A Herefordshire Retreat

Where do I start to tell you about a few days away that were so uplifting that I feel like I have had a week’s holiday, at least? Well, the logical place it to thank TGW for mentioning The Hill House which is a lovely place tucked away in Herefordshire.

Kim had been working long stretches and after all the worry I have had of late, it was with a deep sigh of relief that we set off for a short break on Monday morning. We went up the M5 after I had suffered a sleepless night worrying about … just about everything, and when 5.30 a.m. came, I was close to cancelling. Suffice to say that I was dragged into the car and though I forgot my cossie (for the hot tub) I managed to get everything else in the bag.

Check in isn’t until 4 p.m., so we took a trip to Monmouth and had a wander around the shops and little lanes in the town; it seems a very pleasant place with delightful shops and a very nice café at the top of the hill, though I never did find the shop I was looking for, The Sentient Heart, ah well. At 4.30 p.m. we set off for the hotel and discovered that Kim’s satnav, which he thinks is great and I’m not so sure of, didn’t think the hotel existed; frantic phone call to hear a cheery voice at the other end with sensible directions, phew!

For anyone who had not been to Ross-On-Wye before, don’t do it unless you want to experience the results of planners and highways agencies on hallucinogenic drugs and with a serious sense of unkindness. The town don’t work for cars or humans and at best can be described as a one way system spiralling (literally) out of control. We got through it and came out the other side hoping the hotel wasn’t too close to the town; we needn’t have worried.

The Hill House is up the side of a steep hill (the name wasn’t a give-away, of course) and approached by a long, single-track drive that is lined with yew trees and the drop from the drive is dizzying and a bit scary. We checked in to find ourselves in a great big room with a four poster style bed, a private balcony (even though you’d have had to be a husky dog to want to sit out in the weather that day) and an extra upstairs room! I had looked at the website when I booked and thought “oh, that looks a decent size” but they had completely forgotten to mention that the suite has an upstairs with a double bed (and another single) tucked under a velux so you can watch the stars wheeling by – what a treat!

This was our first trip to Herefordshire and we decided we would book a meal in the evening at The Hill House so that we could have a quiet lazy evening an what a treat it turned out to be. The hotel is run by Duncan and Alex; Duncan is the meat cook and Alex will cook veggie meals for the non meat eaters as that’s her thing. The fare was simple but utterly delicious! We had chicken, and I would just love to wrest the recipe from Duncan as we were both completely bowled over. The portions were Olympic sized (I would suspect the chicken had been on steroids if I didn’t know it was organic and free range!) and as our waistbands gently groaned, Duncan appeared with the pudding menu. Made up of local ice cream made by Just Rachel a local producer who has gone back to old recipes to make natural and scrumptious deserts. Oh, what to choose - the Damson and Sloe Gin ice cream, the Crème Brulee ice cream…? In the end, Duncan put some of each in my dish and I was a blissed out puppy. “Tonight can’t get any better” thought I, until he appeared with a cheese board that would have gourmets the world over drooling. I don’t know what Kim had, but he was grinning like an idiot, so it was probably as good as the Caerphilly that I had from a local producer. Duncan splashed some “Druid Fluid” into glasses to accompany the cheeses and it was as nice as any port I’ve had in a while. Druid Fluid is properly known as Elderflower and Blackberry fortified wine, produced by St Anne’s Vineyard at Oxenhall near Newent. Oh boy, this stuff is silky, delicious and just a bit potent! After dinner we retired to the bar, a room sutffed with comfortable sofas, a fireplace and hosts who don’t understand the word stingy. I may have floated up the wide wooden staircase later on that evening, though it’s just as likely that Kim had to throw me over his shoulder in fireman’s lift style as all I remember is hitting a marshmallow soft bed and feeling a bit miffed that it was more comfortable that our outrageously expensive mattress!

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch, but never mind that, it's the big, fluffy marshmallow of a bed!

The next morning would surpass the night before, though I wasn’t to know it until we reached the breakfast room. Feeling a touch delicate (nothing to do with my unfamiliarity with alcohol you understand) we decided to set aside the cereal bowls when we saw the breakfast plates arriving on our neighbour’s table. They were bloody huge! Two sausages, two rashers of thick bacon, two eggs, toast, heaps of mushrooms, bubble and squeak (honestly! And it’s gorgeous) and black pudding if you want it. That was followed by a pile of toast and home made raspberry jam (better than my own I don’t mind admitting) and a large pot of tea just for me. The net result of this breakfeast (no, I didn’t mis-spell it) is that you don’t feel bloated, but you don’t feel hungry until after 6 p.m. either (and all this in the insane price of £35 per night p.p.)!

Tuesday was spent meandering around Hay-On-Wye looking at books and succumbing to temptation, including a set of three Arthur Rackham prints of Siegfried slaying the dragon at very modest prices. We had intended to travel into Hereford for our dinner on Tuesday night but as we were both quite tired and the lovely Duncan wasn’t available to cook that evening, we decided to head down the hill to The Mill Race for our supper. Another delightful surprise awaited as the food there was very good though the bill was much larger than the modest £15 per head for supper at Hill House (and only £10 for a very nice red).

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch and this was sitting on top of a shelf with red wine as well as the standard tea bags and coffee!

Neither of us had the energy to try out the rather groovy blue-lit sauna in the basement or the hot tub, where I had originally thought to watch the stars and sip champagne, but it gives us a very good excuse (like we need one) to go back to Hill House again very soon. It wasn’t just the food that was a delight; the walls were lined with books (I have one on loan and they are just so delightful and trusting that I shall send it back), there is a cinema room if that’s your thing and the whole rambling old house has such a warm and welcoming atmosphere that the tension and cares seep out of you in a trice. It’s not the four star, plasticized type of hotel that we normally end up in when we’re working. The furniture doesn’t match, but it’s made of real wood; There’s soap in the room, but it’s made of frankincense and honey, not sodium laureth sulphate; the shower was badly positioned, but given the choice of that or the likes of the Hilton or Novotel (fondly known in our household as the Novohell), I’d be in Hill House every time. That’s just reminded me, we’re supposed to be making our next booking, so I had better nag Kim now to sort it out!!!