The Old Kiln House news and views

The changing seasons

Slowly but surely we are coming to the end of a lovely summer. I say that because some of the days we are still having are so lovely that they still feel like summer.
However, most of the harvests are in, the soil has been turned over and the hay bailed.
 This year we had especially beautiful displays of rapeseed around us and this is the before and after view.

 Our garden however is still a little confused. We still have strawberries sprouting

 and our rose bushes are still exploding in new growth

So it feels like there is still a lot of life […]

By |September 23rd, 2014|Countryside, Our garden|0 Comments
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Shipston Shopping – The Cotswolds Tailor

Another great shop in Shipston-On-Stour is The Cotswold Tailor run by Alex Edwards. He opened in Shipston about a year ago after having great success in Woodstock.

Alex has impeccable style and stocks what I would describe as “modern country” with a great mix of styles for customers of all ages and dispositions.

Conveniently , there is a lovely ladies store Dice directly next door so, while the ladies are shopping, the men have a chance to pick something up themselves.
Beware though, many of our clients have entered the store and left carrying many packages!

By |September 9th, 2014|Shopping|0 Comments
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A new (hopefully permanent) visitor

For the last ten days we have had a daily visitor.
 A beautiful robin who is not at all shy or afraid of humans. He/she is more than content to peck around the garden less than two yards from us.
He/she is currently tucking into the ripening grapes.
We bought and installed a nesting box for them complete with sawdust and we are hoping that they will stay permanently.
We are dreaming of a robin and snow for Christmas!

By |September 8th, 2014|Our garden|0 Comments
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Shipston Shopping – The Richard Harvey Collection

Shipston is home to some lovely unusual shops and The Richard Harvey Collection is one of the best examples.

Set in an old Baptist chapel, the furniture is beautifully displayed over two floors.

 The adjacent shop contains lovely decorative items and quirky gifts.
 
Many of the items in The Old Kiln House have been purchased from Richard and Louise and we love their sense of style.
Several of our guests have purchased quite a few items on their visits.
So if you need some inspiration, make sure to visit.

By |August 25th, 2014|Shopping|0 Comments
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Farm shop review – Talton Mill

We visited the Cotswolds for many years before we moved here and we were always impressed with the quality of the food. However I must say that I think there has also been an exponential increase in quality and variety in the last few years.
One of the areas where we have seen some of the most activity is in farm shops.

Talton Mill farm shop which is only 5 miles from us and lies between Shipston On Stour and Stratford Upon Avon  is one of our favourites. Set in a lovely quiet location next to a beautiful stream, it is […]

By |August 12th, 2014|Breakfast, Farm Shops and Delis|0 Comments
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Cotswolds Charlie the B&B Dog

Charlie came to live with us in about a year ago as a rescue dog with a sad story. He is eight years old but acts like a puppy. We adopted him through the brilliant Cocker Spaniel Club and they were obviously only able to give us limited information about his past.

From the way he acted we think that he was unfamiliar with the countryside but he is now making up for all the lost time.

He has an amazing personality. We have never seen him show any aggression but sometimes he will bark loudly at other dogs. He absolutely […]

By |August 5th, 2014|Charlie|0 Comments
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The Sausage in Bed and Breakfast

Having done a LOT of business traveling over the years, my husband and I had a clear idea of what we wanted to achieve with our breakfasts. We were also clear that “local suppliers” has become a mandatory term on most menus and in many places has lost any special meaning.
We were determined to put an excellent breakfast on the table and to achieve this we would only use local suppliers if they met our standards.

We were in for a bit of a surprise. Shipston has two excellent butchers, a greengrocer, a baker and a deli amongst the many […]

By |July 31st, 2014|Breakfast|0 Comments
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Beautiful sheep

Sheep have been central to the history of Shipston on Stour. The name Shipston comes from ‘sheep wash town’ and the history is clear in the narrow alleys that the town has which were used for sheep counting.

A great joy is lambing season when the fields around us are a delight with hundreds of lambs. One of the great things is that the lambs really DO gambol!

Having been a city girl I had never appreciated  how beautiful sheep are and how many hugely different breeds there are.

 

On and off from the 19th century a sheep and wool fair has […]

By |July 24th, 2014|Events|0 Comments
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The Bed in Bed and Breakfast

We have tried our best to cover every aspect of the B&B experience and one of the most important of these is the bed and quality of sleep. Fortunately we seem to have managed this as we have had several guests ask us for details of the mattresses we use as they are so comfortable and the guests have slept really well.

We tried out several types and when we stayed in a hotel/B&B that was comfortable we made notes of which mattresses they were using.

Eventually we settled on the Sealy Contract range and chose the Sealy Silver Romance Pillow […]

By |July 19th, 2014|Creating a B&B|0 Comments
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Beautiful Cotswolds villages

One of the great things about running a B&B in the Cotswolds is that we are just a few minutes away from so many beautiful Cotswolds villages many of the off the beaten track.

It is remarkable that Shipston is surrounded by beautify towns and villages some famous (like Chipping Campden) and some less well known.

Last Sunday turned into a beautiful day so we loaded Charlie into the car and set out from Shipston-On-Stour.

We took a random turning left and drove through the beautiful countryside which is still looking stunning. This area of Warwickshire is surrounded by landscape that looks […]

By |July 18th, 2014|Countryside, The Cotswolds|0 Comments
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