Taking a stroll into the village on a Saturday afternoon. The clouds are gathering and it soon rains but from then on our week was blessed with beautiful warm and sunny weather.
Right now almost 4 weeks later sitting at my computer, we are in the middle of a heatwave with temps here in the south hitting mid-nineties. Tarmac melting on some roads and trains slowed down for safety in case the rails are buckling.
I'm mostly concentrating on the right hand side of the road here as I will be doing this post in 3 parts.
I love these great old book shops
Looking down the main street
Turning back to look at a local farm shop with cyclists taking a coffee break
This was the most amazing fish shop I have ever been in
Hard to think of anything related to fish that they did not sell
A great mixture of shops here - individual and not chain stores.
Lots of places to drink and eat and here the store seems to go on forever.
In recent times Burnham Market has attracted a significant number of second-home owners, mostly affluent residents of London, and in consequence acquired a somewhat metropolitan atmosphere. Long term local residents often refer to the village as Chelsea-on-sea, after the up-market London district of Chelsea.
The village main street a mixture of shops, residences, businesses and holiday lets.
with a number of side lanes off it
even a lovely village has graffiti
There is so much more to The Hoste Hotel than one would think from this view (of course having just removed the climbing Ivy from the wall does not help)
The following photos are blurred as I took them off the website, as from the outside one would have no idea of the luxury within.
This village is frequented by celebrities but I am not going to tell you who we saw.
There is also a connection with Admiral Horatio Nelson who as you will see from previous post lived for a time in the house that we stayed in.
The Hoste Hotel is comprised of six individual properties, all of which are situated in the village. The original boutique hotel, the Hoste, sits within an historic building dating back to the 16th century, overlooking the village green.
There are two acclaimed restaurants serving modern British food, a panelled bar, a Beauty Spa and it's own Luxury Cinema.
Just across the green is the Georgian splendour of Vine House with a further eight luxurious ensuite rooms and a pretty wisteria-clad walled garden, whilst nestled on the edge of the village is Railway House, a former train station that is now home to seven stylish rooms and a Railway Carriage, a unique, vintage-style, romantic hideaway that is perfect for couples.
Although this disused railway station and carriage was 5 minutes from where we were staying, and next to the petrol station where we bought our daily newspaper, I did not realise the significance of it so did not take any photos.
The old railway carriage
and the interior - photos from website
For anyone interested (thinking mostly of my American readers) this link will take you to a Burnham webpage
I will be posting more on this interesting village so do come back.
