New for 2010
Many of the things on the following list were always planned, but some have been added as a direct response to suggestions from guests. We are always grateful to receive feedback and our aim is to fulfil the most demanding wish lists!

Wow...
Our guests have realised how easy it is to travel here by public transport. Alnmouth, the East Coast Mainline station is just a couple of miles away. This route links Aberdeen & London (Alnmouth to London 4 hours). Many of our guests have travelled by train and then walked from the house.
There are two shops in the village. All you need is a taxi from the station.
Prebook through Derek Bowden - 01665 603 911
Directions to the house

Entertainment Centre
After 6 attempts to position the LCD TV in the family room,
we have at last found its perfect location.
Underneath it, we have placed a new unit containing DVDs & CDs.

DVD Player
You will find this on the entertainment centre in the new unit in the family room.
There are now two rooms where you can watch DVDs, this has been very popular.

Plants for the Garden
We have spent much of 2009& early 2010 taking extra cuttings to complement the hard landscaping. The garden is currently planted with some exquisite plants, such as magnolia, camelia, cordelines, hebes, photinia, eucalyptus, cornus, prunus, bay, box & fruit trees. We have reinstated the boundary hedges with hawthorn, blackthorn, rowan, sessile oak, beech & holly. We have put a great deal of thought into selecting plants to attract wildlife into the garden.
Herbs are grown around the seating area, terrace & pond.

Garden Plan Added to the Web Site
We have e-mailed our garden plan to guests and
they have found it useful, so we have decided to add it to our web site.
In addition, although we are thrilled when journalists write about us (and they often do),
although there does seem to be a tendency to flirt with the facts about the size of the garden!
View the garden plan

Giant Jenga
Strictly an outside game, stored in a basket in the garden shed

Sofas
Three new 4-seat sofas have been added to the sitting room, making a total of three in this room and six sofas in total on the ground floor.

Square Dinner Plates
The gorgeous deep round ones are difficult to stack in the dishwashers,
so we have bought some equally gorgeous large square plates..

Herbs & Spices
We have started a collection of dried herbs & spices in the cupboard at the end of the kitchen peninsular. We are grateful when guests add to these. Fresh herbs are planted in the garden.

Cooking Oil
We leave local bacon & eggs in our Welcome Hamper,
so it seemed logical to leave wonderful cold pressed local oil in the hamper.

More Dishwasher Tablets
We now leave extra dishwasher tablets, probably enough for the whole of your stay.

Hand Towel for the Kitchen
It was requested, so it is now there!

More Serving Spoons
Many of our guests are serious cooks and 3 serving spoons were just not enough!
There are now lots of serving spoons, serving forks and lots of extra cutlery.

Enormous Casserole Pan
Almost big enough to bath the baby!

Extra Brochures
Realisation dawned, a lot of you are coming,
you will need a lot of brochures - so we now send at least 4 to new guests.

Earlier Arrival Time
Arrival time used to be 5:30pm and this just didn't work, because nearly everyone asked to arrive earlier. Our new arrival time is after 4:00pm. We are very fussy about how we hand over the house and we are always working right up until the last minute - so we cannot give you the stress free welcome you deserve if you arrive early. When guests see the house, the bathrooms, the stacks of towels, the toiletries, the hampers, etc. many of them tell us it is a miracle we manage to do it all in such a short time. They are so right!!!
Our new departure time is 10:00am.

Redecoration & Refurbishment
We always spend most of January & February redecorating, cleaning curtains,
replacing damaged floor tiles, sealing floors and generally maintaining the house.

Books
We just keep adding to them. The only thing we ask is if you want to take Audrey Niffenegger, Sebastian Faulks, Bill Bryson, Amy Tan, John Irving, Phillipa Gregory or Jean's favourite Alan Bennett home with you, that is fine, but please leave the replacement cost in the honesty pot.