** New for 2020 – We now have an additional property to hire alongside or independently from The Manor – ‘The Mews’ which can sleep up to 6 people. This may help with social distancing for groups looking to book with us. Please enquire for more details. Thank you, Tabitha.
The Manor House, Moreton and Louisa Loasby Personal Chef and Caterer are delighted to announce their first Supper Club to be held at The Manor House, Moreton, Dorset.
We are friends with a mutual love for food and brining people together to enjoy it!
Our first evening will be held at The Manor House on Thursday 4th April 2019.
The evening will start with champagne and delicious canapés. There will be magical entertainment whilst you get to know your other supper club members.
A themed, seasonal, locally sourced three course meal will follow in the beautiful surroundings of our Georgian Manor House venue.
You can book for yourself, with a few friends or with your partner.
There are two private dining rooms available for up to 10 in a group and communal dining areas where you will enjoy plenty of laughter, conversation and a few surprises to make everyone feel completely at home.
There will be wine and soft drink options expertly sourced and paired by Morrish & Banham of Dorchester available for purchase throughout the evening.
Please book Here – booking will also add you to our Supper Club mailing list where you will receive sneak peaks of what to expect on the evening, menu tasters and recipes from the super talented Louisa.
Places are limited so book early to avoid disappointment.
We look forward to welcoming you around our table.
Love,
Louisa & Tabitha
More info on Louisa here x
We were lucky enough to be chosen by Farrow & Ball as a location for their photo shoot for the new Inspiration booklet that may have dropped through your letterbox in the last few weeks.
It was a great week seeing the house transformed last year and we were so keen to show off the new colours but had to wait until publication before we could share them here.
The team were lovely and I can honestly say if I were to re decorate at home again I would definitely use their In Home Colour Consultancy service as their expert knowledge in colours and pairing together is exceptional. I would never have chosen the colours used at The Manor, and we all love them. As do all our guests who have enjoyed the house over the last few months.
The Main Hall was decorated with School House White on the walls, Studio Green on the front panelling and Bancha on the back panelling.
The kitchen was transformed – Sulking Room Pink on the walls and Paen black cabinets. The kitchen is home to the AGA and it is so cosy in there at night and surprisingly fresh during the day. We love it.
The pantry is such fun, painted in Rangwali, I think some fairy lights in here are going to look great.
The drawing room became a child’s bedroom for the day. The top colour is Pale Powder and the lower blue is De Nimes. The skirting was a prop skirting so is not in situ in the house but here is painted in Preference Red.
To order your own copy of the Inspiration booklet you will find it Here.
All photographs here have been taken from the Farrow and Ball booklet and are mostly using their own props for decoration.
It was a great experience and we hope host more photoshoots in the future. Our most recent was with The Rug Company and I hope to share photographs from that soon.
T x
We are always so happy when The Manor gets used for events other than as a residential let. We adore the families and friends that come to the house to celebrate, catch up and reunite but it is also lovely when people see the house in another light and the space having potential for other exciting ventures.
The Manor has been lucky enough over the years to host art exhibitions, meditation retreats, fitness bootcamps, fiesta’s, halloween events and Christmas parties. All of these different events showcase The Manor’s versatility.
Just before Christmas I met up with Samantha Wilson & Sammie McFarland who both run their own businesses focusing on fitness, yoga, pilates and general wellbeing. They have decided to hire The Manor as an event venue for a retreat this March, and I am delighted to be able to share more details of this weekend with you.
All I need say is the weekend sounds like complete bliss! A yoga and pilates retreat with a great balance of movement and relaxation. The itinerary is well thought out taking in to consideration a need to restore, refresh and energise with like minded women in a peaceful countryside environment.
To give an idea of what the retreat will be offering – Yoga flow, hiit classes, guided walking, reflexology & massage, yoga nidra and meditation.. all with plenty of healthy food, conversation and the odd glass of fizz thrown in – which sounds pretty great to me.
If you would like more information on the retreat you can find it here. Please contact Sam or Sammie directly to book on to the retreat.
Sam is also offering Sunday chill sessions at our local village hall in Moreton which look equally relaxing and restorative, see here.
At The Manor we currently have a few weekends left available for hire in April, May and June please contact us on manorhousemoreton@hotmail.com for more information.
There are lots of exciting events in the pipeline for 2019 – I will share details on here as soon as we have things finalised!
T x
Having been a long time fan of the Dorset based company Farrow & Ball we were absolutely delighted to be asked for the Manor House to be used as a location for photoshoot to showcase a few of the new colours which have been released this year.
This is something we have hoped for for a long time, The Manor is the perfect house to show off colour due to the large airy rooms and plenty of natural light.
The team have been a pleasure to work with and we are absolutely delighted with the colours used through the house.
The photographs will be published in January 2019 so we will be able to share more details then.
We hope that all our guests visiting the house enjoy the colours as much as we do!
October and early November were busy, Halloween parties for both the children & the adults and we also enjoyed a really fun Bonfire Night in Tolpuddle with friends.
Now we have recovered from all that excitement we are really looking forward to the next few months at The Manor House. We have lots of interesting things lined up including meditation retreats, yoga & wellness retreats and some pop up supper clubs planned for 2019. If you would like details on any of these events please get in touch via email.
Christmas is such fun time of year and I feel that now bonfire night is over I am allowed to throw myself in to planning the decoration at The Manor, I decorate the house with my Mum every year and we absolutely love doing it together, christmas music on, mince pies in the AGA, it’s the best! The rest of the family are usually roped in too, collecting foliage from the garden and painting fir cones – we are a pretty Christmassy family so it’s something we look forward to every year.
I will share more details of our Christmas preparations as they happen.
Winter scene in Moreton
With the weather finally warming up and the rain holding off for a few days here and there we have been steadily completing our ‘to do’ list of bits and pieces at The Manor.
The first and most important task to tackle has been the refurb of the tennis court. Lots of pressure washing, sweeping later we are finally nearing the final stages and it is looking fab. Trees have been removed that hung over the court meaning that we now have less of an issue with the dreaded moss.
All the exterior paint work has been re done giving the house a nice fresh facelift and as I type all the fencing surrounding the garden is being taken away and replaced. All in all it is looking great.
We gave the games barn a good old clean up the other day, it’s still a barn, but a tidy barn!
I have to mention the magnolia tree at the Manor ( I fear I am becoming a magnolia bore, but hey, it’s only ever for a brief time in the year!)
Last year during a storm the guests using the house called to say a branch had fallen in the driveway, it wasn’t obstructing the drive but they wanted to let us know. After check out I went to assess and at the time it didn’t look great, a large branch has splintered and was on the ground, barely attached to the tree. I asked Harry to get round with his chainsaw pronto to get it removed and sawn up for logs. It got added to the never ending list of ‘to do’s’ I have but over a few days it didn’t look quite so bad so it fell to the wayside. After a week or so I noticed that the branch was still very much alive so I decided to leave it be in the hope that I would be rewarded with floor height sweeping magnolia to enjoy. We haven’t been disappointed, it looks amazing.
Whilst on the subject of flora I discovered a very lovely farmers market held on the fourth Saturday of each month on the high street in Dorchester (15 mins away from the Manor) – I tend to avoid ‘town’ on a Saturday as it’s always busy and we are usually ferrying kids to football or walking the pooch. On this occasion I was underprepared for Mothering Sunday so needed to do a quick trip in to get bits and bobs before collecting my nephews for a sleepover. We ended up in town at about 9.30 and it was nice and quiet, easy to park. We discovered the farmers market which I would highly recommend. There were loads of lovely stalls selling delicious produce and we took advantage of trying lots of stuff. My absolute favourite stall had to be this flower stall where I managed to find some beautiful Parrot Tulips and Ranunculus for Mothers day (myself & my mummy!!) I will be going again!
We had a lovely Mothering Sunday in the garden enjoying the sunshine. I was given lots of lovely cuddles from the kidlets and Harry cooked us all his speciality lasagne which was delicious.
As well as getting things spruced up at The Manor I have been working hard at home to get the decoration finished. Having been here for a year now I felt it was time to crack on now that I understand the light and how the spaces work. I am still stuck in a very white place as it’s so easy to touch up and add to or take away from. I am branching out in to other variations of white though and am using Farrow & Ball Strong White in most of the rooms other than hallways. It is a lovely subtle colour and very calming. I am so sick of painting now but am persevering as my goal is to be finished by the end of May and that is well within our sights.
I was trying to focus on the ground floor only when we inherited a lovely new bed from some friends. After a massive Ebay trawl I managed to purchase a brand new barely used mattress for it (for a tenner!!!) and so commenced the great British bed swap where Harry had to take down and move not one, but three beds and travel about for a whole day to satisfy my whims. Whilst we had an empty room for a few hours I finished painting the floor which has been a ambition for a while. I lOVE it. It’s totally impractical and a nightmare to keep clean but it’s my dream bedroom and I just like looking at it, which in my book makes it worth it.
In the midst of all the tennis court work / decorating etc we have been doing, I needed to find a decent distraction from the drone of the pressure washer or relentless and depressing news updates on the radio. I can’t remember who suggested podcasts, I think I may have seen one talked about on Insta but I am now fully obsessed and finding more and more brilliant ones to subscribe to and enjoy. They are engaging, topical, current and FREE! easier than reading as you can carry on about your daily work and still enjoy them. I am yet to listen in the car as I am mostly in the car with the children and we are in an unbroken cycle of Ed Sheehan and Musical Times Table (yawn). Here is a list of my current favourites, in no particular order.
* The High Low – Pandora Sykes and Dolly Alderton
* Desert Island discs – Radio 4
* Any of The New Statesman ones
* Letters to my fanny – Cherry Healey
I love them all and they are a treat to listen to. I am looking forward to discovering more.
We are also planning more stuff for the garden, I want to grow more of our own produce this year and learn more about it. My dear friend Abi has the most amazing poly tunnel that her and her husband Scott spend most of their summer in which is very inspiring. We are not at tunnel standard yet but on the hunt for a unused green house to adopt on free cycle. Knowledge is coming in book form from the very clever and talented Hollie Newton who recently published “How to Grow” – it is a stunning book and we are really enjoying it. You may also notice her name from the many Newspaper clippings and articles that are being published about her at the moment.
♡
Keeping top of New Years resolutions, or resolutions at any time of the year is a toughie! I promised myself after the Christmas break to finish the interior decoration at our home and make a few tweaks at The Manor House too. I really wanted to hone my weekly organisation and time we spend together as a family.
At the Manor we are now preparing the garden for summer and touching up bit and bobs in the house. Harry and I have plenty scheduled at The Manor and work starts this week, more of this over here for updates https://www.instagram.com/manorhousemoreton/
But other than work based bits I really want to finish the rooms at home, do more varied exercise, complete some units of my interior design diploma, and also eat supper with the children on a more regular basis and have family home evenings where neither myself or Harry are distracted by work emails!
Being self employed means I have to really try and schedule my days clearly else I can get super distracted and end up completing only half my to do list. So any methods to aid daily organisation are always welcome to see if they stick and work with us as a family.
I find that eating our evening meal together aids free and easy conversation with the children and they open up a lot more than when I am rushing in and out not paying full attention. I tend to do a meal plan on Monday morning, using up what I have from the weekend and grocery shopping for the rest of the week from there, it’s not a ridged plan and sometimes we see family or mix things up.
The benefits are great, I am spending less on shopping and have far less veggie waste than before, both the children are helping me prepare the meal, laying the table and eating more varied meals – no more beige freezer rubbish and more colourful vegetables. A friend has recommended a Riverford Organic box that she gets delivered, I really like the idea of this and am going to be doing some investigation on that front. I think would prefer to get one from a local supplier if possible?
On the ‘planning’ theme I also received a really sweet Happiness Planner from Harry for Christmas, this is so cute and came in pretty hues of pale blue and light pink. I have never been a dedicated diarist and tend to do all my work & personal organisation on my iPhone calendar and to do lists on the note’s feature. The Happiness planner has a positivity based premise and has daily sections for schedule (helpful as a diary) to do lists and areas to focus on gratitude, positive elements of the day and things that make you happy. It does make me focus on the little things that get overlooked and to be more positive about them, I am (almost!) writing it every morning and it gets you off to a smiley start. ♡
We decided on more of a ‘staycation’ vibe for our half term holidays this February – living and working in Dorset is obviously great and we as a family really appreciate what is has to offer but all too often we get stuck in a rut and go on the same walks to the same places or don’t leave the village at all for days out and just walk through the forest (which is beautiful too!)
So for the last week or so we have been reacquainting ourselves with our beautiful county. It helps that the weather has been kind to us and inspires you to get out and go exploring.
Just before half term we took an after school trip to Ringstead Bay, it has to be one of our favourite local beaches. It is only a 10 min car ride from Moreton and is very beautiful and a good safe beach for the kids. On this afternoon the sun was shining and there were rainbows to welcome us. The waves were actually quite big for Ringstead and we were lucky enough to have some surfers too watch whilst the sun went down. The girl one collected sea glass (her new obsession when on the beach) and the rest of us enjoyed the views!
For valentines we made cute tassle bunting and homemade cards. We had our favourite breakfast of Rye, scrambled eggs, goats cheese & capers (sounds weird, tastes divine) which is a recipe from the fantastic Rosie Londoner blog ♡ http://www.thelondoner.me/2016/02/goats-cheese-caper-scramble.html
We then headed over to Freshwater Holiday Park – which is in Burton Bradstock. We had been told about the Jurassic Fun Centre which is a small water park with slides and flumes, initially not my idea of a romantic valentines but it was fantastic for the kids, great value and clean. They played for hours and we were rewarded with a trip to The Anchor Inn at Seatown – which is my favourite local pub at the moment, and that was romantic! Check it out – http://www.theanchorinnseatown.co.uk. It is right on the beach with fabulous views and has a delicious menu, cocktail list and open fires.
I am a huge fan of The National Trust and am on a mission to use our family subscription over the year as much as possible without the trips becoming repetitive for the kids, personally I could visit most of our local NT places all the time and never get bored.
We managed not one but two NT visits over half term. I spent a lovely day with two friends and our 9 children at Corfe Castle, it never disappoints and there are always really good activities for the children to enjoy. We managed a picnic in the gaps between rain and warmed up with hot chocolates in front of the wood burner in the visitor centre afterwards.
We also visited Kingston Lacey with a crew of friends and kids and it was delightful. The sun was shining and the snowdrop garden was in full bloom, the kids ran about the gardens and explored whilst the adults ambled along behind them. We headed up to the kitchen garden where there is a small play area for the kids, it is quite basic with a couple of Wendy houses and mini tractors but they all absolutely loved it and played for ages until the sound started going down, the coffee hut closed and the adults lost enthusiasm!
The next day we continued our tour of Dorset to Kimmerage. I went with a neighbour and five of our children. It was a really lovely little trip and we were happy to discover that the new Etches Collection museum was now open – http://www.theetchescollection.org/home a beautifully designed museum and it contained a great exhibition, the children all loved it. We then had our own fossil hunting expedition on the beach.
We ended the week spending time with visiting friends and on Saturday decided to make the most of the glorious weather and head to Lulworth cove for a walk over Stair Hole in to the cove.
We stopped for lunch, OUTSIDE! before heading back to Moreton. The children had not expelled all their energy and decide to go to the Ford where we played in the Kayak and watched the sun go down. On the return home everyone had warm baths before cosying down for the evening. It was the perfect end to a lovely week in Dorset.
T x
Wishing all visitors to our blog a very happy New Year!
2016 saw many fun and interesting events at The Manor and we welcomed some lovely guests to the house. It is lovely to see many returning guests year after year and to see all the fun ideas that people come up with in ways to use the house.
We have had Uni reunions, hen parties, art exhibitions, Mexican fiesta’s, English Country Garden themed weddings, tennis tournaments, grand weddings for 200 and a small perfectly styled intimate wedding for 50, a spooky Halloween themed party and a blissfully relaxed yoga retreat for a group from London. All in all a varied and eclectic mix which goes to show how the house can be used in plenty of different ways.
We have more to look forward to in 2017 starting with a fitness boot-camp this month and plenty more after. If anyone has any other ideas to put forward please do not hesitate to get in touch via email. We still have a few weekends left in the Spring and more later in the year.
As ever we are constantly working on little improvements in the house and out in the grounds and we hope to work in conjunction with some local suppliers to re decorate rooms and keep the house in tip top condition.
I am hoping to bring more information on places to visit in Dorset when staying with family and friends, good eateries, beautiful walks and the occasional seasonal recipe to indulge in.
Here is a pretty taken of The Manor on a winters morning –
Watch this space….
T x
SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run….
Ah Keats, you nailed it there. Autumn in the countryside is just perfect, my most favorite season.
As beautiful as summer is there is something about September and the start of Autumn that feels much more like a new year than “New Year”. There is a clear change to the season, new diaries, kids back at school and the all exciting feeling that Christmas is just around the corner.
We have a new year plan to discover more of Dorset and the Purbeck’s on foot. We love walking and having Plum gives us an added excuse to get out there and see more of our beautiful county.
Last week we decided to explore Mupe Bay – to the west of Lulworth Cove, with no real plan we just headed down to the beach to see what happened. We nipped in to the tourist information center (which is fab by the way, with a really cute little coffee kiosk and geological info) to pick up a map and discovered that access to Mupe Bay is across the Army ranges which are only open weekends and school holidays. Plans scuppered for another day we had a look at the other maps offering 6 routes around Lulworth. We chose route 1 which starts at Lulworth Castle and takes you on a 5k loop around the estate.
The walk starts at the front of the majestic Lulworth castle (parking £3 per day in car park). You then head through the deer park full of amazing trees, a little further on past the gate house and a farm, across a field or two and you arrive at the Lake. Who knew there was a lake on the Lulworth estate? Not us, what a find. It’s so pretty, there are swans drifting by and an amazing Fort built on one side. You can walk around it and the route then takes you back across parkland to the castle.
I am so pleased we found this walk, one to do with all the family one weekend, rounding off with a drink in front of the fire at the Weld Arms on the way home.
I’ll share more discoveries as we find them.
T x