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Late availability

Dear Trimstone Manor Friend

 

Included in this edition of our e-newsletter …

 

Late Availability

Peafowl

Moths

Croyde Ocean Triathalon

Excellence

The Fastest Wifi in the West?

What do our visitors say about us?

 

Dear Guest

Well, was it the tallest Echium at seventeen feet last time? Come and make your own judgement of this magnificent flower at Trimstone, whilst imbibing our fabled Cream Teas or a glass of wine on the lawns…! Yip that was Esme for scale and if you looked carefully you could see Monty the English Setter in the window! The Echium’s on its last legs now but still there – though the garden itself is looking lovely!

I hope that you are enjoying your summer! Our cottages are pretty brimful but we have some space and often a quick email or call can mean that we can arrive at a possible last minute proposal with some juggling of rooms and thanks. You can’t always believe what the internet tells you on availability either! There is one popular site which lists everyone’s accommodation but unless you have signed-up to its commissioned partners for bookings, add-in your holiday dates and it will tell you there is ‘no availability but here are our local partners to the establishment’. It really shouldn’t be allowed as it is just plain wrong.

As ever we have been meeting some delightful people who really appreciate what we are trying to provide here and the beauty we have around us. One couple is already coming back later this month as they found it so tranquil and relaxing and something they really needed following recent traumas. We do do our best to make sure that everyone is happy but of course that is an impossible task sometimes! And yes of course, sometimes things happen that you can’t control… like the wasp nest right outside the door, the TV cable we find has been too enthusiastically strimmed-through or things which break or leak and all we can try to do is to resolve them at earliest opportunity or make alternative arrangements if we can.

LATE AVAILABILITY

Please do contact us. We have now brought our refurbished Field View Caravan online for last minute bookings too – it is cheap, all mod-cons and cheerful but it isn’t a starred cottage but can be idyllic where it is sited, etc. However, do be wary as I had an enquiry ‘yesterday’ for a stay starting on Monday and when I ascertained their needs and made a couple of proposals at deeply discounted last-minute rates, by the time the lady returned to query a few more things about the proposal (after having searched for several days) the Caravan had gone and so too the studio – and at the quoted market rates too.

PEAFOWL

Look at what we have just put in the poultry run for guests to see! Our four little peafowl are growing strongly but were rather apprehensive to enter into the big wide world… Come on down and see them! Say hello to the turkeys, emus, Muscovy ducks and everything else at the same time! All are welcome and what finer an excuse for one of our fabled scrumptious cream teas.

MOTHS

I hope that you all enjoyed the Moth pictures from our Butterfly Conservation night. There were some problems sending the eshot – if you never received it please do ask and we’ll send it again. Incidentally, here is our list of species with thanks to excellent Doctor Phil Sterling!

Lozotaenia forsterana
Cnephasia stephensiana Grey Tortrix
Myelois circumvoluta Thistle Ermine
Habrosyne pyritoides Buff Arches
Malacosoma neustria Lackey
Smerinthus ocellata Eyed Hawk-moth
Laothoe populi Poplar Hawk-moth
Sphinx ligustri Privet Hawk-moth
Deilephila elpenor Elephant Hawk-moth
Biston betularia Peppered Moth
Alcis repandata Mottled Beauty
Campaea margaritaria Light Emerald
Phalera bucephala Buff-tip
Calliteara pudibunda Pale Tussock
Spilosoma lutea Buff Ermine
Spilosoma lubricipeda White Ermine
Diachrysia chrysitis Burnished Brass
Autographa pulchrina Beautiful Golden Y
Plusia festucae Gold Spot
Hoplodrina octogenaria Uncertain
Hoplodrina ambigua Vine’s Rustic
Apamea remissa Dusky Brocade
Apamea crenata Clouded-bordered Brindle
Apamea monoglypha Dark Arches
Apamea lithoxylaea Light Arches
Lacanobia oleracea Bright-line Brown-eye
Hadena bicruris Lychnis
Leucania comma Shoulder-striped Wainscot
Ochropleura plecta Flame Shoulder
Diarsia mendica Ingrailed Clay
Diarsia rubi Small Square-spot
Noctua pronuba Large Yellow Underwing

CROYDE OCEAN TRIATHALON

Well done to all the participants on Sunday 14 July! We had several of them staying with us for the night and I trust they all performed well! The weather was lovely (perhaps a tad hot in parts) but a great initiative and very well supported. The date is already set for next year – 12 July! We’ll look forward to all you great folk staying again and don’t forget if there is anything we can help you with – just ask. Even safe parking here is taken for granted, let alone storing your valuable bike!

EXCELLENCE!

Thank you, TripAdvisor, for the ‘Certificate of Excellence’! We know we shall never please all of the people all of the time but as long as we please most of the people most of the time and recognise that improvement and maintenance are a constant job of work for us, then we’ll keep doing whatever we can to better the experience for everyone and at a sensible price too for what we offer of course! We don’t want to be ‘five stars’ because we’d have to charge five-star prices and start to be somewhat artificial in what we are delivering and that isn’t our aim. However, our goal is to provide a comfortable homeliness to all our guests and a unique location with restful, tranquil experiences to enjoy – and for all the Family to remember for all the right reasons too. A ‘four star’ guest accommodation provider and three star cottages will do us just fine as a translation of where we see ourselves.

THE FASTEST WIFI IN THE WEST?

We have the fastest holiday accommodation wifi in the whole North Devon and Exmoor area! At considerable cost we were persuaded to upgrade to go fully fibre-optic and this will bring more trade and better business effectiveness, staff efficiency and responsiveness. No, this is not ‘just’ a wired connection to the nearest roadside box but a super, unique fibre optic link direct to the local Exchange with the latest Ubiquity ‘Enterprise Grade’ equipment.

The Hotel and cottages had slower speeds than two-thirds of the Country but now faster speeds than 99% of the UK! We have always believed in free wifi for guests – whether residents or the cream tea or coffee visitor. In fact it makes me angry when we travel to find complicated access processes or extra fees.

People on holiday need reliable and speedy internet. When I am on holiday, I need to work and many others do too. For entertainment – or for their children, it is important and so there are no access restrictions on broadband width for guests either as they will experience everywhere else!

This is not only for tourists but we expect more business guests visiting North Devon. The wifi and mobile signals nearby are pretty poor and not reliable so the frustration some must face when they do their work is something they will not experience here. We are also open for conference facilities too so imagine what streaming presentations is like – no interruptions or slow speeds – plus a reliable presentation and all of your delegates having great, free wifi.

The facility will encourage more guests (even out of season so those escaping for work projects can enjoy the surroundings too) but more morning coffees and afternoon teas as these guests will also be able to have direct access – and all free.

So come and stay a night and see what super-dooper wifi speed is about. Average Broadband download speeds as of May 2018 in the UK were 46.2mbps and upload speeds of 6.2mbps. Trimstone’s speed is 300Mbps download and 30mbps upload. Our internet means you can download an Ultra HD film (70gb) in 31 minutes compared to 3.24 hours on the average speed.

What do our visitors say about us?

EH 1/11/18 “We had a wonderful family weekend at Trimstone with our friends. We were a large group with 4 small children and Trimstone offered everything we could have wanted. It was perfectly safe with freedom for the children to run around and play on their bikes and the swimming pool was absolutely fantastic; it was so warm and the children spent hours splashing around in what felt like our private pool! The cottages were great for two families as the upstairs areas were separate and offered ample space. The coffee machine was an extra bonus as we didn’t expect to have one!”

 

Our very best wishes,

 

Philip & Helen Milton