Mummy / daughter time at Charlton House Spa - Shepton Mallet

Dating back to 1639, Charlton House was bought and refurbished by Roger and Monty Saul, the founders of the Mulberry Design Company, in 1996.

Sophie, Millie and I went for lunch there for Mother's day a couple of years ago,  (May 2009), against popular advice.

The food was disgusting and the service was slow and poor. The decor was tatty and dusty,

Weird hangings covered the chairs.

that made funny pointy hats.

And a creepy waiter.

We agreed that we would never go back there again.

It went into administration in June 2009.

Dragons’ Den star Duncan Bannatyne is now the  owner of the four-AA-red- star, 26 bedroom Charlton House hotel in Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

His company, the Bannatyne Group,  purchased the property from administrators BDO, for 3 million in May 2010, safeguarding the jobs of all 62 staff. ( That's probably the whole of Shepton Mallet and ten surrounding villages).

Anyway, my son Stewart, recently went to a wedding reception there, and was impressed. Not hugely gobsmackingly blown away, but after talking to Bannatyne's daughter, who was managing the place, recognised the hard work, thought and money that was being invested there.

So, despite our misgivings, when Sophie and I were looking for a spa day to chill and unwind from ,

we decided to give it another go. We booked in for a Spa day, the cost was 40, this included full use of the spa and a two course lunch, unfortunately wine wasn't included. If we wanted any treatments we could book them on the day.
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The style of the house is Georgian and reflects the interest in classical architecture that was popular at the time. It looks very similar to my mother's house, well, up to the first drainpipe on the left!

A little fountain with a pissing nymph

Inside

 The rooms connected to the spa have slightly more exotic style

lots of purple and gold velvet throws etc

Sophie insisted that we did an hour cardio before we could start lazing around.

It was a very small gym and fun while we had the room to ourselves.

 A quick whiz through the sauna, tropical shower, pool, steam room and then three hours of relaxing in the warm jacuzzi outside.

With the sole purpose of working up an appetite for lunch

The two course lunch is £11.95, this is included in the Spa Day price.

We were both on the 'attack' phase of the Dukan diet, so carbs were off limits.

This proved really difficult when we were presented with a basket of warm crusty white bread and chunky rustic olive bread.

I ordered mussels to start. They were o.k., but tasted as if the chef had thrown in a whole pot of cream just before serving them.Oh well, I ate most of the sauce, then thought I had better mop the rest up with the bread!

Sophie had a tomato and rocket salad with basil and Parmesan shavings. And no bread.

We both had shoulder of lamb on mash. This was really rich and heavy, again the mash tasted as though there was a pint of cream in it. Oh well, mop it all up with more bread....and wash it all down with a second bottle of Prosecco

We'd sinned so much by now, that we decided that we'd might as well order a pudding, some brandy and coffees. This was a strawberry and black pepper sorbet...quite unusual... rather sweet on the way in....the left a burning sensation at the back of your throat!

A view of the outside terrace

The conservatory

The interior of the restaurant has been tastefully furnished

The walls are now painted a chic grey, the peeling Harlequin wallpaper has gone.

The shabby shag pile has gone

The strange chair coverings have disapeared

The creepy waiter was still there.

The verdict

There is something quite decadent about eating in a fluffy white dressing gown and toweling flip flops.

Taking it off and bobbing up and down in the jacuzzi after all that food and drink is quite another thing!

To be fair, there is a lighter menu to chose from.

Excellent value for money, I would recommend it and will certainly return.

Week 2

Anne Hathaway's House

Studywise, we continued reading and discussing our short stories.

On Tuesday we visited Frome, Sabine met my mother and my brother Bernard and his wife, Petra, who is also German. Although all conversation had to be in English!

Sabine and my mother and I went for a walk around Shearwater lake

On Wednesday evening we went to The Halfway House to listen to a visiting Blue Grass Band called 'Telegraph Road'.

Band members -

Charlie Edsall ( Lake Tahoe - California) on guitar....he is a postman 'back home'

Craig Mosely ( Hitterdal - Minnesota) Bass Fiddle

Seth Mulder ( Louisville - Kentucky) on a kind of small guitar thing

and

Johnny Butten  - originally from Taunton and now from Hawley - Minnesota on Banjo,

come to visit the 'old folks' back home.

Johhny actually holds the Guiness World record as fastest banjo player.

I asked Helen, ( Charlie's wife and a dental technician), if she knew my Camenzuli cousins over in the US of A, but unfortunately she didn't.

 Johnny in action

I would, at this point, like to add some  Duelling Banjo music to give you a flavour of the evening, but  need  some help from Marta with this.

                   A happy person on the fiddle.

Dave from Langport 

On Thursady afternoon, Sabine and I visited the Cotswolds.

We had been reading Evelyn Waugh's, 'An Englishman's Home', which was set in a quaint village in the Cotswolds and came in search of one.

Driving into the village of Bourton - on - the -Water

An area of 'Outstanding beauty'.

A sunny and warm early Autumn afternoon.

Stowe on the Wold

Cotswold stone is warm and yellow

Sabine, sitting and enjoying the beauty of it all.

Moreton in Marsh

Everywhere I go I catch a glimpse of my father

We then drove to Stratford-upon-Avon to Anne Hathaway's Cottage

From the Guest Book:

Dear Carol,

First of all I want to thank you for a wonderful time in Street. As an experienced teacher you always knew how to combine hard work with fun. The lessons with you were sometimes challenging, but they should be like that, shouldn't they? However, I enjoyed them and I really feel a bit sad that I have to leave for home tomorrow.

I will never forget the wonderful excursions to all the gorgeous places, our evnings in the pubs with live music and the tears that rolled down my cheeks after extensive reading ( do you remember, it was the novel 'Of Mice and Men'...).

Thank you again for everything, for all the conversation, for your hospitality, and of-course, your warm-hearted personality.

Hope you will come to Germany one day.

Sabine

Sabine's Homestay

My German student, Sabine, was a very unusual student, in that her English level is 'Proficient' (CEF). After spending her days teaching and supporting pupils with behavioural problems in Munich, she teaches English three evenings a week at night class.

She was also not interested in visiting the usual tourist sites, but wanted to go ' off the beaten track ' and and see and experience life as a local.

She also had a hire car and enjoyed driving......yes!!!!

One of the most challenging parts of running a homestay course is thinking about the student's needs, wants and interests and developing a flexible programme to meet them.

The study programme:

At this level course books are ineffective and mundane -

What did Sabine need?

New vocabulary -  collocations, idioms, phrasal verbs, prepositions and speaking and listening.

But from where?

As Sabine loves literature, I decided to plan the course around the study of English short stories. I chose 'The Oxford Book of English Short Stories", edited by A.S.Byatt

Byatt states in her introduction to the collection, that she did not look for stories that would give images of England or of the Empire, but  stories where both the narrative and writing were startling and satisfying, and, 'if possible, make the hairs on the neck prickle with excitement, aesthetic or narrative".

The five hours of lessons each day, evolved into Sabine reading the story chosen the day before, which she pre-read for homework the night before, looking up new vocabulary and phrases,( three hours).

Then two hours of musings and discussion.....wonderful!!

The social programme:

Students get two afternoon / evening accompanied activities each week and a full day accompanied excursion at the weekend.

Monday -  cinema  - "One Day" A big weepie, we both sat there blubbering.

Thurday - visit to Coates Willow and Wetland Center

Sabine and I at "Coates' Willows"

Saturday - Visit to Mulcheney Abbey with Millie who was home for the weekend.

Mulcheney Village Church

This building was at one time the monk's outdoor toilet

Millie and Sabine sneaking a swift goblet of mead from the monk's refectory

Sunday - King Alfred Inn for an evening of live music

Not sure of the name of the band, but check out the tattoo of the lead singer


Some Aging Rockers

The Archangel Frome

The Archangel, Frome, used to be known simply as 'The Angel', in my youth. 

It promoted itself into the higher echelons of the celestial hierarchy after it's makeover from rough pub to fine dining a year ago. As my sister, Marise (@Billynomates) and myself,  used to frequent it regularly as errant teenagers, we  decided to have lunch there, with our Mother, when she came down from Whitby for a week.

Marise and the matching chairs

We had the lunch menu

£10.95  - main course
£15.95 - two course
£19.95 - three course

As my mother has a really sweet tooth - and they are still all her own, we decided on the two course - mains and puds.




My mother and I had Steak frites with watrecress and mustard mayonnaise

This looks like a really nice thick piece of meat, but in fact it was a thin, (overdone) piece of minute steak, rolled over several times, served with undercooked chips, which looked and tasted as though they came from KFC.

Marise chose the Baked coley fillet, fresh mussle cream sauce with herb rolled new potatoes.

She enjoyed it, but I thought it looked, pale and insipid, and relied too heavily on cream for its richness.

Spot the mussle.

I decided to take another photo

But Marise was having none of it.

We had two side orders of vegetables, 

green beans and shallots

and 

seasonal vegetables

at £3.50 a pop

which were almost raw and inedible.

We decided to quit while we were ahead and skip pudding

which were all sticky something this or that.

All in all a very disappointing meal.

Highlight of the meal?

Marise's toenails.

And of course spending time with her and my mother!

Wish it was still 'The Angel' and that 'The Three Swans' wasn't now a soft furnishing shop and that 'The Crown' was still open and that 'The George' still had the front bar. 

If it hadn't been sunny, we wouldn't have gone to the market. Wells Farmer's Market and the four Conditionals.

What are Conditionals?

Conditionals are sentence structures that explain a particular situation or circumstance and its consequences.

If this happens, then that happens.

Conditionals often contain the word 'if'.

There are four main conditionals that are commonly used in the English language:

first conditional, second conditional, third conditional and zero conditional.

The first Conditional

The first conditional deals with issues that have a real possibility of occurring.

If it is sunny, then we shall go to the market.

Wells Farmer's Market

If she sells a lot of cheese, she may go home early.

If he sells his cheese he will go for a pint

  If the customer buys some bread, she can make some sandwiches.

The Second Conditional 

The second conditional is a bit more tricky.

In some ways it is similar to the first conditional. It uses the same if / then structure, but instead of using the words will, shall, may or can, the second conditional uses would, could or might. 

The most significant difference between the second conditional and the first conditional, however, is that the second conditional deals with events that are not real possibilities. In many cases, the events could happen; they are not physical impossibilities. However, they are not tangible events that are certain to impact on daily life.

The second conditional is what English speakers use when they are dreaming or fantasizing about something.

For example

If I had a market stall, I would sell fruit and veg.

If I owned this stall, I could sell jam.

If I was a spice seller I might sell cumin.

If I had studied photography at school I would have taken better photos.

The Third Conditional

While the first two conditionals talk about possible future events, the third conditional deals with the past. Specifically, the third conditional talks about events in the past and ponders the effects of those events not happening. Because we cannot go back in time, the third conditional deals with events that have no possibility of happening. The third conditional uses the words would have to convey these impossible event

If I had inherited the farm, I would have grown some vegetables.

If I had been able to read the label, I would have known what these  vegetables were called.

Zero Conditional

The zero conditional deals with issues that are always true.

They can often be thought of as a scientific fact.

If you ask for Granny Smiths, you'll get the green apples.

If you visit Wells Farmer's Market on Wednesdays, you'll see the Town Crier. 

If you visit the National Trust shop you will see lots of flowers.

If you go through the Penniless Porch, you will see buskers.