The Old Post Office, Tintagel


During most of August we are very busy at Michael House. However, during the week beginning 2nd August we have availability, so, if you are considering coming to Cornwall for a few days we hope to hear from you!

Over the next few days, including this weekend, we do have some availability, give us a ring or email if you are thinking of coming to this part of Cornwall. If you like fresh berries, gooseberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, strawberries and raspberries, this is the place to be! We have never had such a crop, it is brilliant and goes a small way to compensating for losing all our echiums last winter! The baby ones we have potted up are mostly doing well, we have over 50 in pots and several where they seeded.

Availability

Just to let anyone reading this know, we do have some availability over the coming weeks, and dont forget, until the end of June, we are still offering our 'three for two' special, see the website for details - www.michael-house.co.uk.

Since when has Peru been in Britain?

Our obsession with British, preferably Cornish, asparagus has reached a bit of a low point. On two occasions in supermarkets recently, (one of them we really thought would have higher moral standards), the box said British asparagus, but the bundle itself, on bringing it home on the first occasion, said Peru! When this happened for a second time, no asparagus came home! I wonder if the season here has been very short because of the hard winter and the boxes were not changed in time, but surely this was breaking the Trades Description Act? Hope we have not had the last of the British asparagus already.

Just to let anyone thinking of coming to Cornwall this weekend, 4th/5th/6th June know, we do have some availabilty over the weekend.



We had a great time at the Royal Cornwall show today. The weather, contrary to earlier forecasts, was perfect, warm, sunny and with a gentle breeze. As well as an obsession with echiums, I now have a developing interest in streptocarpus, which, despite its disease like name, is a beautiful group of elegant houseplants. I have three on the mantelpiece in the dining room and just bought another two, all are variants of blue and purple.

This weather is so wonderful!

Here is the recipe I use for making elderflower cordial. We have only just finished last years cordial, I had quite a lot in the freezer.

20 elderflower heads - washed
1 sliced lemon
2 tsp citric acid
3 and a half lb white sugar
2 and a half lbs boiling water

Pour boiling water over the ingredients in large pot. Stir to dissolve sugar. Stir daily for five days, strain and bottle in sterile bottles. Keeps in fridge for quite a while, or freeze in plastic bottles, leavng air gap for expansion. Serve with tap water, sparkling water or lemonade, with lemon or mint, or use in sorbet. One of the essential tastes of summer.

Cornish new potatoes and asparagus

If you love new potatoes and asparagus, the local varieties of both are here at present and we are making good use of them! Delicious.

I will love my website more, I will love my website more, I will love my website more...

This should be my mantra henceforward. It is only once something has gone for a while that you truly appreciate it. I rather took the presence of my website for granted. However, it disappeared about a week ago, and I instantly knew how much I valued it! The site has been moved to a new server, so I hope it will not vanish again.

Thank you Jonathan for getting it sorted and Steven for keeping me up to speed with what was happening, as the site went and came on different computers at different times!

Phew, that was exhausting

the problem with the website continues, I am not happy. Please ring me on 01840 770 592, or email on info@michael-house.co.uk or vang@globalnet.co.uk

Website.

something terrible seems to have happened to the website. Please do not interpret this to mean Michael House no longer exists! We certainly do, and the webiste should be restored to full function as soon as possible. Please give me a ring if you wish to gather information, or to make a booking, or email me. 01840 770 592. info@michael-house.co.uk

We only have one room available, for sunday May 3rd, over this coming Bank Holiday weekend.

Have a good weekend. The weather is looking promising.

Email

Just to let you know that the normal email address for Michael House, info@michael-house.co.uk, is working again.

Just a note to let anyone reading this know that our server for the Michael House email is not currently working. So, if you wish to contact me by email, please use vang@globalnet.co.uk until I update this blog.

sorry for any inconvenience.

The green shoots of recovery.

Now, where have I heard that before?

But these green shoots are real, they are echiums. Four of them and very precious to me!

Anyone who has read my blogs in the past will know I am a bit obsessed with echiums! They are magnificent, they are also known as 'rocket plants' as they reach around 12 - 14 foot high in their second or third year, with lovely purply blue flowers which bees love. This variety is called Pininana, there are others, some with a very different, ground covering, non biennial habit. The herb, borage, is a close relation. They share the flower colour and furry, slightly rough, leaf surface.

This is a goldfinch sitting atop one last year. I know, I know, it could be anything, but you will just have to believe me, it is a goldfinch!

We had so many last year, that it was easy to take them for granted, and this year was set to be our best ever. We wrapped some up against the frost, we had a few younger ones in pots in the polytunnel.

We lost them all to the severe winter.

I was gutted, the sticks of dead echium stood as testament in the ground for a while, they have now all been removed. The garden centres have lost theirs too, so it will be a while before we can get any. So, there will be no echiums this year, and only next year if I can get a few soon which are fairly advanced. The following year, however, should be good, if we do not have any more killer frosts!

So, now you can see why those little seedlings are so precious to me! I am constantly checking other pots and the garden for more!

TV in guest room

I'm not sure this is even worth blogging about, but there is now a working TV and digibox in one of the guest rooms, the one with private bathroom. We have never had TV's in the rooms, and this has suited most people, there is a TV in the sitting room and it feels good to escape the TV in the bedroom. However, I stopped renting my old(ish) TV and they let me just keep it, so there was a spare one, so, as there was the link to the aerial in room 3, we have set it up in there!

Cornwall Today

Allow me a little brag a moment please! We have been featured in Cornwall Today for May 2009, as one of the '10 Best Veggie Eateries'. OK, so there are not 10 vegetarian restaurants in Cornwall, so they chose a couple of guest houses as well, more to the north and east, as there is a paucity of vegetarian places to eat in these areas. But, it is nice to see Michael House in a list of this sort, do have a look. It is great that they have taken up the cause of vegetariansm, they picked May, as it includes Vegetarian Week, 18th-25th May. We offer evening meals to non residents, but obviously offer priority to our resident guests, but it usually works out fine if people wish to book a meal.

Happy Easter.

Easter weekend and next week

Over the Easter weekend, we do have the odd night available, so it is worth ringing/emailing if you are thinking of coming this way. Later next week, we have availability.

Have a great Easter break.

Where's my ball? Throw it, throw, throw it. Now.

blog by a beer.

how kan a beer do it's own blog, see uther blog www.nessienoracraftexplorer.blogspot.com for my vews on this matta

A new place to fall in love with - The Dizzard


There are still so many new places to discover around this area. Yesterday, Simon and I visited The Dizzard. We have become interested in visiting places with special or ancient trees, and The Dizzard is home to a small woodland of ancient oaks and other trees, near the coast. It is only a few miles beyond Crackington Haven, where one of our very favourite cafes, The Haven, just happens to be!





After a delicious and simple lunch at The Haven, we parked in the hamlet of Dizzard, by a farm. From there, a farm track took us to this field. What a farm track. I sank to nearly the top of my wellies in mud at one point, and we have not had very wet weather recently! The woodlands are to the right of this picture, in the valley.

There were photo opportunities at every step. The trees in the part we visited are several metres tall, but apparently the ones nearer to the sea are far smaller, stunted by the wind and salt. We could not get past a swampy section, which Berri found irresistible, but which the rest of us found impassable.

The fungi and lichen are everywhere, testament to the pure air of the area.

The dogs had almost a better time than we did and are still exhausted after playing constantly whilst we were there.

This is Berri in a very muddy puddle

This is Berri after getting out of the puddle.

We sat on the grass on our way back to the car and listened. Peaceful, the sea in the distnce, chiff-chaffs, rooks, a thrush, blue tits, robins, and skylarks were all recognisable, and other bird song we did not know. I thought I saw a swallow at one point. But, it is very early, maybe I was wrong. A perfect, soft, warm, spring day.

We wended our weary way home, to wash the dogs in the bath, I have never seen them so muddy, and it wasn't just mud either, from the squidgy cow trodden track!

This is a place we hope to visit again and again, at different times of the year, possibly approaching it from the coast path to see a different aspect.