Pembrokeshire Triathlon is on 24th June, based at Broad Haven. It is a swim, bike and run event and at the moment, the weather is looking good for it!
These types of activities are growing in popularity in Pembrokeshire, where we have great seas and great coast, which can be both challenging and stunning, and with the warmth of the local people you will always feel supported, even by strangers!
The 15th & 16th July sees the P1 Welsh Grand Prix of the Sea at Milford Waterfront (P1 Power Boat Racing), it is a great achievement to have secured this event and Milford Haven looks forward to hosting it . This event has previously been held in Cardiff Bay and we are delighted to be hosting this in Milford Haven for the next few years. Milford Waterfront are sponsoring local brother & sister team Coleman Racing Team from Saundersfoot, so it will be great to cheer on a Pembrokeshire Team!
We are now offering Fields Lodge Vouchers, these are vouchers that offer discounts at shops, eateries and businesses in the locality.
I am keen to ensure my guests really enjoy and make the most of staying with me here, in this little corner of West Pembrokeshire. We have some great small local businesses that offer something a little different to the ‘usual’ offering at bigger town high streets, with their replicated large businesses and a uniform feel, no matter what town or city you are visiting.
I have recently been liaising with several local businesses to offer discounts/money off/free gifts for my guests when they use their establishments.
So, when you shop here, you get that one-off outfit not seen in Debenhams or that little Welsh delicacy that you just can’t get at home. You also have the chance to eat at some really great eateries and sample some outstanding local produce. Plus, quite often you get a much keener price than you can find, even on the internet plus, of course, some great old fashioned, personal service. You can also have the opportunity to take home a taste (or two) of Pembrokeshire and for those organised amongst you, you can buy your whole years Birthday and anniversary cards saving you a considerable amount in the meantime!
I have partnered with the following businesses to offer all my guests that book with me some great offerings. Once you book, I will send you codes so that you can access the offerings, and start planning what you will be spending your money on whilst you stay!
I know all these business owners myself and you can rest assured they are ready and willing to help you with whatever purchase you may have in mind. They really do care!
Here’s the current list, and this will change as time goes by.
Shopping:
Eateries
Gordon Bennetts Traditional Fish & Chips
Attractions
Services
Spot On Laundry & Dry Cleaning
For more reading, click here
We are happy to provide Electric Car charging facilities and this has led to us recently hosting Stuart McBain, who is the first man to drive around the whole coast of the UK in an electric car. He is showcasing the importance of sustainability and renewable energy through his company, Charging Around Britain and travelling the 3,000+ miles whilst staying at Bed & Breakfasts along the way that offer electric car charging.
With water Kefir making, we’re moving another step closer to better health, hopefully! I’ve bought in goats milk kefir from Chuckling Goats, a 21 day course(for myself)-it’s supposed to be really good for your microbiome and as you will know, if you keep in touch, I am on a journey to improving my health. I’ve been keen to try and cultivate it myself, but it just hasn’t worked. Varying issues I think, not enough knowledge being the main culprit. Anyhow, with renewed vigour, I’m having another go!
Chocolate Cake Day! What a brilliant excuse to eat some cake, and chocolate at that! As some of you will know, I am on a food journey-trying to get to sugar free, wheat free, low carb. Not the best for chocolate cake potential, I’d say.
However, here in Milford Haven we have the marvellous Nutrionalist Ellen Picton, based at Milford Marina(Click here for info on Ellen & her book), who has been helping me on my journey and also giving me plenty of ideas for better options for breakfasts for my guests. So, who’d have thought, but I have a wheat free, sugar free, chocolate cake recipe! We are delighted to have been certificated by Healthaspire to recognise our efforts towards healthy eating for our guests.
Are you suffering from January blues? Apparently, January is the busiest month for divorce applications, with people getting to their ‘last straw’ over the Christmas period and of course, inevitably, people have overspent and it’s a long time until January pay day at the end of the month as many companies do pay December salary a little earlier, which is great for Christmas but just adds to the pain in January.
Here’s a lovely video of Pembrokeshire and the Pembrokeshire Coast. It’s a reminder of lovely sunny days, just to brighten up a winter’s day (as today is!).
Whoopie! We are the Bed and Breakfast of the Year! How exciting is that? This is what we were awarded at the Welsh Hospitality Awards in Cardiff recently. This follows on from our recent award winning of Pembrokeshire’s Finest Breakfast in the recent Pembrokeshire Tourism Awards. What a time we are having!
Well, we did it! Pembrokeshire’s Finest Breakfast, for the third awards ceremony in succession. What a great honour to be judged by three independent persons, one being the County Council, tasting all that’s on offer on your menu and comparing you to their peers and declaring you as ‘Pembrokeshire’s Finest Breakfast’.
Bearing in mind that in Pembrokeshire, there are close to 1000 accommodation providers, with many offering really great breakfasts, local produce and homemade, it makes the award very dear.
It is apple season, it’s apples galore here at Fields Lodge and we have apple chutney coming out of our ears. We have 2 apple trees in our garden, one struggling to beat the elements in the rear garden, getting battered by the prevailing winds, with no shelter, and another, nicely nestled in amongst way too many shrubs. One of it’s roots got upturned when it fell following some wind, but it’s recovered, and although the quite substantial root is exposed, and really a bit of a trip hazard(thankfully, it’s not a used pathway), the tree has rallied and bears ever such a lot of fruit.
Then at the bottom of our lane (there are only 3 houses on our lane which goes down to the creek), we have our neighbours at Beacon Hill, who seem to have an endless supply of apples at this time of year, and any surplus they have, end up at the back door of Fields Lodge. It’s not so much a tooth fairy that delivers them but an ‘apple fairy’! Quite often I come back from my daily shopping to find another delivery. Infact, we’re finding it hard to keep on top of them!
I love using produce from our doorstep, there’s something about homegrown, no chemicals, just good clear salty sea air and our very lovely red earth, particular to Sandy Haven. They make for an excellent ingredient with which to start any number of recipes.
We are presently making Apple Chutney to go as an accompaniment to our Welsh Rarebit breakfast dish. As you know, if you are a regular reader, I am not a fan of the white stuff known as sugar, and so I do try to utilise something a bit more healthy, as I think it’s pretty well known now that sugar is not at all good for you-no nutrients at all, loads of calories and pretty addictive. There is much debate as to what is the best thing to use, I think pretty much everyone says that stevia is ok, but I find it leaves me with a ‘sweetener’ aftertaste and I find it burns in cooking quite easily. What I have trialled in our apple chutney recipe is Xylitol, derived from the bark of the birch tree. You can pretty much use it as a direct substitute for sugar and it apparently doesn’t raise blood sugar levels. The only downside to using this, is it costs a fortune when compared to sugar-43p versus £12!. So, I am making a very expensive batch of apple chutney, but I just can’t bring myself to use sugar.
I will try a batch made with dates as the sugar substitute next, but of course, these are high in sugars, but at least they’re natural and you will be getting the fibre from the fruit also. Plus also, with the apples and the raisins, there’s already plenty of sugars in there!
So, if you’d like my current recipe:
2Kg Apples, peeled, cored and cubed
750g Xylitol (or sugar/sugar substitute)
500g Raisins
2 Onions finely chopped
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp salt
700ml Cider Vinegar
It’s dead simple-put it all in a pot bring to the boil and then simmer for about 20 minutes or until the apples are soft. Leave to cool and then decant into sterilised jars. Then enjoy!
To know more about the redstone at Sandy Haven click here and to know more about Sandy Haven Beach click here
It’s Seal pup spotting time and we are very lucky to have some great sites right on our doorstep-well, 10 minutes away!
I’m busy in the kitchen today cooking up all sorts of goodies for this weekends’ guests. In the oven I have mixed berries reducing to a compote ready to make sugar free chia jam, low carb bread baking and yoghurt making on the kitchen top. To add to this, vegetarian sausage making and some low carb, sugar free cake bites for when the sweet tooth descends. It may sound a lot to be going on, but it’s quite a normal day in this B&B.
Gluten Free in Pembrokeshire-there’s a move towards it definately. Here at our Bed and Breakfast in Pembrokeshire, we offer a good range of Gluten Free options-bread, sausages, cereals, cakes, health bars, ketchup-all Gluten Free. Many of you that have been following my posts will know that I am on a quest to eat more healthily. One of those strands of thought is to be Gluten Free. I have had various intolerance tests over the years and gluten has always come up as a ‘red’, plus I do feel unwell after eating too much of it-which isn’t hard these days, as gluten is in nearly everything that is processed.
Pembrokeshire Beaches-what are the best 5 beaches?? What a question to answer, if you asked 10 people, you’d have 10 different answers. There are over 50 beaches on the Pembrokeshire Coast and I’ve been to most, I think there’s still one or two that I’m yet to visit. You tend to get your favourites and then stick to them!
Well, here are my five with my own personal reasons for choosing them:
In support of World Health Day (7th April 2016), I thought it would be appropriate to share some of what we do here to promote health.
As some of you may know, I am attempting to eat more healthily, cut down on sugar(well remove it really!), avoid wheat and gluten and generally follow the thinking that is coming out of research as to what constitutes a healthy diet, which is not necessarily what is coming out as advice from the NHS and the government. It’s not their fault, I think the NHS is such a huge ship, it takes a long time to change course, as opposed to us individuals who in comparison are little speed boats, and can zip around in a flash! That’s my way of thinking, anyway.
The Pembrokeshire Beach Food Company is one of our local producers, producing superb ‘sea’ fayre. We LOVE using local produce and producers here at Fields Lodge. We pride ourselves on providing the best experience we can of the lovely food available here in Pembrokeshire.
Walking in Winter in Pembrokeshire is as good as pleasure as in the summertime-the coast takes on a moody veil and the weather is sure to make you feel alive. So, as long as you are well prepared, there’s no need to leave walking until the sun comes out!
Personally I do not advocate walking when the weather is bad-howling rain and gales, but I think there’s nothing nicer than a fresh winter morning for a walk across the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, which, just so happens to be on our doorstep. And, as it is winter, you do need to take a few extra precautions, just incase the weather does change quickly.
New Dawn Organic Skin Care products are one of the amenities we provide to guests with our pleasure. We wanted to offer toiletries in our rooms that offered a sense of place, that were good for your body, organic and offered uplift to body and soul. Dawn and Andrew who handmake the products are extremely local, being only a short drive away, so we are lucky to have such quality on our doorstep.
Leap year comes around every 4 years and has been traditionally known as the day that women can propose to men. I think these days, we’re a lot more relaxed about things like that-I don’t think women have to wait or feel they have to wait for a man to propose to them, but I’m a traditionalist, so for me, I like the hearts and roses side of things-the man on one knee, etc, etc, etc!
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