families & friends

Is it your partner’s 40th or 50th and you want to celebrate with family and friends?  Is it your mother or father’s 60th?   Or one of your grand parents’ 70th or 80th?   Or maybe a wedding anniversary?

Does no-one in your family have a house big enough to accommodate all three generations – sometimes four?

The General Stores, Mill End Mitcheldean, is the ideal location.

Why?

We can seat up to 36 over two long tables for dinner, and have 6 high chairs.

We can provide in house catering.

We can commission a locally made celebratory cake with the birthday person’s name, likes and loves incorporated into the design.

Or we can commission a locally made ‘memory keepsake box’ with ‘digital decoupage’ images of your loved ones life…..

We have lots of areas within the house and things to do for small children – dolls houses, rocking horses, soft toys, sand pit, play area, hot tub, DVD collection, wildlife activity folder, or we can arrange qualified baby-sitters for you….

We have lots of things for young adults and teenagers to do – popcorn maker, biscuit press, pool table, TV and DVDs…..

We have some very well equipped kitchens for foodies……

We have a great list of local food and drink producers to make your stay more enjoyable……..

And we have parts of the house or even a detached cottage if the more senior members of your party want to join in the celebrations but have somewhere a bit quiet to retire to when it all get too much!

At The General Stores we take children’s entertainment and safety very seriously.

If the children are happy, then the grown ups are too we reckon!  There is an easy grab first aid kit in the loo in the Lower Malt House and also in the family bathroom in the Lower Malt House, along with the potty, trainer set and step set.

We have equipped the house along the lines of a Montessori ethic, with all toys being made from wood and having some kind of educational merit, and we deliberately avoid toys with flashing lights and sound effects.  You are here for the weekend to relax not be surrounded by a cacophony of noise.  (Apart from the musical instruments including recorders, tambourines and sleigh bells in the downstairs hall – sorry!) Each area where adults might be sitting relaxing has a selection of toys at ground level for small children to enjoy .

Please try and return toys to the rooms where you found them and leave out anything which becomes broken so we can fix it before the next lots of guests.

The Downstairs kitchen in the Lower Malt House has two baskets of IKEA picnic sets for small children to clatter around with as they sit on the floor or to use outside for BBQs and al-fresco eating.

The Main Sitting Room has toddler toys in the red wooden trunk to the right of the Chinese TV cupboard, board books and amazing Baby activity books on the two lower shelves of the TV cupboard, wooden slot in jigsaws for toddlers in the right hand drawer and wooden dominoes, card games and block puzzles in the left hand drawer.  There are also extensive DVDs for children of all ages in the wall cupboard, along with older childrens board games etc

The Upper Malt House Dining Area has a double sided dolls house with lots of furniture, a basket of bricks  and a rocking horse called Dobbin