keepers cottage

the manfriend has an amazing ability to suss out the best places, like this little stone hide-away in the middle of nowhere. well, not exactly, it's 5miles from glastonbury and we joked how we're so cool we go to glastonbury the only summer there's no festival. jokes aside, keepers cottage was by far the best b&b i've ever stayed in. each room (we got to try two!) is beautifully decorated and scattered with art from michael, the owner's, tasteful collection. michael bought the main house (with no wiring, nothing!) five years ago and has spent all the time since building the extension and fixing up the interiors. what had me sold was his magnificent boiler room that he conceptualised and built himself. it runs on scrap wood from the area so the mills pay him to dispose of the wood for them, and he uses it to run the place. basically, he's being paid to save electricity. wow.

energy generation aside, michael was a perfect host, welcoming us with glasses of wine and then continuing to ply us with the good stuff during our stay. it was almost as if there was an open bar going! we arrived in the afternoon and he offered to cook dinner! breakfast was a full english fry up (yum!) and michael let us pack lunches to take walking. more about our walk tomorrow, but i'm still so amazed how we not-so-accidentally had unlimited wine and full board at what was only supposed to be GBP85 bed&breakfast. testament to michael's graciousness and we'll definitely be back in winter to make full use of that log fire.