It all happens at Wydemeet!

A month or two ago we had a couple staying who seemed to spend an awful lot of time hanging around the house with their little dog, It transpired that each of them had their own YouTube Channel, with 1 and 2 million subscribers each; promoting South Korean culture, most particularly its cuisine, around the world. 'Korean Englishman' Josh's most recent post was of him giving global royalty, the four film stars from 'Avengers', a Korean food tasting. A bit like South Korea's answer to Graham Norton!

Checking out his wife's channel soon after they left, I discovered what they'd been up to all that time - making a film of their stay at Wydemeet! Which had been viewed by about 1/2million people! While 'the feel' is not quite what I might want, some of their filming is beautiful! So I put a link to it and popped it onto this website, but on this page as opposed to the front page - I wouldn't want people to get the wrong impression!

So imagine my shock, when I was showing it off to some guests, to discover that Josh's wife, Gabie, who posted the video, has been 'cancelled' by the South Korean government, and all her videos removed! Apparently the pair went back to South Korea and failed to observe quarantine rules, holding a little birthday party for Gabie, filming it, and then posting it to their 2 million followers! How bats can you get?!

Anyhow, the surprising result is below! I do hope her videos get reinstated, although I dont really want to be overrun with Koreans!

And finally, having seen film of their little dog sitting happily on all my carpets, sofas and chairs in every room of the house, I have reached the end of my tether and reluctantly decided to ban dogs in the future. Sadly, I have also given in, and banned official use of the hot tub, as the elfnsafety requirements for commercial hot tubs are so stringent, covid or no covid, that they're impossible for a small, private B&B to comply with. Bummer.

I had a couple of guests recently who came because Wydemeet is in a 'Dark Sky' area, and they came specifically to stargaze during  a meteorite storm (unfortunately it was cloudy that night).

Last night I had a couple who went to the wonderful Rugglestone Inn in Widecombe for supper, and were so blown away by the night sky on the way home, that they parked by the side of the road, and simply went and lay on top of a tor, gazing up at the starry skies above.

​Now that's my sort of guests!

While I don't really need to market Wydemeet anymore, as we're plenty busy enough already, I'm now finding it rather fun to hone and refine the actual audience we're reaching out to, so that the people who come here particularly appreciate and enjoy the very special, probably unique, things that we have to offer, which in turn makes us enjoy our role even more than ever!

Wydemeet is the perfect retreat for serious walkers, who want to yomp from Wydemeet's back door for several hours, in any old weather, across the bleakest terrain, and don't care that there are no paths nor signposts to speak of.

We are also perfect for wild swimming enthusiasts.  There is a pool that is always being featured in the press and broadcast media.  I can direct you there, but I know of a lot more, several of them less than a 15 minute walk away!

Having lived here for 26 years I'm quite good at recommending different routes suited to our various guests, rather than leaving you going round and round in circles, with 100 other people who've bought the same guide book as yours.

Soon after the easing of Lockdown, when bookings went absolutely completely ballistic; the hot tub let me down for the first time ever, impossible to repair or replace, as the whole world had gone nuts for them.  I thought it only polite to advise everybody who'd booked of the fact.  I was unutterably stressed and saddened that the whole lot cancelled.  Then some rebooked.  Then cancelled again. Each booking I take is personal and takes me ages to organise as I'm so unautomated and unstreamlined. My diary is now three inches deep in tippex for late July and the whole of August.

But my end conclusion is "Good!". This is absolutely and entirely the wrong destination for people who are only interested in hot tubs, and actually to be honest, I'm glad these people didn't come.  Instead we've had the most unbelievably wonderful guests ever - more and more and more simply fantastic people; who entirely 'get' and appreciate the special things that we offer, as is attested in their Airbnb reviews which simply make me melt!

Crikey - it's all gone bonkers!

So mad, in fact, that I've had a hissy fit and closed out both my B&B rooms for a week.  I am completely exhausted!

Today I celebrated the sale of my first 'new or barely worn' silk designer scarf, through the website I created during Lockdown: scarvesandsunglasses.co.uk.  It's the most absolutely beautiful ethereal thing, called 'Jewel Bugs' by Christian Dior - delivered to lovely Louise of Weymouth, acid-free-tissue-wrapped, in a black gift-box, post and packaged signed-for, in an enormous luxurious black envelope, with my italic silver writing on the front.

Meanwhile I've sold all our Ford Fiestas - even our own, by mistake - and I've delivered them personally to Brighton, West London and Sherborne myself. It's cost me an absolute fortune in trainfares and taxis, as well as time, which I no longer have, post-Lockdown.  My goodness I've learned a lot.  Each sale has been enough to turn my hair white, or make even more of it fall out; but now I have a much better sense of what I'm doing.  And no time to do it in.  My waiting list of 15 will just have to wait until late Autumn.

Which brings me to my Riding Holidays.  Wowee!!! How much did I love having Donna and Steve to stay?! Donna and I rode 20 miles the first day, and 15 miles in the fog on the second.  Both days we met up for lunch with Donna's wonderful husband, Steve, who reignites my faith in the ability of some men to be funny, dry, successful, kind, and emotionally intelligent. Yesterday another caring husband called, wanting to buy a Riding Holiday for his horsey wife's birthday today; so I wrote him a voucher, and now I'm getting some properly designed by my mate Steph's extremely talented son, John.

And finally.... I have had three Teslas' visiting in the last week.  Perhaps Wydemeet is the definition of a Tesla, being high-end and vaguely environmental.  So I thought I'd investigate in getting a charging 'pod' which is proving an interesting journey.  You can currently claim 75% of the fitting cost against the government, I believe, but it will probably still cost me over £300. My main motivation behind this, is to ensure that my guests can visit some far-away remote beauty spot in their smart (eerily silent) car during their stay at Wydemeet, rather than being forced to spend the day at some ghastly vulgar loud commercial resort, just so that they can plug it in.

And finally, after all these years, I have reluctantly decided to say a quiet, but firm, 'non' to dogs.  We all prefer our own children and pets to those of other people, and I have only ever been 'dog tolerant' rather than 'dog friendly'.  But throughout this season I have continued to observe that people's dogs almost always cause them more stress than the happiness they bring by coming on holiday with their bessotted owners.  Its because my guests are usually so nice that they die a million deaths worrying that their precious canines are disturbing other people by whining, or that they are keeping people awake with their insistence on taking their dog out last thing at night and first thing in the morning. 

​So, such is the current demand for accommodation in the South West, that I have decided: enough is enough.