English Country Guesthouse inspiration

I’m an obvious urbanite and was nervous about travelling to England’s South West Countryside for work, this week. I had to visit Somerset in particular Chard for my 9 to 5. But my journey was helped because I stayed at a lovely little local guesthouse. And while the Chard guesthouse did not exhibit all the slick, minimalist, post modern or contemporary industrial style I have been accustomed to seeing on my usual business travels, this place really did emit some helpful old world charm

The old world that I refer to is my old world, growing up. My Chard guest room was a fitted bedroom with two wardrobes either side and cupboard above the bed. It felt strange but weirdly familiar to start off with but I couldn’t recall which of my friends bedrooms looked like that when we grew up in the 70’s.

That 70’s Game

Yes my mind kept taking me back to the 70’s to find the cultural reference as I sought to categorise it. But it wasn’t until I got tuck up in bed that I realised that I had seen the decor before. In fact, I had seen it and only visualised the decor or seen Bruce Forsyth introduce it on The Generation Game (or other 70’s game show). It was only a visual rather that an experienced memory because it was the bedroom that my mother always wanted. My dad was a carpenter and my mum always was on at dad to build her a fitted bedroom with side tables and wardrobes so she could feel cosy and at home and brag to her friends about how useful her husband was.

Dad never built the fitted bedroom for her, though I had seem him build all kinds of other things. He did build a cocktail bar with little square mirrors that you would have on a disco ball.

Curiously, when I realised that the guest room I was allocated was my mum’s fantasy bedroom it made me really feel more at home. In fact it was the most enjoyable most at home stay away for work I had had in a long while. They wonderful guest house owners called me by my name, they helped with my bags, they gave me advice about where to eat locally. The room had a lovely roomy waffle bathrobe that you tend to get at 5 star hotels. There were additional things like hot chocolate and biscuits and an ample array of herbal teas. They helped with carrying out my suitcase to the taxi. The other people at breakfast were fantastic too as we chatted and one woman even went to her room to get me details of other taxi firms and everyone at breakfast joined in the chorus discussing difficulties of travelling around Chard. I found it all very settling and soothing.

What are your favourite guesthouses? Do any of your favourites have an old world charm?

The other thing I took away from my stay at the lovely little guest house in Chard is the dear little lampshades. They were dinky and gave me an idea for future bookshelf design. The charm of the little box pleated lampshades will feature when I do a bookshelf styling shot of coordinated cosy and warm lighting for shelves, probably around late spring.

Find January 2024 posts

Below are links to my three previous posts this month. I still post online each week. But I shall now send one directly to subscribers on the last Sunday of the month as I recently found the buttons to control sending each post out as a newsletter.

Click on January 2024 to see all this months blog posts.