Langton House Blog

I managed to get away the other week for a few days with some friends on a short walking break along the Cornwall Coast Path from Plymouth to Fowey. Whilst it is great to get away it is also a great opportunity to spend a bit of time looking at other B&B’s and see how other businesses run. This is worth doing every so often just to get a good appreciation of what are the current best practices and to make sure Langton House is being run in the best way.

I always seem to come away from these sort of stays with a couple of ideas to improve what we do, or at the very least a few ideas on how NOT to do it!

If anyone wants to know where we stayed I’d be more than happy to pass on a couple of really great places to stay as well as a few wonderful restaurants.

After six stays at the Langton House from 2004 to 2009 and I can say that Paul and Sonja are still upholding their tradition of excellence!

The full English breakfasts are amazing and the portions are generous. The breakfast room is light and cheery.

The bedrooms are beautifully appointed with different themes and color schemes. The drapes are lovely and some, if not all, are hand-made by Sonja. The beds are the most comfortable I have found in either a hotel or a B&B. The views out the windows are comforting.

The upstairs guest kitchen area is stocked with instant soups, tea, hot cocoa mix, and biscuits of all kinds. After a long flight or a long day of sightseeing it is nice to relax with a hot cup of tea or soup.

Paul and Sonja are so friendly and accomodating they make me feel like family. I can’t wait for my next visit!

Nathalie and Barbara

So now they publish the claims, but what do we see…well they seem to have learnt very little, some are so blacked out as to be worthless! If this is what we are going to see in the future, they might as well carry on as before because only if they get investigated will any wrong doings come out.
I am pretty disgusted with this sort of behaviour. Do they really think we are this stupid!

Hi Paul,

Just want to thank you for your kind hospitality this week, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay.

Kind regards

Wendie

This week has been so HOT it is like a full on summer! Could this be the start of a real summer and if it is then perhaps the doom and gloom of the current recession will be lifted a little as everyone feels a bit better about the world.

Well I had two very tired and upset American ladies ring on the door bell the other day asking for a room for the night. They were in the first night of their holiday and even though they did not have much spare money, I decided to help them out and let them stay with a slight discount – They had had their car stolen in Windsor! After walking all over Windsor during the day they had returned to where they thought th is essential to remember where you parked it!ey had parked the car and it had GONE! They did the usual of walking around and up further floors in the car park, but were sure it had been stolen.

So I helped them contact the police and in due course they had a word with the police who came down and actually drove them around the town to look for the car! Amazing in itself – either it was a slow evening in Windsor or the customer care lessons they had been on were truly stupendous!

When I next saw them they still had the police man in tow and we tried to contact the car rental company to report the car stolen….. unfortunately they were closed but we had the necessary numbers for the following day.

Everyone departed for the evening, the police to continue to make enquiries and the 2 ladies to bed and me off for a well earned beer!

About an hour or so later the front door bell rang. As I opened the door there was the policeman again! I said in a surprised voice “Well, Hello….’ello, ‘ello!” Oh how I’ve always wanted to say that! Although poor old Mr Plod did not show any sign of amusement he asked me where the ladies were. They had found the car. It was on the GROUND floor of the car park! He went off to tell them and I went off to finish laughing into my beer!

So at least there was a happy ending to the story. Although I think they will remember next time where they parked their car, they really did give themselves a very stressful start to the holiday.

I was looking forward to seeing them the next morning….I was already with my many funny lines on parking cars and was preparing to take the maximum comedy benefit from this situation….but alas because they had already paid they made a very quiet exit and I missed them!

Oh well….If indeed the 2 ladies every get to read this….many thanks for the very amusing story I have now got! I hope you finished your holiday in a much better fashion than you started it!

Well it might only be for a day or so, but when one of the countries best restaurants has to close it is BIG local AND national news. It has made the front pages of the national papers today. Chef Heston Blumenthal has closed – or been closed – and apparently has no idea why 30 guests all have complained of feeling unwell after eating at the restaurant over the last few weeks.

Whilst he may be fanatical about food hygiene this is obviously not the sort of news that is good for his business.

To be honest, in my own opinion, I hope he gets it all sorted out as soon as possible, as a businessman myself I can only support any other business person, particualry a local business, and I wish him all the best.

Even as I write we are having a new solar water heating system installed for the B&B.

So far this has meant a new cold water main being installed, 2 new hot water cylinders, new electrics and as soon as the scaffolding is put up we will have the solar panels installed.

Over the years researching the various renewable energy options available, this system is the only one that has a decent payback period of about 5 years, along with a system lifespan of over double that. The plumber installing said he had put a system in last year and the client turned off his boiler for 3 months during the 2008 summer!

I expect and hope for a similar result, but whatever I am doing my bit to reduce my costs and become a little bit greener!

Well today Gordon Brown announces a review into this hot topic. If, and I think it is a BIG if, this ever went ahead then it would be the starting place for a move to scrapping the final salary schemes for all the public sector workers.

The current salary scheme is a rope around the neck of this country and until it is removed I can not see the end to the dire finances of this country.

We, the private sector, contribute to the overall economy of this country, the public sector spend the money we make. If the private sector have had their pensions knocked, what right have the public sector (who work for us) to keep theirs?

I look forward to seeing if Gordon Brown ever gets this through and past his own members – who generally like to line their own pockets as we have seen all too often. Whether this is just political spin will become all too apparent in the future, but I live in hope!

Last night we had a wonderful meal at this very plush and modern restaurant.

It is somewhat hidden away in Bourne End Marina, outside Maidenhead, but not too far from Windsor as to make it a serious trek. In fact, once found I’m sure, like us, you’d be going back more than just once!

The building is a fairly modern structure that has the actual restaurant on the first floor. There is some outside seating on a balcony overlooking the marina, but at this time of year that is not a  serious option, unless you’ve just come back from the Arctic!

On entering we were cheerfully welcomed and taken to our seats, although there is a small bar area to sit in whilst you wait for your table or for friends to arrive.

We were offered some bread and chutneys whilst we looked over the menu, but from past experience I know that this will surely fill me up far too much, so we had a good look at the bread from another table and although it looked lovely we concentrated on our main and starter decisions.

The menu is extensive and there is a choice of an A La Carte Menu or the Thames Side set menu at £16.95 for 3 courses (2009). For our starters we settled on Pan Fried Scallops with Smoked Haddock and Coriander Fishcake and I ordered a Butternut squash risotto with a Parmesan horne filled with rocket salad. All arrived wonderfully prepared and beautifully presented, succulent scallops and the risotto was exceptionally tasty. Both provided a substantial starter to our main course.

The next installment ….I ordered a Wildebeest Steak on Sweet Potato Dauphinois with Kangaroo Sausages and Rebellion Ale Sauce – it caught my eye as something very different and a interesting change from the usual steak offering. Sonja ordered the Trio of Game, Pheasent, Partridge and Venison served on a potato Rostie. Again all served beautifully and I was pleasantly surprised to find my Wildebeest steak to be a fantastic choice, very tender and combined with the Sweet Potato Dauphinois it was a mouthwatering combination. Sonja’s was an excellent array of meats working together and a lovely sauce to complement.

Desserts, which I normally try not to order, were just too good not to try. We decided on sharing the 4 small portions which included a Frozen Chocolate Mousse, Chocolate Chip Brownie, Cheesecake and Panna Cotta  – something there for everyone and we both thoroughly enjoyed them all.

We both highly recommend this restaurant (as if this review did not give that conclusion away) and will most definitely be going back.

Check out their web site for directions and menus
www.ottrestaurant.co.uk