for the last few days...but as always it's amazing to watch the sky change, the light over the hills alters as patches of sun come through, and the cloud formations are constantly shifting. Becase we have such huge vistas from the house, we are able to see the pockets of rain coming (and going) so we can judge a good time to take the dogs for a walk! My dogs do NOT walk in rain, they say it's not in the contract! (Never heard of a Staffie yet who will walk in rain!)

It must be nearly time to plant out the courgette plants, that are currently in the conservatory. Surely we must be past the last frost? My neighbour who has a market garden just up the road, gave me a few fat courgettes yesterday! (But hers are in polytunnels!!! They have a head start!) We've caught up with the gardening after the big push to get the B&B finished, so later in the year we will have some veg of our own - thank goodness. Plenty of our own eggs now though! Time to look out some inventive egg recipes.

Kate

Monday 2 May 2011

Everything is coming out....


Amazing down the back lanes this weekend. Everything is out! The Campion, and bluebells, with a back-drop of gorse and the sea is amazing. We've noticed that there are bluebells in new places this year, and are wondering if some years are just 'better' than others for certain plants. We don't remember seeing them on the cliffs before, but there are big patches, so they must have been there for a while. The swallows are back too. They nest in the loo's down at Mwnt Beach!



The butterflies have started to appear... We've seen orange tips for the first time this week, quite a few of them, and a couple of other kinds of butterflies about but it's hard to catch them still enough to make a positive ID, let alone get a photograph!

We had our first B&B guests this weekend too, which was lovely. They were very complimentary about the room and opted to try the Welsh delicacy laverbread with their breakfast. Laver is the same seaweed family as Nori the sushi seaweed. We buy it here, ready prepared on the fresh fish counter. 'Prepared' means boiled for hours. It comes as a green goo in a little tub and there are various ways of serving it. Sometimes it's just served as 'hot goo' which doesn't appeal to me, and some who have tried it like that have vowed 'never again!' I mix it with oatmeal until it can be formed into little patties...traditionally they are then fried in bacon fat, but I usually opt for olive oil.

I also have eggs coming out of my ears at the moment...the chookies are all in full egg laying swing, need more guests!!! We've fought our way through two massive quiches I made this weekend, AND had scrambled eggs for dinner tonight! Need to think of new and inventive things to do with eggs!