We decided to have a pre birthday mini holiday this time going to an award winning bed and breakfast come Hotel near Porlock in Somerset called Bossington Hall. The manager and owner, Guy, was in Liverpool receiving the bronze Award for the best bed and breakfast establishment in the United Kingdom. He came as a marketing person and took over the establishment in 2021 with very little experience in hotels but obviously he has been very successful. Anyway before I come to the hotel itself we had a lovely time on the way down.
We basically stayed on the A39 right from Glastonbury. Due to lack of signage except outside the property called Blackmore Farm we passed it but decided to drive quite a distance to come back to the property where we decided to have a late breakfast, having left at 9 a.m.I don’t usually take pictures of cooked breakfasts but this one was so well presented, remarkably so, that I had to show you the perfect symmetry. It made me want to gobble it all up, this believe it or not is a child’s portion. Françoise had smoked salmon with scrambled egg.
generous amounts of salmon without white streaks
The area surrounding the shop and a small sit down restaurant is only part of the facilities. There are a number of private cabins that can be hired by a group and also some tables outside covered by a terrace and greenery.
This very splendid mansion may or may not be accommodation but I did not read about this until the end of the vacation. It is very striking on the eye and left us with a good last impression
The total elapsed time of the journey to Porlock was just shy of two hours and about 66 miles. The average 30 miles an hour may seem a bit low but there are no motorways involved and the A39 has its twists and turns. Check-in time was four pm. If you don’t know where Porlock is, it is off the beaten track but more attractive for that because hordes of tourists can ruin an area by overuse.
Have a look as a map and you will see it on north coast at the border of Devon and Somerset. You can clearly see the coast of Wales but the weather needs to be clear in order to do so. Hinckley point, the new French owned nuclear power station, can also be seen from along the coast due to its huge buildings. Whether it will be a white elephant remains to be seen
We arrived in Porlock at midday with plenty of time to spare. What a sweet picturesque town it is. We aimed to go to the Tourist Bureau which is listed as being at the Old School Center TA24 8QD but for some reason best known to my GPS we ended up about 100 meters away by a church so we decided to park and walk.
The Bureau is presided over by Debbie and one or two assistants. Her reputation precedes her on TripAdvisor as being the source of all knowledge and wisdom. On this day, Wednesday, she was however not on duty but we made the most of our time there by picking up local maps and getting the feel of the various pubs and restaurants.
We decided to walk down to Porlock Weir which is a small fishing village converted into a tourist place but still holding lots of charm and authenticity. It has a small Harbour and benefits from the huge tidal range in this part of the world. The walk from Porlock itself was one and a half miles, partly completed along a small B-road and partly along fields and tracks.
From the start of the road down to the Weir. Spring and early summer are the best times for seeing a profusion of growth especially flowers. Everything that is capable of growing is doing so at full speed. You’ll never see green so green as at this time of year. This picture was taken at the start of the walk down from the town.
a complex web of streams, marsh and sand
We disturbed these cows in the middle of nowhere enjoying the sun and chewing their cud
Someone must be having a laugh I think. Just a reminder that during the war thousands of these pill boxes were built never to be used
We showed up at the B and B about 4 pm and were warmly greeted by Harry who we later found out had just completed his mouth’s degree and was off to work at the Met Office, (for non UK people that’s about the weather forecasting situation). Nothing was too much trouble for him and he even took our cases upstairs. The rooms are voluminous and our room was one of the few rooms to have an en-suite bathroom which included a huge bath at a shower.
It is a paradox that such a renowned establishment has a minority of rooms with en suite facilities. Other guests had to use the facilities which were just across a corridor. We decided to go out for fish and chips and found a delightful establishment, Piggy in the Middle, where the owner goes off to Thailand every January and February, and also attends Glastonbury which he was about to do in a few weeks time.
Downstairs in the hotel there are three very large sitting rooms one of which contains an honesty bar which we availed our self of. It was pleasant to sit in a room facing the setting sun and you could imagine that you were in a foreign land with not a care in the world.The bath is enormous and Françoise had a long soak as I did and was so relaxed I could scarcely get out of the bath so voluminous it was.
We went to bed early issue around 10:30. The only problem was that the duvets were winter qualities so we got rather overheated at night but the mattresses were of excellent quality. Breakfast is served from 8:30 am to 10 am so we shall see whether the breakfast lives up to the hype.
0 Comments