Bits and bobs from Castleton House

Top Ten Cycle Rides around Mere, Wiltshire

2012-02-10T09:56:00.000-08:00

If you're thinking of coming away for a short break with your bike and hitting the road without having to carry the weight of your luggage then come and stay here and try some of the rides listed below.

I've trained and completed two overseas charity bike rides in the past two years and I'm now listing some great rides around Mere

1. The Nadder Valley, Tisbury and Teffont. 12 miles – there are two good pubs on this route, The Beckford Arms at Tisbury or The Black Dog and Chilmark. You could also see Phillips House (National Trust) open Monday and Saturdays from April to October, and the partially restored ruins of Old Wardour Castle

2. Stay while cycling some or all of The Wiltshire Cycleway

3. Along the Kennet & Avon canal - 40 miles – Bath, Bradford on Avon, Devizes going alongside the Caen Hill Locks - and back to Bath.

4. Street, Glastonbury and Wells circular route 20 miles. There’s plenty of choice for places to eat in any of these towns, Wells has a wonderful Cathedral and Bishops Palace to visit.

5. The South Somerset Cycleway 80 miles. Suitable for keen cyclists as a day ride and one I want to do myself

6. Maiden Bradley, Shearwater and Longleat – 13 miles. Three good pubs, The Bath Arms at Crockerton, The Bath Arms at Horningsham or The Somerset Arms at Maiden Bradley. This route passes Longleat House and Shearwater Lake.

7. Chiseldon, Avebury and Marlborough – 27 miles. Several pubs and cafes to choose from on this ride. Be sure to stop off at The Stone Circle at Avebury which has free access at ‘all reasonable times’, The Great Barn Museum open from mid March to mid November and Avebury Manor is also open to the public on certain days.

8. Salisbury Plain and the Wylye Valley – 54 miles. This ride has lots of places to stop off including Heale House and Hardens, Woodhenge and Wilton House. Pubs for lunch include The Angel at Heytesbury, the Kings Head in Chitterne and The Royal Oak in Great Wishford.

9. Frome/Wincanton circular route – 51 miles. You could start this ride from Mere as we’re just a few miles off the route. A nice ride on quiet lanes and country roads with a few climbs. Places to stop off at include Nunney Castle and Stourhead House and Gardens, there are good pubs too, Three Horseshoes, Batcombe; The Bell and Crown, Zeals; White Hart Inn, Trudoxhill.

10. Shaftesbury to Salisbury circular route – 48.5 miles. A good circular route on quite roads and lanes with some track surface, lots of nice English villages to cycle through.

Film of a B&B near Stourhead

2012-02-07T10:39:00.000-08:00

It's taken some time and thought to finally produce a short film of the centre of Mere and the inside of our home - Castleton House Bed and Breakfast. My husband shot and edited all of it and I hope that now it's on youtube and on the Castleton House website that anyone thinking of coming to visit us will get a better insight of our home. Filming in early February doesn't make for the best light but there we go it's Mere and our house still looking good despite the cold.

I think it gives the viewer a clear picture of a small English town and the how conveniently close The George Inn is to us where guests can walk to for supper. The clock tower situated just in front of the pub was once the village school, it now holds a small collection of old photographs of Mere.

I'm looking forward to the coming season and here in the UK it should be a busy one with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Olympics. Whilst we're not in Dorset we are just over an hour away from Weymouth so perhaps we'll be lucky enough to share our house with someone lucky enough to have 2012 Olympic tickets for the sailing.

As ever I'm making a few adjustments to ensure my guests are comfortable and have everything they need, I've just bought new i-pod/i-pad docking stations for each bedroom, new hairdriers, robes for the bedrooms and started making my own granola along with the james and marmalades. So here we are all ready to offer accommodation for spring and summer breaks.

2012-01-23T11:07:00.000-08:00

Isn't it fantastic, this photograph of the view from the top of Castle Hill. Makes you think of summer again, a quick 12 minute walk from the house to the top of the hill and then you can sit on the bench and soak up the view. This walk is perfect if you've been travelling for a few hours to reach us or if you're feeling rather overwhelmed by the number of Cathedral's you've visited.

2011-11-28T07:44:00.000-08:00

This is how I've been spending my free time this year, well not all of it in Vietnam and Cambodia but training for my second BHF bike ride. Again it was a wonderful experience, lots of new friends and six of us from last year too. A wonderful part of the world to discover at my cycling pace. 43 of us left on the 5th November and then biked from Ho Chi Min to Angkor Watt in five days, one day to discover the delights of Angkor Watt and then back home via Singapore with a quick six hour there and then returning to Heathrow early on the 14th November. I really can't believe how much I managed to pack into such a short amount of time.

I keep saying this is my last bike ride, they are addictive, but I do need to thank all those people who have stayed here and bought jams or just donated to the BHF and helped me on my way.

2011-10-29T03:35:00.000-07:00

These wonderful photos were taken yesterday at Stourhead National Trust Gardens just down the road from us. Autumn is certainly a little late this year but clearly its worth waiting for if it looks this good.

Trip Advisor

2011-07-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

I didn't discover Trip Advisor until about four years ago but now I'm a huge fan and it really is a powerful tool for small businesses like mine. 62 reviews with 50 of them are rated as 'excellent' - its certainly worth taking a look at the link

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g616276-d648542-r114894073-Castleton_House-Mere_Wiltshire_England.html

2010-12-20T03:50:00.000-08:00

In November I did a 220 mile bike ride over five days in Rajasthan to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation. This is me at the end, rather tired but elated at having completed it all through heavy rain, upset stomachs, hills and heat. Just a brilliant experience and I've signed up to bike again next year in the Far East

2010-10-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

How really nice to not only receive 4 stars but also a silver award to show all our efforts are worthwhile. I'm thrilled and I hope you will be too if you decided to come and stay.

Flowers for everyone

2010-09-16T01:29:00.000-07:00

Its been on my list of things to do for years and at last I've done it. That's doing a flower arranging course, and just look at the results! A friend and I discovered the Tallulah Rose Flower School in Bath and went on a one day course with Rachel. We learnt so much, and had a great time and I'm certainly trying to put into practice this new found knowledge at home. But it wasn't just arranging flowers its getting a better understanding of colour, finding out where to source vases and being more adventurous in how you use flowers that all went into making it a great day.

Some redecoration

2010-06-17T00:02:00.000-07:00

After months of indicision I finally got round to redecorating the twin room and my goodness what an improvement. The previous wall paper had been hand stenciled by me and although I loved it, it had had its day and it was time to move on. Well the results are here and I'm thrilled with them.

Apart from that the garden and allotment continue to keep me busy and my training for a charity bike ride. In November I'm off to Rajasthan for nine days to cycle up to 50 miles a day all for a good cause though, I'm raising money for the British Heart Foundation.

Almost Spring

2010-03-24T11:33:00.000-07:00

I don't know whats stopped me from attending to my blog up to now, certainly not the weather which had us inside for so much of the early part of this year. However its now almost spring and I need to be getting on with the garden here at Castleton House as well as in my allotment. Apart from that I'll be busy training and fundraising for my bike ride in Rajasthan this November, all in aid of the British Heart Foundation.

With the clocks going back this coming weekend and the promise of warmer weather most of the local attractions will be open full time. We enjoyed a day at Montacute House which is only 30 minutes from here, not only is the Elizabeathen Architecture quite amazing, the gardens will be glorious during the summer and it also houses a number of paintings owned by the National Portrait Gallery the photos above give just a glimpse of all there is to enjoy.

Just beginning to feel like Christmas

2009-12-04T10:25:00.000-08:00

The wettest November since 1951 and I'm bored with it. But it's good for turning your mind to Christmas, so apart from the usual shopping for gifts we've made a big start on improving our conservatory. The ceiling has finally been lined and painted and we're now just waiting for the electrician to finish installing the lights, however with the new sisal rug/carpet its looking much better. It now remains for us to take out the awful kitchen units and line the walls, invest heavily in some plants and it will all be done. Perhaps we'll be finished in a fortnight ......... oh yes I still have my pile of material to turn into bunting, well its something for January.

Off now to spray all the allium heads I collected from my plants in the summer, the journalist Sarah Raven recommends spraying them silver or gold and using them for decorations, so this is my latest small 'thank you' gift for friends who have ask us to supper

Painting or Photo?

2009-11-23T09:22:00.000-08:00

For anyone who has been good enought to read this I would love to have your comments on the photograph versus painting debate - I commisioned the painting done for my husband (Peter) for Christmas but I also thought it might look nice to have on the website and now I'm not sure. Perhaps the existing photograph is fine and the painting would be better for the postcards that I put in the guest rooms.

Getting going

2009-11-23T09:11:00.000-08:00

Finally manged to set up a blog following a days e-marketing training and I'm sure this is the way forward; a great way for those who have already stayed to see what I've been up to and for those who might be interested in coming to see us it will give a better picture of our lives. However the problem today has been that I thought I could set this up in half an hour and of course with my lack of computer skills its taken much longer and poor Damon who runs my website has been putting up with calls from me and as always been wonderful at calming me down. So I'm really hoping that when I 'publish this post' a photograph of myself will appear on one side and then all will be well.

And now after a frustrating start I'm off now to paint the ceiling in the conservatory without the benefit of daylight but lets hope that once I get going on that I'll feel calmer - my aim is to get the ceiling painted by the end of this week!