The Pottery Cottage Bishops Nympton, Devon, EX36 4PQ
Mind your head! Low beams and doorways are attractive features of this 17th century cottage. That doesn’t stop them hurting. People were a lot smaller then.
On arrival..........
1. Check that the hot water is on. This works overnight. The switch is in the wardrobe in bedroom 2, to your right. Check also that the timer is set to the correct time. The water will probably be cold, so turn the immersion heater on by flicking the small switch at the top right of the timer down. This will automatically switch off in the wee small hours of the morning, after the night storage phase has finished. It will come on again at 11.30pm – if you need to heat more water during the day, simply repeat the procedure.
2. As you are upstairs, go into bedroom 1. There is a signal booster and splitter for the TV. Make sure this is on, or you won’t be able to watch the telly anywhere in the house.
3. The bathroom light switch is outside of the bathroom door. There is also a pull cord on the light fitting. So if you turn on the switch and remain in darkness, pull the cord. If the combination of switch and cord still produces no light, there are spare bulbs in a kitchen cupboard.
The shower is independent of the hot water system. The switch for this is outside the bathroom door, and can safely be left on for the duration of your stay. Fitting a 21st century shower into a 17th century cottage was always going to be awkward, so bear with us. It will serve you well. The cottage was built at a time when people were sewn into their underwear for the winter. Please make sure the shower curtain is inside the bath before using it, and wipe any water from the window sill afterwards.
4. Whilst we are on the subject of water, I will mention the well. This is to be found behind the small wooden door to the left of the entrance door. The pump, sadly, no longer works. You will find a bucket on the end of a rope. I have drunk a glass of water, and have survived, but use Southwest Water’s finest for drinking, available at the turn of a tap. The well is perfect for watering plants, washing the car, and other non-potable uses. Our neighbours may also use it from time to time, with our blessing. Make sure small children and animals don’t fall in, as dramatic rescues, however memorable, can be difficult.
!! The water supply to the cottage is metered. Should you have problems, and need to turn the supply off, you will find the meter and stop tap under a cover in front of the gate to the right of the cottage. Ours is the nearest to the cottage, but please make sure you have turned the right tap off by running a cold tap – it should stop within seconds. If it doesn’t, you have switched off a neighbour’s supply !!
5. The cottage was completely rewired for electricity in 2006, and is fully certified to every UK and EU standard. The consumer unit (or fusebox in old money) is state of the art, and is in the box by the window behind the dining table. It has three separate sections, and the downstairs sockets, shower, and a few other things are RCD protected. The other two main switches cover non-RCD (mainly lights) and off-peak use – storage heaters and hot water. The supply to the village is state of the ark, by overhead cables, and the RCD has been known to trip in bad weather, leading to no power downstairs. In the unlikely event that this happens whilst you are here, open the box and reset the circuit breaker – it should be obvious which one has tripped. Should it happen again, there may be a problem. Please telephone me at once, and if possible, tell me which switch or appliance you last turned on before all went dark.
6. Heating is by night storage heaters. Unless you are here in winter, these will be turned off. Should you become aware of impending cold weather, then switch on the heaters. Open the consumer unit, and make sure the “Off-peak” main switch is set to “On”. Switch on each individual heater. For the uninitiated, they warm up overnight, and discharge the heat during the following day. There are two controls on each heater. The “Input” control determines how much heat is taken in by the heaters. The “output” controls the rate at which it is given out. The best way is to set the input to a high level, and the output to a low level, giving you a pleasantly warm downstairs in the morning, yet leaving you some extra output for the evening. The heater in the downstairs room can also act as a conventional heater – just make sure the plug is in and switched on, then press the switch on the heater, and adjust the thermostat. Remember that thatch is a wonderful insulation – we find that the heaters in the bedrooms can make it uncomfortably hot in the morning. We do not want your holiday blighted for lack of heat, so if you have problems, ring us at once, and we will talk you through the procedures.
7. For real heating, however, light the fire. You will find coal and logs in the shed at the very end of the garden. If you have to, then use firelighters. If you can manage with newspaper and kindling, so much the better. The logs will always burn better with a bit of coal under them. Don’t go mad – there is a thatched roof, you know, so no roasting piglets. You may want to lay the fire early in the day, so that you just have to toss a match into it when you return from your walk on Exmoor. Before you do, make sure that you have milk, chocolate, something nice to drink, a good movie to watch on the telly, video, or DVD, because once you’ve snuggled up in front of the fire, you won’t feel like moving. Destroying the romantic picture I have drawn, make sure the ashes are cold before putting them in the bin.
8. Instruction books for the appliances are in the cupboard next to the fridge. If this is the first time you have seen a microwave oven, then read them.