Somerset Yurt Holidays Blog - Get back to nature

New for 2012!

emma — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:04:30 +0000

Well, it may be cold and even a bit snowy! But Mark and I are busy gearing up for our second season at Somerset Yurts! We’ve had the winter off to focus on the farm, and give the site and the yurts a bit of a break, but we can’t wait to get going again in March

In addition to the communal campfire, we now have a ‘personal firepit’ for you to hire, if you would like to be able to have a campfire nearer your yurt – perfect for a romantic evening. This is now available in the booking page, but you can also request it once you arrive if you would prefer to see what the weather will be like nearer the time!!

We also thoroughly road tested a Dutch Oven last year – we had intended to hire it out to yurters, but Mark loved it so much I couldn’t prise it from him!! I have persuaded him to share the fun this year though The Dutch Oven is large enough to cook up a hearty stew for 10 – 12 people, so is brilliant for families and group bookings. Again, this is available as an optional extra when you book, or it can be requested while you stay with us.

We are also in the process of updating our games for the barn, and just received a giant Jenga today! Can’t wait to test it out!

Fire Pit and Dutch Oven

Dutch Barn Residents

emma — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:28:41 +0000

With the yurts closed down for the Winter, we have a few of our calves keeping warm out at the Dutch Barn! These comprise a mix of ‘followers’ which are young Heifers that will eventually join our milking herd after they have had their first calf in a year or so, and a few Angus calves that will go on to be sold at market for beef once they’ve grown up a bit and had a nice spring and summer out on the grass

Here is a pic of our 1 year old, William, inspecting them while they feed on their maize silage.

They will likely be out there until April, so any yurters coming in the next few weeks will have a chance to say hello

Loading straw

mark — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 07:34:29 +0000

Out reasonably early this morning loading the last of the 60 acres of straw we’ve bought from a neighbour, which will be used for cow bedding over winter.

What a Summer!

emma — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 08:09:20 +0000

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!!!

Silage Bales

emma — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:27:21 +0000

It’s been a busy week farming wise, with the 3rd cut silage and the wheat and corn harvest underway! We’ve had a good cut of silage, which we’ve baled up to make silage bales for the herd’s overwintering food supply. Here are a few pictures of the hay bales from being baled, brought back to fields closer to the farm, and then finally being put into the black silage wrapping

If you look carefully at the pic on the bottom left, you can see the top of two yurts!

I’ll try and get ou t and get some pics of the straw bales later, too!

Fledgling Doves at the Barn

emma — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 07:34:26 +0000

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!

Reviewed and Approved – Away with the Kids

emma — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 09:19:03 +0000

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

Chickens!

emma — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:09:43 +0000

New to Somerset Yurts this week, are four lovely chickens! We plan to have these lovely girls available for you to hire during your stay at the yurts, so you can wake up to fresh eggs for breakfast

They are just settling in over the next couple of weeks, and as soon as they start laying eggs they can be your neighbours! In the meantime, we are enjoying getting to know them, they really are rather endearing.

From left - Silver Sussex, Light Sussex, Blue Maran, Cuckoo Maran.

Somerset Local Food

emma — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:45:17 +0000

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

Campfire Cooking

emma — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 06:53:26 +0000

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