I’m often asked why I came to own and run a B&B and now, as Fields Lodge is for sale, it makes sense to make sure that it’s written down in the internet universe for perpetuity-if there is such a thing.
I was lucky enough to be able to put my hand up for voluntary redundancy from my Banking Career. The world of Banking had changed, we were being ‘guided’ by Americans who seemed to have no thought for customers and brought over to the UK the financial games of their country, which sat less and less well with me. (More of that another time)
And so, I found myself with the opportunity for another ‘Career’ in my middle forties-waaaay to young to retire, and, at this point, I still harboured hopes of becoming a Mother and potentially having a child to look after financially for many years to come.
Since it was built, Fields Lodge has been a home for a few families, some were only here a short while, some many, many years. I think I’m in the many, many years category, and I have been a proud custodian.
I was chatting with some friends recently and we were discussing all the different ways that Fields Lodge transform into with the next custodians.
Originally it was my home, and then many years later, I turned it into a B&B and I moved into the stables (what we call the annex), giving the guests the main house.
Have a look at the list we came up with and let me know if you think of something else!
Scary!! Where has the time gone? Of course, this year is different, as we have only been open since the middle of May and things are still a little different.
Here’s things you will benefit from knowing if you’re coming or thinking of coming to Pembrokeshire over the next few months
Skomer & the Puffins
Puffling Feeding on Skomer by Monica Doshi
Yaay! The Puffin population has increased and at the recent count, we are at nearly 40,000 Puffins! How fantastic is that?
However, there is a downside, and as so many people are keen to visit, after not being allowed to last year, the tickets to visit are in short supply.
And soon, the Pufflings will be making an appearance! Check out the image above by the very talented Monica Doshi, a guest who has stayed with us several times, and who loves Skomer and the Puffins.
More tickets have just been added to actually land on Skomer as a Day Visitor-and cancellations do happen, so it’s good advice to keep checking the online booking site if you’d like to go
There are also boat trips around Skomer, and if you find that the day you want to go is already sold out, then it might be worth looking at Voyages of Discovery in St Davids, as they do a trip from there that comes down to Skomer. As this trip is not as well known (as yet) there are often tickets available here.
Best Tip: If you know you want to go, book your tickets as soon as you can
Eating Out
Eat at Milford Waterfront
It is pretty busy in Pembrokeshire at the moment. Not Cornwall busy, I would have to say(thankfully!) but there is demand in the good places to eat.
My advice here is to book your evening meals before you arrive. Leaving it until you arrive will mean that your first, second and maybe even third choice will be already booked up.
Lunchtimes, there’s still scope for a late booking, but an evening will definitely need to be booked.
Best Tip: Plan where you’d like to eat and book it up before you get here
Heritage Walks & Milford Museum
Heritage Walk Map
I am delighted that this year the Museum on Milford Marina is now fully open after a long refurbishment. The outside of the museum now looks like it would have done back in 1797. Do pay it a visit for a few hours interactive fun(even for adults) and don’t forget to keep an eye out for ‘Feilds Parrallel Rule’ designed by one of the ancestors of Fields Lodge
And, hot off the press…well, it’s not even at the press yet…there are new ‘Heritage Walks’ to be enjoyed along Milford Marina.
There are 3 separate walks and they are interactive, so you can learn of Milford’s rich history whilst enjoying the surroundings.
Once the press release has gone live, I will write about it more fully.
So, these, together with the Quaker Walk around Milford Haven will give you lots of interesting views and history to enjoy
Best Tip: Great for a colder/wet day-Milford Museum and all the lovely boutique shops at Milford Marina
Ever wondered why you don’t get the cream at the top of the milk these days?
There’s a LOT that ‘we’ still don’t know about what ‘messed about’ food does to our bodies. And so, I prefer to cook as much as I can from scratch for our lovely guests. So, I’ve been investigating a bit more about this subject.
Summer Solstice is June 21st and today we will enjoy nearly 16.5 hours of daylight. I say daylight rather than sunshine, as it’s not that sunny today at Fields Lodge Boutique B&B.
We have some blue sky and some clouds and the hope of a sunny afternoon-fingers crossed.
So, what to do on this day of days to make the most of your maximum daylight? Let me give you some ideas…
Looking to visit the Puffins on Skomer Island this year whilst you’re staying with us here at Fields Lodge Boutique Bed & Breakfast?
Some things have changed and there are some things you need to be prepared for, if visiting the Puffins is on your bucket list for your trip to Pembrokeshire.
Read on to find out all you need to know about the latest Puffin news and to make sure you DO get to see the Puffins!
If you follow me on here or on social media you will know I favour a low carb diet which has helped me find some of the tastiest gluten free/sugar free options for our guests here at Fields Lodge Boutique B&B
Here is my favourite recipe for quite a decent brown roll that you can use as ‘bread’ to go with soup or as a bun to have a burger in.
There is plenty of hype going on around the Corona virus at the moment, driven in no small way by the media. There are stats around showing that the ‘ordinary’ flu virus we deal with every year, still kills more than this virus does, and yet, do we go into a melt down about the flu virus each year?
If you’ve started to think about having a holiday, then usually, it will come with an element of stress.
A survey by Lastminute.com found that around 30% of people find planning a holiday stressful
Here at Fields Lodge Boutique B&B, we’ve created an Awesome Travel Planner to alleviate some of the stress and make sure you get on with beating that holiday stress.
One of my beliefs for years has been the benefits of being outside, getting fresh air and in particular, sea air or woodland air, great big gulps of it into your lungs.
It’s something I encourage all my guests here at Fields Lodge Boutique B&B to do at least once-go out for a lovely walk, no matter what the weather! It’s just so good for you.
I’m delighted now, that there seems to be ‘real’ evidence to prove this now. Even just recently,the BBC programme, ‘Trust me I’m a Doctor’ undertook an experiment to evidence this in real terms.
It was proved that a 20 minute stint out in nature was beneficial to mind and body and the ‘guineau pigs’ also confirmed it was good for their soul too.
Here at Fields Lodge B&B, we love making pancakes and our guests love them too.
Scroll down for Gooey Fudge Pancake recipe.
Since we’ve launched our Fudge, we’ve also been making Gooey Fudge Pancakes to add to our breakfast menu and you can get our Fudge pancake recipe below.
We love to give our guests a taste of the traditional Welsh experience, and one of their favourite breakfasts is our take on Welsh Rarebit, dating back to 1725 when it was originally called Welsh Rabbit.
Take a look at our recipe to recreate this delicious breakfast at home!
Method
1. Heat the milk in a non-stick pan, then add the cheese and heat on low until melted
2. Add the chilli, mustard powder and Worcestershire sauce
3. Remove from the heat, and add the cornflour – mix well
4. Return to the heat, and beat with a wooden spoon or whisk until thickened
5. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly
6. Whisk in the eggs
7. Pour into a lined tin and cook for 20 minutes at 170 degrees
8. Leave to cool, then slice and store in the fridge
I am often asked so many questions about Skomer Island and visiting the Puffins, so I thought I would pop lots of great information here under various headings and then you can choose which sections you would like to know about!
UPDATE: AS at 2021 you can now book your tickets online…so no more early morning queuing
Skomer Island is open to visitors April until end of September, so when do you choose to go? In an ideal world, I’d say go twice—May and beginning of July.
Read here about my favourite times to visit-can you guess?
To get to Martins Haven from us here at Fields Lodge is a very easy drive; you come out of the B&B and head to the lane junction.
You then take a left and go down the hill, at the bottom of the hill you will see a sign post for DALE, just follow this road, don’t come off it at all.
An article this week by Louise Cooper in the Sunday Times had the heading of ‘Why I’m never using Airbnb again’ and was interesting reading.
I am quite sure there are many great Airbnb landlords out there, in fact I know a few myself. However, how can you EVER be sure that you’re staying somewhere safe?
I was lucky recently to be part of a group to be driven around our area to meet some local producers. I was keen to go, as although I know well my very local producers, I cannot say the same for some of those that are a little further away.
The day was organised by Cywain, which is a Mentor a Business project, encouraging collaboration between businesses and getting more local produce from producers, through suppliers to the end consumer.
We started our day off at Coles Distillery, which is just outside of Carmarthen at LLanddarog. This is a family run business with two brothers who are completely passionate about the alcohol they make. They have a great USP, they are the only distillery in Wales that make their alcohol completely from scratch-from the grain. Every other distillery in Wales, we were told, buy in their alcohol and start there making process from here. The Coles brothers actually start it from the grain itself. They have engineered their own processes, machinery and equipment and made these themselves-it’s quite a thing to see. And because of how they have their alcohol production set up, they can make any number of alcohol varieties. They make beers and ciders, gins, brandy, rum and whiskey.
Although, at the moment you cannot buy the whiskey as it is still in its storage phase. Apparently, although we are in Wales, and are making Welsh Whiskey, we(as in the country) still have to abide by the rules for making Scittish Whiskey (!!?!?), and so, it is deemed that Whiskey has to be laid down for 3 years and 1 day before it can be bottled and sold. So, we have one more year to wait before we can get our hands on that!
The distillery room is full of stainless steel, spotless shiny metal all around and the smell is quite glorious! There are oak barrels of liquor all laid on their sides, patiently doing their thing, and the smell is intoxicating. Although, once you’ve been in there for a while, whilst listening to the very interesting talk on the Coles family journey, you stop noticing the lovely aroma.
You can watch a video which tells you all about the family and the distillery, you can have a tour right around the distillery and their cider making barn, there is a very informative notice board, with the whole process laid before you, with little boxes of all the different grains, herbs and botanicals that are used in the production of the various alcohols.
Then you can have a wander into their pub, which is on site and choose some lovely artisan hand crafted alcohol to take home. You can buy an empty bottle and fill it with your own choice (you can get these refilled afterwards if you wish) or you can buy a sealed bottle of their finest, and there’s such a choice. There’s a honey based rum, which is good for a cold! There’s a rum named after a pirate from Milford Haven, so of course, I had to buy that one!
The rum is called Cadogan, and it’s a dark rum, the colour comes from the molasses that the alcohol is mixed with (I never knew that!) and it’s nice enough to just sip like a port or you could add a mixer, should you wish.
Here’s the story behind the name of the rum: The Cadogan was the ship of a Milford Haven Pirate called Howell Davies. Unlike other pirates though, he did not rely on arms and power to get what he wanted. He was an intelligent man and used all kinds of tricks such as bribe and disguise to get his loot. His pirate career only lasted 1 1 months before he was deviously ambushed and shot 5 times.
Coming back to the pub, this is a classic village inn with a marvellous thatched roof and a intriguing décor serving good honest pub food.
They undertake distillery tours at 11am most days, and so, it’s a great place to visit for a tour then enjoy a spot of lunch, on your way to us here for your first night’s stay in Pembrokeshire. You can always buy a little momento of your visit and enjoy that when you get back home, which will give you fond memories of your visit
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