Review of Upper Newton Farmhouse, Herefordshire

>> For contact details and to check availability, see our full listing of: Upper Newton Farmhouse, Herefordshire

Upper Newton Farmhouse is a 1640 part-Jacobean farmhouse B&B with self-catering cottages on a working farm in rural Herefordshire. The house, and part of the cottages are in black and white Cruck construction – with black, latticed timber beams – so prevalent in this part of Herefordshire. Owners Pearl and Jon Taylor will make you very welcome with home-baked cakes, suggestions for activities and little touches around the rooms.

The self-catering cottages were once barns for horses and carriages. Photo: Anita Pati

The rooms
Attached to the house are two spacious, modernised two-bedroom cottages that formerly housed the horses and carriages. The house itself has two bed & breakfast rooms with a private lounge facing the Black Mountains. The night skies are clear with stars and the daytimes are silent and peaceful apart from the occasional moo from one of the suckler herd of Charolais-cross cows.

The cosy, open-plan lounge. Photo: Anita PatiOur cottage, Apple Bough, is mainly country farmhouse-style, while Chess has more modern flourishes. Apple Bough opens into a cosy, open-plan lounge with television and a fully-equipped kitchen. Downstairs is an extension with separate toilet and shower room and doors that open onto both the cottage and the farmhouse gardens. Up the stairs are two double bedrooms with washbasins as well as a bathroom. The cottage has a homely, family feel and children’s books and the Bible can be found lolling on the shelves. The main bedroom has a four-poster bed trimmed with Pearl’s curtains and a lovely vaulted beamed ceiling with skylight/high window.

Pearl takes a real pride in her home and her handicrafts are everywhere. Apple Bough had a clove-studded pomander on the window-sill and home grown posies on many of the surfaces. The tablemats and welcome cards as well as wall murals depict the old farmhouse in all its homely splendour.

The food
For breakfast we had yoghurts, a lovely locally-produced nutty muesli, Herefordshire apple juice and smoked salmon scrambled eggs cooked up by Pearl’s young daughter. There was also a large frittata stuffed with wild mushrooms from the surrounding woodlands and topped with Herefordshire hop. The hosts will also do you locally-produced pork sausages with a chunky casing or bacon. Ask for some of the farm’s own honey from its apiary – the bees feed on borage in the garden and the honey is lovely and chewy.

Breakfast was taken in the farmhouse dining room, full of period furniture but on the second day we decided to have a smaller breakfast in the cottage. However, if you want to go further afield, try the new A Cook’s Kitchen in nearby Pembridge, near Leominster. Set up in April 2011 by Bonnie and Tom, both ex-River Cottage staff, the restaurant is in the huge barn of Dunkerton’s Cider Mill (from where you can source cost-price cider). A Cook’s Kitchen specialises in local, seasonal produce – we had a winter roulade with celeriac, parsnip and sweet potato and pheasant, shot the previous week at the local Eardisland shoot. Also, look out for the nearby Monkland cheese dairy and café which serves some good, Cheddar-style cheeses.

Upper Newton offers a fantastic local breakfast. Photo: Anita Pati

The activities
Leominster, pronounced “Leminster” by the locals (prepare to be scorned if you say it wrong), is 13 miles away and full of antique shops although it also has its fair share of charity shops if you’re on a budget. Take a little turn around Corn Square with its Cruck buildings, one corner of which houses the Tourist Information Centre, before ambling down Drapers Lane to Broad Street’s antique markets. Pearl says they will arrange anything for visitors including pony trekking, craft and cookery courses, hang gliding, pot holing and cider tasting, even bog snorkelling. “Isn’t it hard to see things while snorkelling in a bog?” I ask. “Yes, you can’t see a thing!” laughs Pearl.

You could of course just traipse around the farm if you’re a city type and yearn to see how the country folk live. The farm has 100 acres of arable, growing barley, oats and oil seed rape as well as 60 acres of apple orchards and a suckler cow herd of Charolais cows. There is a circular walk around the farm that takes an hour through orchards (blossom time in spring and harvest time from October). Food festivals also are rife in this part of the world including Ludlow (33 miles away) and Abergavenny.

The farm is home to a herd of Charolais cows. Photo Anita PatiHay on Wye is only eight miles away and the cottages would make a fantastic base for book lovers but do tend to be fully booked during the festival, says Pearl. Eastnor Castle, 17 miles away, has a busy programme of events but requires a car to get to. Pembridge is a quiet nearer village with a river walk while Kington, eight miles from the farm, is a great base from which to walk along Offas Dyke and has a selection of independent shops. The original Hampton Court, 13 miles away, has a 15th century castle set in 10,000 acres of estate with acclaimed formal gardens including 12 acres of organic gardens.

What makes Upper Newton Farm green
Pearl is a keen crafter and handmakes cushions, wall hangings and soft furnishings in the accommodation using local fleeces. Some fabrics are hand-dyed using garden plants. In fact, the cottage garden not only produces vegetables for the breakfasts including tomatoes and wild mushrooms, its flowers adorn the tables and window sills. Food for the guests is otherwise bought from a nearby farm shop. Just ask Pearl about local producers and resources and she will reel off a list including farmers, farmers’ wives (this is traditional Herefordshire!), farm shops, dairies, church fetes… you’ll have forgotten your question by the time she’s given you the low down on this close-knit rural community.

When we visited, we were treated to the last of the salvias and red holly berries in the Christmas wreath. Upper Newton has just installed a new biomass boiler and Pearl hopes to eventually be burning their own apple tree prunings. Fire for the woodburning stoves in the farmhouse is from their own managed woodland. While the farm is not organic, they use local, sustainable sources – including their own backyard – where they can. As well as organic cleaning products, they use borax and vinegar to give a squeaky clean finish. There are boxes and food caddies for recycling and being on private drainage, they are very careful to minimise toxic products leeching into the environment so use biodegradable detergents.

How to get there
The nearest stations are Leominster and Hereford (13 miles) and Hay on Wye (8 miles). Buses are very infrequent, as are taxis so Pearl or Jon will collect you if you don’t have your own car. Contact Pearl if driving as it can be easy to miss the opening to the long drive that leads to the farmhouse. Basically, head to Kinnersley and near the deserted petrol station, past the tall pine trees is a white farm gate – you don’t get more rural than that!

Top tip
The place is only miles away from Wales so make it a base for a trip to the Black Mountains or further Brecon Beacons. Otherwise, enjoy your time on a small Herefordshire farm with noisy breeding cattle for company.

The verdict
A peaceful, working farm experience in rural English countryside and the cottages are perfect for a family holidaying for a week.

>> For contact details and to check availability, see our full listing of: Upper Newton Farmhouse, Herefordshire

The farmhouse overlooks the landscaped garden. Photo: Anita Pati