Well we are almost at the end of our first summer season, and it’s been fabulous! We’ve met some lovely couples and families, who have loved our yurts as much as we do 
We’ve been delighted with how popular we have been, and really hope we can build on this for next year.
Speaking of next year, we have lots of ideas, such as building a clay oven, perhaps adding a couple more yurts to the neighbouring field, and adding the option for yurters to pre order BBQ and breakfast packs, to name just a few!
In the meantime, I thought I would share a few pictures of comments from our guestbook – we’ve loved reading these on changeover days, and especially love it when we get a lovely drawing too!!!
After a summer of busy yurting, our resident doves at the Dutch Barn have clearly not been disturbed by the comings and goings! I spotted these two fledglings sitting above the woodpile yesterday, watching me making up the yurts for our midweek yurters So sweet!
We are delighted to have been ‘reviewed and approved’ by Karen at fantastic family travel directory – Away with the Kids!
Have a look at our review here Away with the Kids – Somerset Yurts
Thanks to Karen for such a lovely review – we are really chuffed you loved your stay in one of our yurts
We’ve stumbled upon a brilliant company that can deliver local Somerset produce!
If you would like to order some food in for your holiday at Somerset Yurts, you just need to order before 9am on the Tuesday before your stay, and they can deliver on the Thursday or Friday before your arrival. We are happy to receive the delivery and put it away for you – just let us know that you have ordered
Certainly beats having to face a busy Supermarket while on holiday!
Click here to visit Somerset Local Food
We received our lovely new Dutch Oven this weekend, and couldn’t wait to test it out!
Mark made a small campfire and we hooked it all up ready to brown off some sausages for a little stew. I must say it was lovely to be sitting al fresco listening to the oven sizzling away – more relaxing than a BBQ somehow. I love one pot cooking, and the Dutch oven seems the ultimate ‘one pot’! This is an 8 litre one, and can cook for up to 11 or 12 people, so plenty big enough for a good feast around the campfire
After about an hour of cooking, our stew was ready, and it was delicious. Can’t wait to try out more recipes, so we can share them with our yurt guests!
Campfire all set for the Dutch oven
Add ingredients!
Cooking on the campfire!
Time for a play while the stew cooks
The finished stew - yummy
Last weekend, Mark and I took baby Will for an afternoon out to the coast We thought we ought to start visiting some of the local things you can see and do near the farm. As we have tickets for the West Somerset Railway available to purchase at a discount from the farm, we thought that would be a good place to start!
We picked up the Steam train at Bishops Lydeard, a short 20/25 minute drive through lovely countryside from the farm. It all felt very Harry Potter-ish waiting on the platform for the train! Once on the train, we definitely felt like we were on our way to Hogwarts! The train is lovely and old fashioned, and much comfier than the horrible modern ones I used to take to London back in my corporate life! The journey takes you through some stunning countryside on the way to the North Somerset coast – plenty for children to spot, with sheep and cows dotting the landscape.
We decided to get off at Watchet as we were getting peckish and were hoping to find some fish and chips! You can go all the way to Minehead, which we will do next time, and I have heard that Dunster and Blue Anchor are also lovely! I think we’ll make a day of it next time to see a bit more
Definitely recommended for a family day out.
Will's first trip on a steam train!
The harbour at Watchet
All aboard for Hogwarts!
Having grown up here I tend to take the surroundings for granted, but want to make sure we do justice in promoting the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) which the farm borders.
So this morning I thought I’d see how long it took to get to a couple of points on the Quantocks from our farm when I was in the car picking up some bits from a friend.
….I was at Cothelstone Hill car park within about 8-10 mins (could have been quicker but had to reverse for a BT van that got in my way ), I started walking as I wanted to get a photo from the top, but quickly realised I wouldn’t make it to the next point I wanted to get to…and be on time for my morning meeting….so onward, and I was then at Lydeard Hill Car Park (not that many cars at 8.15 this morning…in fact only me) in another 5 mins or so.
Here’s a couple of camera phone photos from there – Exmoor ponies on the Quantocks:
There’s a useful list of walks on the Quantocks here: http://www.quantockonline.co.uk/tourism_leisure/activities/walking.html
I tried to take a panoramic film on my phone, but it didn’t really do it justice…so you’ll have to book into one of our Yurts and explore the Quantocks yourselves. (I’ll pop out another day and try again as well )
Just realised it’s been a while since we posted here!
We’ve been very busy getting everything set up, hence the lack of blog updates, but we think the work has been worthwhile with the Yurts and facilities looking great, we’ve added some photos to the gallery so you can see how things are looking.
We’ve had some great weather down here in Somerset, it’s been a really dry May, which is great for holiday makers, but not so great for growing grass for our cows…it’s tricky to know what to wish for!
That’s it for a quick flying update…but more to come soon
Brrr bit of a chilly start to the day, of course you’ll be warm on your yurt holiday with your log burner, but feeding animals on the farm this morning was cold again!
It’s been a while since we’ve posted so thought we ought to update the blog and let you know how we’re getting on at Somerset Yurts.
Since getting planning permission granted it’s been a busy time, Emma gave birth to baby William on the 23rd of November – so he’ll be here helping us get set up over the next few months!
Some conditions to the planning permission mean we have to supply further documentation on our landscaping plans, lighting, and provision of nesting boxes, all of which need to be approved by the council. We’ll be getting these submitted this week. We’re also drawing up our plan of action for the barn which will provide the facilities for the Yurts.
It’s going to be a busy few months ahead, but it’s exciting to be getting so close to being up and running!
