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Druidstone from the air with the tide only a quarter out.

Druidstone beach is one of the best in the country, a mile of sand from end to end at low tide, caves and rock pools to explore and lots of space for dogs to run, kites to fly or for a game of rounders with other Druidstone fans. The Puffin Shuttle Bus runs past the door so, once here, you can go to St. David's or Skomer Island without touching your car. The hotel is right on a Sustrans cycle route and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park footpath is instantly accessible from the grounds.

SIMON "HOPPY" HOPKINSON…..

I am sure that everyone and his brother is remembering Simon at the moment. His book "Roast Chicken and other Stories" went to the top of the Best Seller list when he was voted best cook and cookery writer by 100 celebrity chefs. He has been known to mention Druidstone when writing about his early years! Truly, he cooked at Druidstone when I was expecting Angus in 1974. He cooked a miniature Beef Wellington for my Siamese cat, and we looked after his Burmese, Tarot, when he left to eventually set up Bibendum with Terance Conran. I am sure Angus has a great love of good honest food because of Simon and I am also certain that I am overweight to this day because he cooked for me while I was pregnant!
I was interested to hear Simon referred to as best "Cook" rather than best "Chef". When I was in Croatia I sent "my compliments to the chef" after a particularly memorable dish of mountain lamb and dumplings served with wild asparagus. The message came back that all the "Chefs" had left to work in New York and there were only "Cooks" left in Istria and the Karvarner Gulf. I think that means that the real lovers of good fresh raw materials are cooks and chefs prefer to tell others what to do rather than get their hands dirty. Dwelling on this I find myself identifying the differences! A "Cook" loves good raw materials, is "sympathique" (in the French sense of the word), he or she is creative, caring, modest and sensitive. A "Chef" is bossy, seeks the limelight, wants to get on television and wears a big hat! Sorry all you Chefs out there - only joking! So, anyway our congratulations go to Simon for being best "Cook" and on his best seller. He even beat Harry Potter……..
Best sellers or more obscure books can be obtained through Beth at Tony Peachey's bookshop, Seaways in West Street, Fishguard. Phone 01348 873433 and Beth will probably be able to get the book of your choice delivered to the hotel within 24 hours. * * Support the Independent Bookshops of the Country………….

32 years in the Good Food Guide Wow! What a year…… Talk about beautiful food year….. With Angus in the driving seat Druidstone cooking has excelled. We have Jon Woodhouse (Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday) creating his unusual selection of wonderful tastes so elegantly presented. He has been joined by Guy Morris on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Guy's reputation is fine and he has adjusted to our lively and fun approach to flexible creations with enthusiasm. Spanikopita racing has become a kitchen sport on wedding days. When he and Jon worked together on an Indian Feast recently we ended up with 17 different dishes! Magnificent... and such fun for the cooks as well as the guests. We are also dead proud to have Chris Fenn back in the house. He left us to work in Crete and then Bristol, but returned to Pembrokeshire with a load more experience and skill. His ability has exceeded all expectations and he has the Druidstone feel for real fresh materials cooked with respect. AND all those NVQ students trained by Donna have started to produce the goodies. Carol has followed in Donna's footsteps and become Cake and Pud Queen. Andrew and Ben have taken up the challenge on a magnificent array of spiced dishes and excellent soups. You should try Chinese Chicken and Black Bean or Beef and Ginger. Paul is trying to juggle outdoor activity with the Prince's Trust and finishing his NVQ and the delightful Matt has joined the team as Donna's "new boy". Donna is part time here and part time teaching at the College (brave woman!) The Guests seem to like the food too. Have a look on the website for some of the menus the team has been preparing. We seem to be feeding people from 8.30 a.m. until 9.30 p.m. every day of the week. In the quieter times we are planning "The Order of the Wok" . On theme nights you can pick your own ingredients and have them thrown together in a wok. Beef, Chicken, Prawns, Noodles, Rice, Sugar Snap Peas, Pak Choi, Baby corn, Chinese Cabbage with Ginger, Chilli, Garlic Rice wine Soy, Black Bean Sauce……… Lets put the fun back into food! It will be "cook your own" next winter! Things can only get better……...
ACCESS STATEMENT Druidstone itself is not an ideal destination for wheelchair users but the restaurant and two of the cottages are reasonably accessible for the more intrepid visitors. The beach here is a challenge but there are plenty of accessible beaches and Pembrokeshire in general is becoming far more interesting with the development of 50 excellent paths and routes to coastal view points and harbours. For further information try the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park website www.pembrokeshirecoast.org.uk, go to "search" and ask for "easy access" information. There is a good version available in print. Email davemac@pembrokeshirecoast.org.uk The National Park needs more feedback so please send comments.
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK! Joining the "Great" Granny's family house, in the "stable" of Druidstone cottages is the wonderfully renovated cottage known as Curlews.It is now a really comfortable holiday home with a wonderful view of the bay.Curlews has a beautiful red Aga and French windows from the sitting room to a lovely covered outdoor sitting out space.Access to the beach is by public path across the lane.A recent guest spoke of a "life changing" dawn over the bay, watched from the French windows of the master bedroom.Granny's is especially good for two families as it has really good flexible sleeping arrangements and lots of space for wet weather days.	Curlews from the west, showing the lovely Porch
In past Newsletters I have spoken of the joy of holidays at the "Bungalow" (now known as Malator and featured in Grand Designs). Holidays when my folks rented "The Bung" for the whole month of August for £8. Holidays when we cleaned the oil lamps with newspaper, pumped the water from the well and emptied the loo in a big hole in the grounds! When the fridge was paraffin and we collected the milk from Mrs. Paniers at Longlands Farm in a milk can. (Mrs. Panier's Grandson, David still lives at Longlands) We used to hire a pony from East Nolton Farm for the month; Pol would wander round the unfenced land finding nice things to eat and I seem to remember her coming to the sound of a rustling paper bag. My most exhilarating holidays have come from breaking new (or old) ground, cooking in Poland in 1990 or exploring the beaches of Pembrokeshire. Who needs the luxury of Dubai when real and natural pleasure comes from such simple things.

The wedding page has become a baby page………

All those weddings are proving fruitful. The parents named below have recently, either worked or wed at Druidstone. Can you name and match the babies to the parents? Which is the odd baby out? (Members of the staff and relatives of the babies are not eligible for this!!!)

A John (ex chef) and Zoe (from Mirage)
B Bex and Chris (ex waitress & barman)
C Wendy (ex Admin) and Ollie (Pianoman)
D Candida (Druidstonian since 1972) and Jamie (something to do with Music)

MUSICAL CO-INCIDENCES AND ACHEIVEMENTS

Where do I begin….. 1969. Rod returned from San Francisco and met Jane (me) and, in 1972, set up Druidstone. Before Druidstone, Rod ran the Light Show "First Light", with his brother, Nick (who later went on to light Sting and The Police) and Dave Borthwick now of Bolex Brothers. Dave won an Evening Standard Award for technical excellence for The Adventures of Tom Thumb! He beat films by Scorsese and Kenneth Brannagh! Now Dave is making a full length film, Gilbert Shelton's, Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers in "Grass Roots The Movie" narrated by Fat Freddy's Cat! If you remember that you are probably the same age as me and Rod. Music for "Grass Roots" is by Leon Hunt, the Banjo Maestro, from Daily Planet (the bonfire night band) and Andy Davis of Stackridge, Korgis, Tears for Fears, Goldfrapp and of course the wonderful Three Caballeros who are honouring us with their presence for New Year's Eve. Stuart "fabulous fiddle" Gordon, also of Three Caballeros, composed the music for "Bear Spy in the Woods" with Will Gregory of Goldfrapp and was nominated for Royal Television Society Award. Andy Davis and Dave Borthwick shared a flat with Rod and Nick Bell in Bristol in the early and heady days of the Worthy Farm festival that became Glastonbury! Dave speaks of the artistic instincts that we all developed in the '60's and '70's being proved sound and honourable at the beginning of the new Millennium… Simple artistic integrity applies to hospitality, the creation of food as well as music, film and drama. Agree?

This year we again hosted the amazing Jazz Band, Wonderbrass, for their concert at Torch Theatre (*and thereby lies another story!) Wonderbrass work with Claude Deppa of the Jamaican All-stars. Claude was looking at a photograph in the Bar at Druidstone and spotted Annie Whitehead playing with Dave Bitelli's Onward Internationals at our 1982 Jamboree (Annie now leads an all Woman Big Band and played at Brecon this year) Claude noticed Raoul d'Olivera (trumpet) standing beside Annie and it turned out that, when Raoul left Dave Bitelli to work with Wham, Claude took over as trumpet player! Later we played the tapes of the 1982 Jamboree……...
Denise, of Wonderbrass also runs Valleys Kids and is planning a Benefit linking a South African Township with Valley Kids in 2006. In 2005 Valleys Kids hosted an exchange with Nelson Mandela's favourite band, Amampondo. Their percussion ensemble were supported by Barclays Bank and Arts and Business to come to the Valleys and some amazing fun was had by all. Wonderbrass and Amampondo are booked for Litchfield and Marlborough Jazz Festivals so if you missed them at Druidstone or Torch you can catch them in 2006 but it will cost you! Denise's husband, Larry Allen, entered a play with music by Wonderbrass's Rob Smith, for the BBC Writers Room, Broken and Blue Award. Larry's Play, "I thought I heard Buddy Bolden shout" beat 400 others from all over the UK and will be broadcast on Radio Three on a Sunday in March.……. And Alison Hindel, who got married here, is now head of Radio Drama in London!*Another Story….. Pete Doran, the director of Torch Theatre in Milford Haven won the Theatre Management Association's Theatre Director of the Year Award this year! Well deserved… I missed "Dead Funny which went down very well with Druidstone members but I did get to see Michael Bogdanov's Hamlet which was wonderful, dangerous, risky pushing out the boundaries of convention but totally real and exactly what subsidised theatre in Wales should be doing. Back to back productions in Welsh and English - how difficult is that?
This article just grew….. and grew and grew. There seem to be so many achievements amongst Druidstonians right now so get on the Band Wagon and achieve something. Next Year we will have whole page of winners!

ENTERTAINMENTS AND 2006 DATES

Saturday 18th March ... Spring Ceilidh with Arran Pilot £7.00 per Adult includes Soup

Sunday 9th April … Once in a lifetime chance to see and hear the "Ancient Choir" from Poland. A singing Supper that must be booked as space is limited.

Saturday and Sunday and 2nd July…… Midsummer Jamboree. Nanceabout Theatre presents "WHATSERNAME" & Music from Doreen Doreen. From £18 for a weekend

Summer Sundays--from July 23rd to August 27th there will be some sort of activity on Sunday afternoons. Beach Cricket or Arts Workshops (see below)

Saturday November 4th… … End of Season Bash (Daily Planet, Fireworks, bonfire) £7.00 includes jacket spuds.

Sunday December 3rd … … Christmas Bazaar (The Club Bring and Buy!)

Sunday 24th December … … Christmas Eve Carol Singing

Themed suppers on Tuesday and Thursdays throughout the year. Let us have your email address for updates on the theme.
Hitting the "Heat…" The Deputy News Editor of Heat Magazine was seen sleazing in the Druidstone Bar this summer. Accompanied by Heather, Radio One News Reader soon to move to New York, she had a good deal of fun chatting up one of the many famous Druidstone Guests. Captain Nemo maybe? Thanks to the wonderful BBC production of Bleak House on at the moment, I now understand that Nemo means "No name" . (that'll learn you young lady, mentioning Druidstone in your "Spotted" Column) A week or so later the more dignified Observer had the same story! Does this mean that The Observer gets its news from publications like "Heat" I wonder? And who gets their news from the Druidstone Good times?

Caption Competition…

John The Ghost's lovely little pig, "Oink," grew up. This photo was taken by Nicholas Fox. Can anyone better Guy's caption?

And "Yes" it is true , we now only allow smoking in the house after 10.15 p.m. and that is in the bar only. For a "No Rules" house we seem to have changed a bit!

"No Smoking until after 10.15 p.m."

Painters of Pembrokeshire

There are so many painters in Pembrokeshire now. Between 15 and 20 of them exhibit regularly at Druidstone. Graham Hurdwood sold 40 paintings over a weekend at Warpool Court. The Trier's offered really good value accommodation for the weekend and Graham's work was displayed to great advantage in the lovely ground floor rooms of the hotel. Both Jez Walton and Hopcyn Huw Henry are preparing work for exhibition in 2006, hopefully it will be at Druidstone.