Rezare Farmhouse B&B, Cornwall

...have done.

Rezare is a small hamlet about six miles south of Launceston. It's surrounded by hedgerow-edged country lanes, which are single track mostly with some passing spaces, and is overlooked by Kit Hill.

The Rezare Farmhouse B&B is located in the centre of this hamlet, with views overlooking Kit Hill. It opened in June 2004, and has three rooms - two double and one twin room.

The farmhouse itself ...
...in the area and the Rezare Farmhouse B&B is a brilliant base for this. Rooms are competitively priced too: at £26 per person per night it's outstanding value (although I think there may be a single supplement payable).

One thing I do want to mention which I really liked: the B&B do have a Visitor's Book for adding your own comments about your stay. I've often stayed at places and been obliged to write something in a Visitor's Book ... more

If you're going to open a B&B in the middle of nowhere, you've got to do it properly. That's exactly what Nanette and Anthony Manning have done.

Rezare is a small hamlet about six miles south of Launceston. It's surrounded by hedgerow-edged country lanes, which are single track mostly with some passing spaces, and is overlooked by Kit Hill.

The Rezare Farmhouse B&B is located in the centre of this hamlet, with views overlooking Kit Hill. It opened in June 2004, and has three rooms - two double and one twin room.

The farmhouse itself is in an old building, with the original part of the house dating back to the 1600s. Other extensions have been added over the years to produce a wonderful, warm property which is full of character. There's a large well maintained garden to the front of the house which also extends to the side. From this side area you can access the B&B's small private parking area via a couple of steps. These are old steps and while not unsafe or dangerous in any way, could be an area where old people or anyone who isn't steady in their step (such as me in my heels!) would need to be a little more careful.

Access to the house is via the front door, through the porch. This opens onto a hallway, with a private room for the owners to the right and the guests' lounge/dining room to the left. Stairs are straight ahead of you, which ultimately lead to the second double room and the twin room. Half a flight up though these stairs turn back on themselves which provides a small landing area. Here there is a window and an open area which allows you to peep into the kitchen, and a 'hidden' staircase which runs along behind the wall where the main staircase continues to turn back on itself. This hidden staircase leads to the first double room.

The rooms we used this weekend were on the first floor at the front of the house, which enjoyed the views of Kit Hill and the surrounding countryside. Both the double and the twin room were light, airy and incredibly spacious. Both rooms were carpeted with thick carpet, and the landing area serving both rooms was also covered in the same. The rooms were painted cream, which allowed you to appreciate the character of the house fully. Each room had it's own tea and coffee making facilities, and each also had an ensuite shower room.

The double room was comfortable with period wooden furniture including a double wardrobe, chest of drawers and a chair. There was an original open fireplace in the room too which provided a lot of character. The ensuite was compact but fitted out to a high standard, and, while benefiting from modern fixtures and fittings, was sympathetic to the character of the building. A blind as well as net curtains was on the window to provide maximum privacy, should you require it: the hamlet was so small this was never a concern for me.

The twin room had two single beds which faced you as you opened the door to the room. To the left was an old cupboard which had been converted into a wardrobe, and this also contained a chest of drawers. The ensuite to this room turned back on itself to the right and again was fitted out to an extremely high standard. This ensuite didn't have a window: I should point out that both ensuites had extractors fitted. There were also heated towel rails in each ensuite.

We had a really good nights' sleep in the double, and my sister and her boyfriend slept wonderfully in the twin room too.

The B&B is licensed and serves evening meals as well as breakfast. As we were only on a flying visit to Cornwall, we decided to spend the evening at the B&B to benefit from their license and the home cooking.

The evening meal consists of a set three course meal plus coffee for £16 per person. As they are a small establishment they ask that you let them know a few days in advance if you will be eating in the evening, so it allows them opportunity to source provisions. These are sourced locally as much as possible. As a couple of our group are quite fussy with what they eat, we wanted to eat at the B&B but were concerned that perhaps something would be served that they didn't like. When I spoke to the B&B about providing a meal which avoided certain products, they were more than obliging. In fact, they said that they preferred being told what not to cook, as they would rather please their guests.

We were served homemade deep fried brie in breadcrumbs for a starter, slow roast rack of pork with roast potatoes, carrots and green beans as a main, and chocolate tart with clotted cream for dessert. All of it was home cooked and was delicious. There was a good wine list too: a locally produced champagne option on the menu, white and red wine, some of them local, plus also local ciders, as well as spirits and soft drinks. The prices of the drinks were good too - £12 for a bottle of wine.

Breakfast was a three course affair and excellent. Firstly, there was a choice of cereals or fruit compote with yoghurt. Then you could have either a full English cooked breakfast - local sausages, bacon, eggs, tomato and mushroom - or smoked kippers, or smoked salmon. Toast was also provided with a choice of brown or white bread, with tea, coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice. The preserves on the table were either home made or locally produced too - strawberry and apricot jam, as well as the marmalade was all home made. The honey was locally produced, and the Marmite was the only thing I think I saw all weekend which wasn't a local product supporting the community!

Meals are served in the guests' lounge/dining room. I believe it's the original kitchen to the house as it has a huge fireplace with an old cast iron oven/burner in it. Meals are taken around a large table, so if the B&B is full you will eat breakfast around the same table. This is the same for the evening meal - we found that we shared our breakfast table with the other guests that were there but the evening meal we had alone, as the other guests had chosen to go elsewhere.

The lounge overlooks the garden, and has a large dresser full of cookery books and local maps. Good food has an emphasis here, and rightly so: it is excellent. Most of it is cooked in the aga. There are also some comfortable chairs in the lounge, including a rocking chair. A shelf in the room also provides guests with some games to amuse themselves for the evening if you choose to spend it there.

If you choose not to eat in the B&B, there is a local pub a short five minute drive from the Farmhouse which is also excellent: The Springer Spaniel. There's plenty to do in the area and the Rezare Farmhouse B&B is a brilliant base for this. Rooms are competitively priced too: at £26 per person per night it's outstanding value (although I think there may be a single supplement payable).

One thing I do want to mention which I really liked: the B&B do have a Visitor's Book for adding your own comments about your stay. I've often stayed at places and been obliged to write something in a Visitor's Book with the proprietor standing over me, so it's never an honest evaluation or something you'd sometimes even want to write in. However, at Rezare the Visitor's Book was discreetly left in the dining room at breakfast time on a side table, so we could write in it if we wished. The comments that we read in there were a testament to the high standards the Mannings have set themselves and their establishment and they're clearly succeeding. They've had guests from all over the world, including Australia and Canada, enjoy their hospitality.

Any guest is guaranteed a warm welcome and this couple fully deserve their four star rating. I'm looking forward to going back!

 

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