Happy Christmas

Having worked in Hoylake for over 13 years I know that it is unusual for us to get much snow here. However we've now had significant snow for three years on the run. Once again this weekend guests' plans had to be adapted because of the weather. I hope our Christmas and New Year guests who are all coming to the area to visit family and friends are able to make it. This afternoon is going to be my next round of Christmas baking - time to make the mince pies and a cranberry and orange cake. The rooms are decorated for Christmas and each of the bedrooms has their own little tree. I'd like to wish all Number Fifteen's guests a Happy Christmas and a special hello to those of you who have spent your Christmas here with us over the past couple of years. I look forward to hearing your news and welcoming you back to Number Fifteen before too long.

The "Green"?

This was the view of the "green" out of the lounge window yesterday afternoon. We don't get much snow in Hoylake, but we have had a sprinkling this weekend. Wirral's Year of Food is coming to an end with a Christmas Food Fayre next weekend in Port Sunlight. Claire Lara, this year's winner of Masterchef - The Professionals, is one of several local chefs demonstrating on the Christmas Hamper Stage. We still have availability if you fancy making a weekend of it.

Winter Sunrise

One of the nice things about getting up early to cook breakfasts is that I see things that those still with their curtains (or even eyes) closed may miss. We get the most amazing winter sunrises over the golf course and on this occasion I had my camera handy. The view is always different, whether it is the light, the golfers or the wildlife and our guests seem to love it.

Bonfire night

I love living in Hoylake. There always seems to be something going on. This weekend we've had the bonfire and fireworks on the beach, followed by "Sparks in the Park" on Sunday. Market Street now has fabulous banners hanging from the lampposts with some great photos of the events and attractions of the area. And yesterday morning I saw something I though was wonderful....a group of 30 or so cycling along the promenade at 8am. Not the local cycling club this time, but a group of Mums, Dads and kids cycling to school in convoy. What a cool way to get to school!

Pumpkin Soup

This week's flower arranging task was such fun. The lantern-like stems are physallis, also known as cape gooseberries I think. They look stunning. And even better, once the arrangement was made I used the remaining flesh of the pumpkin to make soup. Waste not want not!

Sunny October

September was a very busy month here, right to the end. So, at the beginning of October, we took some time off and went for a lovely sunny week in Portugal. An unexpected bonus was coming back from holiday to some still-warm October weather and the sight of people swimming in the sea at the end of our road. We're almost fully booked through till the end of October. This weekend we have wedding guests, hence the heart-shaped flower arrangement. I've decided flowers and food are both very hard for an amateur to photograph well, so you'll have to believe me that the arrangement looks good on the bookcase and that Nigella's rocky road bars are being consumed at a rate that suggest the guests like them!

Yet more food!

Last weekend I had a day out at the Ludlow Food Festival. The sun shone, the place was buzzing and, importantly, there was lots of lovely food to sample both in the Festival site and around the town. Back at the B and B we've been busy with international guests. The Wirral Golf Classic is on and over the week we'll have had American, Dutch and Swedish golfers here, along with some more local guests too. As ever the chocolate brownies seem to have gone down well. I've also been making breakfast dishes from the local fruit, damson compote and spiced plums.

Bank Holiday Weekend

As predicted it was a busy time. We were full here with golfers for the competition plus there was a lot going on in the area. On Sunday we went to the Wirral Food and Drink Festival at Claremont Farm. I thoroughly enjoyed the three cookery demonstrations we saw, including one by Aiden Byrne (Britain's youngest Michelin starred chef, who now has a restaurant in the Wirral). The place was buzzing with lots of great food stalls, local restaurants cooking al fresco, and people eating lunch in the large teepees or sitting on hay bales listening to live music in the sun. I'd happily have gone back for the second day on the Monday as there was lots more to see, but it was Lifeboat Day here in Hoylake which is always a big event. The weather was glorious and large numbers of people came to visit the lifeboat and watch the amazing aerial displays.

High Tides

It has continued to be a busy summer here and we've welcomed lots of guests, some of them newcomers but also many who have stayed here previously. Next weekend we have the Open Scratch Mixed Foursomes, plus Lifeboat Day in Hoylake and the Wirral Food and Drink Festival. I am full with guests of course but I hope to get the opportunity to visit the Festival and also to see some of the aerial displays over the beach here. Talking of the beach - we had some very high tides a week or so ago. I had to chuckle when I passed one of the Hoylake bars, Tides, to see they had a big sign outside saying "Hire Tides".

Wirral wildlife

Over the last few weeks we've been watching the development of a family of pheasants who live out on the golf course. On a couple of occasions the parents and three little balls of fluff were seen at breakfast time. Mum stayed on one side of the path that runs behind our house, Dad on the other, and the babies scuttled between the two. Makes a change from watching the golf whilst you eat! I saw the babies with their Mum again today and they are now small pheasants and wonderfully camouflaged. It has been a good week for wildlife..we were walking along the beach one evening and spotted a natterjack toad. Then our longer walk this week was to Hilbre Island where there were plenty of seals to watch, both on the sandbank and swimming close to the shore. If you look carefully at the photo you may spot the pheasant..I have an equally challenging one of the natterjack toad!

Wirral walks

Gosh, over a month since I last posted. You can probably guess that it has been a busy one at Number Fifteen with a wide variety of guests, including competitors for the Brabazon Trophy. I've managed a few other things inbetween beds and breakfasts, including a walk down the beach to check on the natterjack tadpoles. When I last went to look they had become tiny toads. That was an easy walk on a beautiful sunny day. This week's walk was rather longer - we took the train to Hamilton Square in Birkenhead and walked back along the River Mersey, via New Brighton, and along the coastal path to Number Fifteen. Slightly stiff legs after the 12 mile walk, but I've recovered now.

Perfect pasta?

I've just spent five wonderful days in Tuscany. The places we visited were superb and there is so much more to see that I can't wait to go back. The food also was fabulous - we had so many great meals, including a fantastic ravioli with truffles in the main square in Siena. One of my favourite parts of the trip was the cookery lesson in the hotel kitchen. We all got involved making pasta dough and then each had to make our short fat strip of pasta into spaghetti (see mine in the photo!). A very tasty tomato sauce was made, the pasta cooked, and we all stood in the kitchen eating our handiwork. Fab!

It was straight back into a busy weekend when I got home. The Royal Liverpool Golf Club was holding the Harold Hilton Tournament and we had American, Swedish and British competitors staying here. This week we have a mixture of guests here for different reasons, including one who is on a course at Hoylake Sailing School. I just love the variety of this job.

Wirral ways

On Sunday I walked with a group of friends on one of my favourite local walks, along the beach to West Kirby and back. The tide was in and, thankfully, the weather was sunnier and warmer than on the day I took this photo. The kite surfers were out and, by the time we got to West Kirby, groups of walkers were gathering to walk out to Hilbre Island. On our walk we passed the Natterjack Toad Reserve. We were delighted to see the little stream by the reserve full of tadpoles and, putting two and two together, it seems likely they are junior natterjacks. I must go back and see how they progress in a week or two.

I also paid a visit to Church Farm Thurstaton to buy some of their wonderful Wirral asparagus. It was cut, graded, cooked and eaten on the same day, and tasted delicious too. If you visit Wirral during the asparagus season, do go and buy some.

Another boating lake

Last week's photo was of the large Marine Lake in West Kirby. This week things are on a smaller scale, with a photo of the newly refurbished boating lake next to Hoylake Lifeboat Station. It was a lovely sunny day and we walked along the promenade to see the boats in action. You might just be able to make out the sand yacht and parakarts far out on the beach.

Dining in West Kirby

There are so many great places to eat in Hoylake that when we do go out for a meal we tend to choose somewhere here, our favourite being the Portrait House which I've mentioned before in this blog. Last night we decided to go the extra mile (approximately!) and we went to West Kirby. It was a bit chilly to walk round the marine lake but we had plenty of choices of where to eat. We decided to go to the Indian restaurant Karma which has an excellent reputation. We weren't disappointed, the decor was stylish, the service excellent and the food delicious. I hope it won't be long before we have another evening free to go back.

A vase full of golf balls

For years I've been buying flower arrangements from the wonderful Eden Floral Design (http://www.edenfloraldesign.co.uk/) in West Kirby. When I popped in a few weeks ago they were advertising a flower arranging course. I've been wanting to do one for a long time and their designs are so modern that I knew it would be good. But it is better than good, it is amazing. This week we made our first proper arrangement, to a theme of our own choice. Mine was themed around the B and B, with haricot beans and a baked bean tin involved. Trish is a brilliant teacher and I came home astounded that anybody could teach me so much in such a short time! The photo is of the arrangement I made in the lesson. Just to prove it was all my own work I came home and made a second one, this time with golf balls in the vase.

Cycling at 7am

We were busy last weekend with visitors to the Grand National. This weekend we have mainly golfers staying. For the last two mornings my guests have all been up and out to work early. I've taken advantage of the sunny mornings to go for an early morning bike ride, along the Hoylake promenade to Meols, and continuing on towards Leasowe lighthouse. The views have been absolutely beautiful and I'm sure the exercise has done me good too. The photo of the lighthouse isn't very good as my batteries were running out (the camera ones that is, not my own!).

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone. Isn't it nice now the days are brighter and longer and the spring flowers are blooming? Number Fifteen is busy with Easter guests. It seems incredible that this is the third Easter we've been open. The time has gone so quickly. And I've just realised that all our guests this weekend are on at least their third visit to Number Fifteen.

The generation game

This last weekend we had two separate sets of people staying at Number Fifteen. Not unusual, but what was rather nice was that in both cases their parents had also stayed here. Good to know that we get recommended to other family members. Although we've been full all week once again it was a quiet one on the catering front, with all our guests just requiring breakfast. I have however sorted out the photos from the afternoon tea I did the previous week and thought I would post one here. I'm taking a weekend off myself and am going to Nice. Nice has something like 300 sunny days a year and yet there is heavy rain forecast for both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. And what is more it has been sunny most of this week in Hoylake!

Hilbre Island Walk

We had a great group of people here this weekend, a family meeting up to celebrate a 50th birthday. They had grown up in Hoylake and were full of interesting stories of Hoylake 40 or so years ago. One had delivered newspapers to Number Fifteen when he was a boy, several of the group had been in this house as youngsters, and between them they remembered much about the various houses and occupants of Stanley Road in those days.

Saturday morning, at low tide, the whole family walked out to Hilbre Island Nature Reserve, armed with packed lunches from Number Fifteen. They returned in time for afternoon tea and birthday cake served in the lounge here, before heading out to dinner in one of the Hoylake restaurants.

Open Golf 2014

We had very exciting news yesterday when it was announced that the Royal Liverpool Golf Club will host the Open Championship in 2014. Our guest bedrooms and lounge overlook the course so there will be great views from Number Fifteen.

Spring is in the air

It is a beautiful day here, crisp and cold but with blue sky and sunshine. The views look great and it is lovely to see all the spring bulbs we planted last year gradually appearing around the garden. We've bought all our summer bedding as plug plants and are gradually bringing these on. The really time-consuming bit comes later in the spring when all two hundred of them need to be put outside every morning and brought in at night.

Happy Birthday

The last two weeks have certainly been busy. I had one of those special birthdays (half a century) which happened to be on the day that the snow first fell heavily on the Wirral. After receiving a fabulous surprise present from my family (which I'll show you in a future post) we then spent 6 hours in the car on a journey that normally takes an hour. We did get back just in time to go out for dinner at The Portrait House http://www.theportraithouse.co.uk/ . We are so lucky to have such a lovely restaurant within walking distance. A few days later came the birthday party, at Number Fifteen, which was another lovely evening, notable amongst other things for several guests arriving in the unusual combination of black ties and walking boots.

Family reunions

Amongst our other guests this Christmas season we welcomed a lady from America and her mother who lives in Lincolnshire. This lovely lady used to live on the Wirral but had lost touch with her relatives, including her sisters, over 40 years ago when she moved away. Her daughter had discovered via the Internet that many relatives were still in this area and arrangements were put in place from America for an exciting series of reunions. Number Fifteen was the venue for several gatherings of relatives, some of whom had never met our guests before, and it certainly was a memorable Christmas for this particular family.