Well, it wasn’t a great ‘high season’ this year! With the nation’s economic problems on the one hand and, on the other, the British Summer literally disappearing on the 1st July, only to return in September for a lovely dry month, nothing’s been reliable.
And now – despite the current sunshine – it’s hard to believe that here at the Somerville we are just seven weeks away from our regular winter closure. This is the time we do all the improvements that are impossible to tackle when we have guests. So, before then, we are offering some special rates for our regular customers. If you’re not already signed-up, make sure you are on our database for some fabulous discounts over the autumn.
It Seems We’re The Best!
If you need convincing to stay with us (!), we recently won the Travellers’ Choice ‘Best of the Best’ award with Trip Advisor, receiving the trophy, below. All we can offer is a big ‘thank-you’ to all our guests for the amazing reviews you give us. We really appreciate it.
Great Local Food
It’s not just us that are popular in town! We always like to visit and re-visit local restaurants over the course of the year. It has to be said that our favourite has to be the No7 Fish Bistro – it must be, because we always end up there! For local fish and shellfish, and not forgetting the great wine bar upstairs, it has a lot going for it. The location, too, is good – overlooking the marina.
If you are tempted by the wine bar in particular, it is run by Robin who will always guide you to a local gin or a wine that will suit your taste. In fact, speaking as an ex-sommelier (back in my 20s) I believe they have the best wines in the bay.
If you’re there for a meal, Paul, the owner, is always on hand to present to you the fish caught in Brixham the previous day. With that kind of very fresh produce you never quite know what fish is going to be on the menu – but you can be sure it’s going to be tasty. (If it is on the menu, Helen and I always fight over Skate Wing in Caper Butter, perfectly cooked by Paul’s brother Ollie.)
For somewhere different, we recently went to the Offshore pub with some guests. It is on the corner of the harbour, opposite the Ferry Office. The operation is very slick with some lovely staff and we were really impressed with both the quality of the produce and what excellent value for money it was. Helen tried the fish soup (main course) @ £18.95, which was outstanding and loaded with fish as well as some king prawns on the side. I had River Teign Mussels which were plump and plentiful, served with fries and chunky bread to soak up the creamy mariniere sauce. Our friend had 5 scallops which were equally as delicious. All in all, excellent.
Taking Pride
In September we had the first Torbay Pride in the bay for many years and it was an enormous success. We hope Pride will get bigger and bigger as time goes on. We were accommodating some of the tribute acts at the show, and delighted to be playing an active part in it.
Sorry
Lastly, sorry! We apologise to all for being shut for four days in September. Our excuse? We celebrated 30 years of marriage with a trip to France. Below, a few photos from the fab time we had.
Don’t forget to take advantage of our autumn offers – to keep informed, make sure you’re on our mailing list.
Peter and Helen
