Last Few Weeks of October

Glamping Over October Half Term

We have a little bit of availability left for October Half Term, Hawk Lodge is the last safari tent left from 24th to 28th October, this one sleeps a family of up to 6, it's dog friendly and close to the children's play areas.  The beautiful clear days we've been having recently mean it is cold at night, but the stars are amazing, and we provide lots of firewood for you to use on the lodge stove and keep yourselves warm. 

There's pumpkin picking in nearby Wellington, the local National Trusts always have something child friendly on and the Bear Trail over the border in Devon is always a fun option during the school holidays!  

Toasting marshmallows around the fire in the autumn is rather special as the sun goes down, there are so many different recipe variations on the net, the simplest being Rich Tea Biscuits, a few squares of milk chocolate and a couple of nice fat marshmallows of course.  We'll have all the kit ready in our shop ready for toasting on the firepit.  

Glamping in the Autumn, Cosy Family Bedrooms

At this time of year all the beds in our safari lodges have fleece blankets and hot water bottles as well as warm duvets, our bedding is non feather and hypo allergenic so should be fine for anyone with bedding allergies.  When the last person goes to bed, we suggest you put on a couple of heat logs on the wood burner which which burn slowly through the night.  It's always cold when the first person gets up to light the fire again in the morning, so remember to pack warm bed socks or cosy slippers.  

Full English Breakfast on the Farm

We're a working farm with animals and have products from our farm in our shop.  You can order a breakfast hamper in advance of your stay, or pick up things from the shop after you arrive.  We always have pigs to admire on the farm, and sausages in the freezer.  We have created our own sausage flavouring with the help of a local butcher, our bacon is also delicious, both for eating with eggs and toast, or in a pasta sauce.

Unfortunately the fox took all our hens this summer, now we only have a cockerel who despite being handsome, doesn't produce any eggs!  So this year we have eggs from our neighbour (in all different colours), they are free range and delicious, with lots of deep yellow double yolks.

Farmhouse bread, freshly cooked croissants and pain au chocolates are also available to collect from our shop ready for breakfast.

Glamping with Hot Tubs in Somerset

All our accommodation has its own private wood fired hot tub, we have eight of them on the farm.  They're made in Sweden and the hot tub water is heated via a wood stove, if you choose to hire the tub, we'll provide you with an extra supply of firewood to heat the water yourselves.  Outside of the school holidays we offer hot tub pre heats, this is a good idea if you're arriving late after work or school and want to get straight in when you arrive.  

The hot tubs here on the farm are large, the tubs next to the cottage and cabin are for four people, and the safari tent hot tubs are for six.  These are optional extras and cost £60 for a four night stay, you can read about how they work here.  We're glad we invested in wood fired hot tubs, rather than electric ones with the current cost of energy crisis.  Although the cost of firewood has gone up, we have kept our hot tub prices the same for this winter and next year, and will absorb the increase ourselves, rather than pass it on to our guests.  

We buy our firewood from a high quality seller on Exmoor, the facts on his website state Co2 released from burning wood is equivalent to Co2 absorbed by the tree during its growing life, unlike other fuels burning wood is carbon neutral.  

Weekend Glamping Offers

We have discounted prices for the next couple of weekends with additional discounts for couples.  A stay in our cabin or cottage for the weekend of 14th October for example is now £245 for a couple or £295 for a family of four.  We continue to run farm tours for anyone who is interested, the animals are well trained to a bucket and will come running when they see us, pigs are never full and at this time of year we feed them buckets of apples as well as their normal foods.  The goats like a few branches taken from one of our trees with good growth and the sheep will run over as soon as they hear the gate unlatch!  

October is the time of year when we plan our lambing - we have a new ram this year, Patrick has named him Raymond as he's a french breed and if you're into sheep, a rather fine specimen who deserves a name!  He'll go into the paddock of ewes on the 20th October and I expect we'll begin lambing in mid March.  Hopefully perfectly timed so all the lambs will be born before we open the safari tents for the Easter 2023 holidays!  If his visit to the ladies doesn't go as well as we plan, we'll put some of these lovely Exmoor rams in instead - they produce the sweetest of lambs!