Rodborough Common

It was a lovely day for a walk today.  Rodborough Common is one of my favourite places to walk as you can't get lost (or you would have to try very hard) and there is a large expanse of unspoilt countryside with panoramic views of picturesque hills and villages.  At other times of year there are lots of wildflowers and butterflies to look for, but just now, when the leaves are turning beautiful shades of yellow and orange, on a sunny day - what could be better?

Christmas bookings

I took my first Christmas bookings the other day, and am now fully booked on 27th and 28th December.  Lots of space before and after that - I will be open right through until early January - just on a B&B basis (please don't come here expecting me to cook your Christmas dinner!)

Christmas is such a lovely time of year, particularly when you get a crisp bright sunny day.  We get some snow in Minchinhampton, but not every year.  I think we have had a decent covering of snow about three times since I've been here - so maybe once every 2-3 years.  The atmosphere changes with snow, and I rather like that.  Maybe we will get snow this year??

Nicest times of the day

One of the nicest times of day is early in the morning, when, for the last month or so, I have been wandering up the garden to pick the autumn raspberries.   The raspberries grow like weeds and are threatening to take over one of the vegetable beds.   It's very satisfying being able to pick fruit and then, within half an hour, the fruit salad is complete and guests are starting to tuck in.  We are getting towards the end of the raspberries for another year.  Roll on next August!

The other particularly nice time of the day is when I take Betsy for a walk.  Today we walked through a field with sheep grazing, and decided to sit for a while.   Betsy sat quietly, and I suddenly noticed that a group of sheep quite close to us were giving Betsy their fullest attention.

And Betsy was watching them with interest.

All very amicable, and probably quite educational on both sides.

Walkers are Welcome

I provide a selection of walk leaflets and suggestions for guests interested in walking holidays.  I tried out the Laurie Lee walk today - a wonderful walk around Slad - beautiful views and a nice mixture of footpaths through open countryside, woodland paths, and a few country lanes.

I picked up a the walk leaflet a few weeks ago, and thought I would see if I could follow the route (I am notoriously bad at map reading - so if I can follow it, there is a good chance that guests will be OK).  I had one moment of slight uncertainty, and I only got lost once, because I missed the turning into a small lane (I thought it was a driveway rather than a lane).

The walk has a number of wooden 'Laurie Lee' markers, and also some Laurie Lee poems printed on acrylic set within wooden posts, which 'frame' the views rather nicely.

Clearly the walk could be very muddy, so be warned, and there was a fiendishly steep slope to ascend near the beginning of the walk.  Walking boots essential.  Enjoyable but quite tiring (clearly I'm not as fit as I thought I was).

Natural Traffic Calming

Minchinhampton has a very natural form of traffic calming in the summer months, in the form of cows.  Cows (and a few horses and one donkey) graze the common from May until November, and the cows are free to roam through many of the streets, taking light refreshment in the form of flowers in hanging baskets and window boxes.  The highland cattle (my favourites, as they are so fluffy) often wander through the town, and yesterday, a whole herd of them strolled past my driveway.  Then, when I thought all of them had gone, there was one straggler, who put on a little burst of speed, trotting down the road to catch up with the rest of them.

Cars and cyclists have to wait for the cows gradually to move on, at their own pace.  Perfect traffic calming.  Every town should have them.

Alastair Sawdays - Special Places to Stay

I had a visit from the Alastair Sawday inspector early last week, and was delighted to hear that The Close had been accepted as a 'Special Place to Stay'.   They did a lovely write-up, I added a few photos, and it went live on the Sawday's web site earlier this evening.

The Green Bedroom

At long last, the Green Bedroom is up and running (since the beginning of July).

I've had a couple of families with young-ish children (aged about 8 - 14) stay in the Green Bedroom, with their parents staying in the Red Bedroom, and it has worked very well as the bedrooms are just along the corridor from each other.

Both the Red Bedroom and the Green Bedroom have working shutters (rather than curtains) which gives a crisp look to the rooms, and the Green Bedroom has window seats which are a nice place to sit and read a book (or the electronic equivalent).