Old Church Farm

It’s GOLD for Old Church Farm in the Bristol, Bath and Somerset Tourism Awards! #bbsta21This part of the west country is well represented with amazing places to stay so we were delighted to have made the cut for the final selection. When #BossingtonHall was announced as Silver medallists I knew we had won. This year’s ceremony, like last year’s was held via Zoom and Kate was out when our category sponsored by Barrington Associates was announced. She couldn’t believe it when she joined me in our drawing room and I broke the news. She shouldn’t have been so surprised. Her cooking has won praise from everyone that has had an evening meal or breakfast. Her #cordonbleu training requires fresh ingredients and we are blessed with a wide selection of fruit, vegetables and herbs from our gardens. She often is on her feet in her kitchen from breakfast service right through to the last dessert going out at night. Customers don’t see the work that goes into making everything from scratch. So my darling wife, I dedicate this award to you!

Christopher

#somersettourismawards

#BristolBathandSomersetTourismAwards

#tourismawards

In our first year of entering the awards we are pleased to have attained a podium position getting a Bronze Award. Judging was done remotely this year due to Covid so we will be investing more time and effort in our online presence as our customers always say that the photos don’t do it credit. We have had most of the bedrooms professionally photographed and are looking forward to a return visit by Rob Bessant to shoot the exterior and communal areas.

Throughout lockdown we have been decorating, fixing, landscaping and purchasing new items to keep the old property looking at its best. When we reopen on May 17th we’ll be ready to welcome old and new guests.

Always remember to book direct for the best offers.

The South West has regularly topped the winners of Visit England’s Excellence Awards and so to be a finalist in the Bristol, Bath and Somerset Tourism Awards is such a great honour. This is our first entry to the awards, which will be taking place online on March 18th.

Although we won a national award last year we haven’t rested on our laurels and have been using the lockdowns to redecorate, upgrade equipment and work in the gardens.

The novelty of having the whole place to ourselves is waring thin and we are so looking forward to receiving guests again. Thanks to everyone who has remained in contact with us and especially to those who also took the time to leave such complementary reviews about us for others to see.

Good luck to the other finalists in the B&B and Guest House of the Year category – they all look great places. They are:

Blackmore Farm

The Cross at Croscombe

The Old Stables Bed & Breakfast

and in case you are sharing this with anyone else, there’s us…

Old Church Farm

March 16th to the 22nd is National B&B Week and to celebrate we are offering all our guests that week a welcome drink on the house. If you are a gin lover you must try our range of 6 O’Clock Gins #6oclockgin. They are our local distillery and have a sound pedigree for their atisan handcrafted gins, liqueurs and vermouth. The special Jekka’s edition combines botanicals picked from the nationally famous organic herbgrower #JekkasHerbFarm and within the hour they are adding flavour in the still.

Of course, you don’t have to have gin – you are welcome to any drink we sell by the glass.

Book now at old-church-farm.co.uk and we’ll see you soon.

Cheers!
Christopher

#BandBweek

Old Church Farm!

The hospitality industry has been on tenterhooks for the annual #EviivoAwards which Kate and I attended in the fabulous #ConnaughtRooms in Covent Garden on Tuesday evening. If you haven’t heard of Eviivo, they provide an online booking platform that integrates with the online travel agents such as #BookingDotCom #Expedia and hundreds of others and are responsible for processing £1 Billion of reservations! The awards are open to all independent hotels, B&Bs and guest houses irrespective of whether they use Eviivo. We attended as one of the 5 shortlisted properties for the South West region’s #HiddenGems. It was a great honour to be on the shortlist and truly a wondrous surprise to hear Old Church Farm read out as the regional winner. From the 9 regional winners one was selected as the #StarAmongstStars – and it was us!
Thank you to the judges and especially to our guests who took the time and effort to write such wonderful things about us. Thanks also to Michelle, Paul, Ian and the rest of the Eviivo team for a wonderful evening.

Old Church Farm has been shortlisted for the Hidden Gem – South West Award at Britain’s premier annual awards for the industry. In less than 2 years of trading we have been shortlisted twice!

Eviivo is a leading online booking specialist for independent accommodations and provide a gateway linking to the online travel agencies such as Expedia, Booking.com, TripAdvisor and many others. The panel of judges will be deciding the regional and ultimately the national winner who will be crowned ‘Star amongst Stars’.

Kate and I are delighted to be shortlisted again – it’s been a great year for us so far – we retained our AA 5 Star Gold Award and have been selected to appear in the 2020 Good Hotel Guide which is published next month. As great as it is to receive industry accolades the greatest pleasure we have is reading through all the kind reviews that our customers have left giving us a near perfect score on all the major platforms.

#eviivoawards #hiddengems @eviivo @booking.com
@TheAA_Lifestyle #WhereToStayInBristol #HistoricRetreats
@Expedia.co.uk @RudgewayBristol

It was the end of May Bank Holiday weekend. John and Mary Narvell were on the home leg of a 1000 mile tour of Ireland in their prized 1939 Rolls Royce when they noticed that the car didn’t feel right. They pulled over and discovered a bulge in the wall of the tyre. John, who was recovering from a recent illness changed the tyre while his wife searched the internet for a hotel so that the car and John could recover. The nearest hotel was Old Church Farm so Mary phoned to check availability and booked a room, dinner and breakfast. It was only upon arrival that the Narvells discovered that the hotel was previously owned by Rolls Royce from 1960 until 2017 when the current owners purchased it. Perhaps the car had visited before? Call it serendipity, coincidence, fate – whatever. The Narvells enjoyed the award-winning cuisine and loved their room you can read their review here.

The following day the car fired up first time and was running perfectly. John manoeuvred the car to the front door to allow me to record the moment on camera before finishing their trip back to Belgravia.

We were honoured to be chosen by the former custodians of the property as the venue for their annual heritage dinner. Pre-dinner drinks were taken in the drawing room, followed by a private dinner in the dining room after which coffee was taken in the dining room. We really enjoyed hosting it.
If you have a special occasion that you would like to celebrate we would love to hear from you – minimum number of 8 people applies.

Following a surprise inspection by the AA inspector Old Church Farm has retained for the third year the highest accolade in the UK guest accommodation industry – the 5 Star Gold Award. The AA has been operating the rating scheme in the UK since 1912 and more recently have joined up with Visit Britain to establish common standards – so the awards from each other are commensurate.

The business was also awarded the breakfast and dinner awards again for 2020. Owners Christopher and Kate, who opened the business in 2018 are proud to be ranked as the best in Britain and are committed to making Old Church Farm better every year. They will be planting more vegetables, fruits and herbs to use in their award winning meals and continue with the rolling program of improvements around the property and its land.

We were delighted to have  ‘Reggie’ – this immaculate 1949 Mark VI Rolls-Bentley stay with us. The semi-razor edge coachwork was by Freestone and Webb. Its’ aluminium body is completely rust-free and has a 4¼ litre, straight-six engine with twin SU carburettors.

Reggie’s home is near Salisbury and is available (with chauffeur) for weddings. Further details can be found at http://www.wiltshire-weddingcar.co.uk/