{"id":1180,"date":"2024-06-28T12:37:30","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T11:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/?p=1180"},"modified":"2024-06-28T12:38:41","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T11:38:41","slug":"something-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/2024\/06\/28\/something-special\/","title":{"rendered":"Something Special"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Well, I\u2019be fooling no-one if I tried to claim that 2024 has seen a grand few months since Christmas. It\u2019s all been a bit too wet for pretty well anyone\u2019s taste \u2013 even the local ducks have been looking fed up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, as I write, we\u2019ve seen some glorious days of late, and the forecasts for the coming summer weeks are looking positive. South Devon is starting to look its best again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Continental Plus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, one person\u2019s viewpoint isn\u2019t the same as another\u2019s. While the weather hasn\u2019t been all you\u2019d hope for, we\u2019ve had a lovely continental-plus June. Our guests have come from Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, America as well as Blighty! (For some reason we\u2019ve had a plethora of Yorkshire folk lately, which I particularly enjoy bantering with.) As is true in so many regards, hearing the views of people from far and wide nearly always proves both interesting and entertaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Great Views (Part One)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Torquay Big Wheel is up and running! Hurrah! There was some legal huffing and puffing and an injunction from the Torbay Historic Trust but, gladly, common sense prevailed. For us, the fabulous view from the top makes it all well worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"875\" src=\"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/big-wheel-2024.jpg\" alt=\"The Torquay big wheel\" class=\"wp-image-1181\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/big-wheel-2024.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/big-wheel-2024-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Back again, the Torquay big wheel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Great Views (Part Two)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>And after your trip on the Big Wheel it is just a walk of a 100 yards or so to Pierpoint, who have won the accolade of 2<sup>rd<\/sup> best fish &amp; chip restaurant in the UK. I imagine they will have had to beat some extensive competition. Now, yes, \u00a321.95 seems a little over priced but on the other hand you are looking out to sea as you are digging into your cod &amp; chips, and that can\u2019t be bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Planning Pays Off<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of our guests have been on our <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dartmouthrailriver.co.uk\/tickets\/steam-train\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">famous steam train<\/a><\/strong> from Paignton to Dartmouth, then taken the river cruise up the River Dart and it is a nice thing to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, with a little pre-organising you can also visit the Royal Naval College as part of your day out. Personally, I believe this is a \u2018must-do\u2019, but because as needs pre-booking a lot of people never manage it. The Naval College is steeped in history and if you like things Royal you might like to know that our late Queen Elizabeth met Prince Phillip there. We\u2019re always happy to help with planning visits and what-have-you, just ask!<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\" src=\"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/royal-naval-college-2024.jpg\" alt=\"The Royal Naval College \" class=\"wp-image-1182\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/royal-naval-college-2024.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/royal-naval-college-2024-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Royal Naval College <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Special Requests<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Talking of planning &#8230; while we are happy to help everyone with requests, the other week we really had to get everything absolutely spot-on. A marriage proposal really needs to be a flawless event. So, after one of our fabulous breakfasts we arranged a private boat safari with <a href=\"https:\/\/torquaywatersports.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Torquay Watersports<\/strong><\/a> and they did their magic, taking them around the coast and then back here for the surprise of the bride-to-be\u2019s life, with rose petals, champagne and red roses. We\u2019re delighted to be able to say it all went very well. And the proposal was accepted!<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"933\" src=\"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/special-01.jpg\" alt=\"For a special event\" class=\"wp-image-1183\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/special-01.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/special-01-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:31px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" src=\"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/special-02.jpg\" alt=\"For a special event\" class=\"wp-image-1184\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/special-02.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/special-02-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Doing Things Well<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>OK, it\u2019s not great to blow your own trumpet but sometimes someone has to. We are very pleased to have been awarded a Tripadvisor Travelers\u2019 Choice \u2018Best of the Best\u2019 award for 2024. We must be doing something right!<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"1109\" src=\"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/top-1-percent-2024-01.jpg\" alt=\"The Somerville - in the top 1%\" class=\"wp-image-1185\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/top-1-percent-2024-01.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/top-1-percent-2024-01-189x300.jpg 189w, https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/top-1-percent-2024-01-646x1024.jpg 646w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Somerville &#8211; in the top 1%<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>And that\u2019s it for this update. As always, we look forward to you visiting \u2013 and whatever you\u2019re doing, have a great summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Peter and Helen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Discovering Something More<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorised","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail","9":"override"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1180"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1188,"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180\/revisions\/1188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somervilletorquay.co.uk\/somerville-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}