News
**Nearly to First Floor on the Main Extension**
July 9th 2010 – Update.
We are going to have to shut the B&B for the month of August, we hate to do it but there is simply no alternative as the roof of the existing kitchen has to come off and everything in it is being ripped out. A bit difficult to cook breakfasts with no kitchen!
Our cabinet maker is well advanced with preparing all the wood for the new kitchen units and we will have a functioning kitchen ready for September. We have everything crossed!!
More building updates are below.
May 29th 2010 - Update
Our hard work and attention to detail have been well rewarded, not only have we received an award for our breakfasts we have also be given a Silver award for the B&B in general, not a bad achievement considering we have only been going just over a year. Our next target is a Gold Award!
There are also some detail updates to our building work which I have added to the section on the building program below.
April 24th 2010 - Update
Nearly May already, I simply can’t believe we are almost a third of the way through the year, it’s very true that time goes faster the older one gets .
We had our annual “EnjoyEngland” inspection this week. We shouldn’t know we are being inspected but I recognised the inspector’s voice when she booked, not that it made any difference, EVERYONE is treated exactly the same here. A couple of really good suggestions came out of the visit, which we will be acting on as soon as we can and she also said she was going to put us forward for a breakfast award, I can’t blow the old trumpet too loudly yet as it has yet to be decided but it does reflect comments visitors have made about our breakfast being the best they have ever had in a B&B.
The Vegetarian Breakfast has really good veggie sausages and the Meat Based Breakfast benefits from sausages from Ensdon Farm and dried cured, smoked slipper joint bacon from Jamie Ward, both local free range producers. We take an inordinate trouble to source the best local ingredients we can find as we think it's not only socially responsible and supportive of local producers but also means our food tastes great.
Some things simply cannot be found locally to the quality we want, jams and marmalades for example, so then we buy the best, regardless where they are made. Our preserves all come from Mackays who are the last marmalade maker in the Dundee area. They still use open topped, copper bottomed boiling pans and their soft fruits all come from the Tayside region of Scotland, world famous for the quality of the fruit produced there. The preserves are simply the nearest thing you will get to home-made.
Progress is being made on the building project and I have up-dated the information below with new ETA’s.
8th March 2010 - Update
Good news bad news time.
The good news is we now have two fields full of sheep and their lambs. It really shows that spring is on the way when the lambs come back to us to graze but they are terrible time wasters, one just can’t help leaning on the fence and watching them leaping about.
The bad news though is that our Rhode Island Red chicken “Dorothy”, the star of our Bookings page, literally fell off her perch on Thursday night and damaged her leg, we had it checked and it wasn’t broken so we hoped it was just sprained. Unfortunately it would appear the damage was inside, probably a broken hip so reluctantly today we had to send her off to that great chicken coop in the sky. She will be missed as she was everyone’s favourite even though she was a bit of a bully with the other hens; she ruled the roost and no mistake. She also laid the biggest eggs!
1st March 2010 - Update
New Ownership
This news is a bit old now but as this is the new web-site we thought it was still worth the announcement. We, that is Ross and Isabel Southwell, bought White House in April 2009 after returning from six years in Canada. We have been in the food trade for a combined almost fifty years. We aim to provide a five star hotel experience in a homely setting.
Property Development - 9th July 2010 - Update
In November 2009 a major program of building, extending and improving White House was started.
Extra Car Parking
A new hard standing car park has been laid to extend the parking we already have and form an area exclusively for the use of our B&B guests. There will be a temporary hard surface on this area until the rest of the development work is completed when a permanent top surface will be added. Mark you, we are currently using a fair amount of it as a building materials store!
New Guest Dining Room – Complete, just needs interior painting
Well it took longer than anticipated but isn’t that they way will all building work? The room is fully operational and has proved a great success with the guests who have used it so far. Most have decided to sit on and have coffee at the table as the new chairs are so comfortable.
Additional Guest Lounge – Completion Mid June 2010
The original message read “The current guest dining room will be turned into an additional Guest Lounge with comfortable seating and a wood burning fire so guests can curl up in a squashy seat, with a good book and a coffee in front of a roaring fire. We will need to close for a couple of days when a dividing wall is demolished.”
OK, so I didn’t foresee a major problem, with all the work going on there is simply nowhere to store the existing furniture in the room which has to be moved before we can re-furnish with sofas etc. Who was a silly boy then? I fear this room will not be operational as a lounge until our main build is completed.
Garage, Office and Pantry – Completed
Well, almost. There are still bits and pieces to do but essentially it’s finished.
Owners Lounge, Dining Room, Bedroom and new Kitchen – Completion due September 2010
The B&B will benefit doubly from this work. Firstly it will free up a fourth bedroom for B&B use and secondly the greatly extended new kitchen will give us the opportunity to substantially increase the range of dishes we offer for evening meals as well as running a cooking school, both non and residential.
Things are going well, we are up to roof level and the trusses should be going up during the week commencing 19th July.
Patio and Grounds – Completion October 2010
Once all the external work is completed, patios and paths will be laid providing yet more external seating areas. The patio has now been extended and runs right around the new dining room.
We took the opportunity to do all the ground work for the paths and patios whilst we had the heavy equipment on site and the ground was dry and hard, we also laid the rubble subsurface so we will be able to use the paths, without turning them to quagmires when the rain comes.
Entrance & Driveway - Temporary Repairs late May - Full New Surface and Entrance November/December 2010
With the heavy lorries coming in and out the existing driveway has been wrecked! The first stone delivery lorry managed to fall of the hard stuff and sink axels deep in the soft verge, twenty tons of stone later the drive is now three feet wider in parts. We do have a warning sign on the gate to advise visitors that the drive is uneven and temporary, perhaps we should change it to “Temporary Ploughed Field” Our existing entrance from the Maesbury Road is tight and difficult so we will be widening and flattening it as much as we can.
I am waiting for a specialist to call so we can start the new drive and at least get the edging sorted and a hard packed temporary surface laid. (Still waiting! 9/7/10)
We will do our best to ensure it is kept in the best condition possible but we would ask for your forbearance if it is not up to 100% scratch.