I remain in the ‘glass half full’ camp and am enthusiastically endeavouring to make the most of this unprecedented time with empty buildings to get on with jobs that would be difficult, if not impossible, to undertake whilst we had guests staying with us. Of course, this involves spending money that we have not got and there are others who are not as keen on spending money as I am (no names!). Anyway, progress has been made and several improvements are visible and both hotels are beginning to look good and I think that our guests returning later this year will definitely notice and appreciate the differences. It is strange to sit in the lovely garden on a sunny day at the Luttrell Arms with not a cloud in the sky or another person within sight and contemplate the silence or to arrive at Porlock Weir with the sun shining on the water at high tide to a completely empty car park. I was chatting to a friend about this and we decided that the experience could be like accidently encountering a deserted ‘film set’ somewhere, waiting for the cast to appear and cameras roll – not that I am familiar with Pinewood studios or Hollywood myself of course!

At the Luttrell Arms we are of course very lucky to have the advantage of being at the heart of the village and to many local residents and villagers the hotel has historically been their ‘local’ hostelry and meeting place – one of those gentlemen, who many hotel resident guests I know will remember meeting in the bar here at Dunster, being Arthur Brown – Arthur lived alone since losing his wife and loved his seat at the bar in the hotel, welcoming and chatting to our guests and visitors and over the years, made many friends amongst them, always being full of fun and knowledge but never disrespectful or over familiar. In fact Arthur has been so much a part of the place that his picture was spontaneously painted once by a visiting artist and is on the wall in the bar – Arthur very sadly passed away recently after bravely fighting a long illness and we will miss him very much. Last Friday Joe and I were privileged to attend the funeral to represent the Luttrell Arms community. The funeral which of course was subject to the Covid restrictions of only 30 people, was held at our village church St Georges and somewhere which I must confess I have only visited a couple of times. Sitting there quietly , whilst waiting for the service to begin, I was reminded of how our village church is quite spectacularly beautiful and if you have never been inside when you have been in the village, I highly recommend that you step inside next time you visit.

Although we no longer own and operate our 2 hotels in Dartmouth and Totnes we are still lucky enough to have links there and have kept our well located and popular self- catering holiday properties Dartmouth which we have been busy getting ready for visitors on 12th April and those guests who enjoyed staying with us at the Royal Castle Hotel or in that area and are planning a visit to Dartmouth in South Devon in the future, might like to take a look at the website www.waysaway.co.uk 

For our horse loving friends – I am excited to tell you that Luttrell Lad, the syndicate owned racehorse that we own  a share in and is trained nearby  by the top trainer Philip Hobbs and his team at Sandhill stables,  is running at Taunton racecourse on Thursday 4th March – this is his 3rd run and he has come 2nd and 1st in his first 2 races, so we are keeping our fingers crossed for him! Nigel tells me that horse racing is never going to solve our financial worries but ‘you never know he may win the Grand National one day’ ! See what I mean about ‘cup half full v cup half empty!