the general stores
The downstairs kitchen is the lightest room in The General Stores, with a large window looking into the courtyard garden and up onto the hills beyond – a great place to sit in the morning with a cup of tea – and continues to get the sun most of the day.
It has an electric fan assisted oven, a grill, a gas hob, a microwave, two fridges, various electrical mixers and juicers, a biscuit press, a dishwasher for 18 and a washing machine.
The family breakfast room is between the kitchen and hall. It is a large, quiet room, with views out onto the sheltered rockery and herb garden at the back of the house.
The dining room features original art-work by Helen Job, Nick Walker, Dan Buzzo, Jack Knife and Julian Monaghan.
The seats and tables can be kept in their current position for smaller groups or to seat children on a separate table, or turned round to form an L-shape for the full 20 capacity to dine together. Catering, dining and cocktail services can be provided by Il Bordello Bristol Catering and Cocktails – please e-mail for sample menus on postmaster@ilbordello.co.uk or look at the catering page on the attractions list.
The Snug Play Room leads off the dining room, with seating for four and a toy box of toys for younger children. This space can be seen from the kitchen or dining room and means that small children can be kept in line of vision whilst playing, and toys can be left on the floor without being fallen over! It also has a nappy changing station and dedicated nappy bin, set of toilet trainer seat, potty and sink step and bouncing chair for small babies. there is also a wall mounted TV/DVD player for children to settle down together to watch a pre-bedtime film or programme.
The Snug Sofa Bed – for an additional £100.00 per visit, we can make up the sofa bed in the snug if your group configuration means that less people can or want to share beds, though please be advised that we are not graded for this room as a bedroom. It is a small room, with a chest of drawers and overhead light and small bed side lamp, but to get the sofa into the bed position means that there is a stack of wooden rocking horses and trikes against the other wall behind the door.
The hall is a snug area between the dining room and sitting room, and has an upright piano with music in the music seat. The glazed doors afford views into the sitting room, and into the dining room and on to the rockery garden beyond. All the information relating to local eateries is in a black cabinet, and a good selection of local attractions flyers are displayed on the shelf over the heater.
The bread oven is the original oven from when this part of the property was a bakery at the turn of the last century. You can see the arch way of bricks forming the top of the oven above the toys in the snug play room.
The under stairs cupboard stores a vacuum, mops and broom, clothes-driers and a laundry basket.
The sitting room has 3 large, leather 4-seater sofas, an old leather captain’s chair and two other leather and wood easy chairs. There are additional small seats and various occasional tables and foot stools. It has an old internal wall cupboard with hinges dating to the early 1600′s and also an internal Edwardian casement window, (which we’re not allowed to remove) through which ale was served from when the house was used as a pub.
The wooden front door, although rarely used, leads out from behind a heavy, velvet curtain, onto Mill End Street. It is kept locked as it would be too hazardous for small children and pets staying at the house, though there is a key in a break glass box to comply with fire regs.
There are lots of games and DVDs in the wall cupboard, and lots of childrens books in the bottom of the Chinese TV cabinet. The electric fuse board are behind the curtains in the window, which serve most of the house (the Jovial Colliers one is in the small wooden cupboard and The Upper Malt House one is downstairs in The Lower Malt House).
The ground floor blue bedroom (2) is ideal for the more elderly within the group, with no stairs to climb and wc and shower facilities across the corridor. However it does have the internal Edwardian window leading through to the sitting room so if loud TV is going to be watched late next door then it is a room to be avoided by light sleepers.
It has hanging space in the small alcove and on wall hooks, a covered ottoman, two chests of drawers and an upholstered chair.
The ground floor wet room and bathroom facilities offer a power shower, a wc and a hand wash basin, with a flap down seat and a grab rail in the shower area for the less firm. It also has a door opening immediately into the corridor outside the blue room and can be locked from the kitchen side if being used for this bedroom.
This room is accessible from the garden, via the kitchen, for sun-bathers and hot-tub users, or directly from the downstairs twin blue bedroom. It is also one of the bathrooms which uses a saniflow system for the loo, so please make sure that nothing other than normal soft loo roll goes down it.
The first floor butterfly room (sleeps 3) has a vintage 5 foot wide sleigh bed with a single day-bed built in between the two cupboards. This day bed makes the room double as a twin room if desired, or is ideal as a family room. It has a full width 3 foot single mattress on the day bed. the room has its own wash hand basin.
It is the quietest of the rooms, with views onto the garden and up the hill. It is painted a tranquil white throughout and has embroidered ‘beetle’ cushions and a collection of rare butterflies in frames.
The first floor bunk room (sleeps 2) leads into the butterfly room, and is suitable for two children or for two adults if a group of friends are sharing for a weekend. All the art, and decoupage mini drawers and mirrors are by Nell Nile of Bristol. (www.nellnile.co.uk)
The beds are 3 ft wide (adult size) and there is a curtain providing some privacy. Despite the small size of the room, there is clothes hanging space, a chair and corner shelves providing bed-side table space for each bunk.
The first floor Japanese room (sleeps 3) is the largest and most impressive of the bedrooms, with a double-glazed window onto Mill End Street. It has antique, oak floorboards and one double and one single sleigh bed. The Japanese room can function as a double, family or twin bedroom. There is plenty of space for a travel cot if you are bringing one, and makes a good family room.
It has a built in cupboard, with shelves and plenty of hanging space and a low ‘alter table’ in the sealed fire place. It has individual storage space next to each bed, in the lavishly lacquered bedside chests. It has a fantastic red leather sofa, and is decorated with black and red oriental style silk furnishings, gowns and screens. It is close to the small bathroom.
The first floor white room (sleeps 2) is a twin room, with matching single beds and a double-glazed window onto Mill End Street. It has a generous chest of drawers and hanging space behind the door. The beds themselves lift up, providing storage for suitcases once un-packed. Although the smallest of the main bedrooms, the white room affords ample space for two people sharing.
It is a peaceful bedroom, with images of white flowers and an antique painting of azaeleas on the wall. It is situated immediately opposite the small bathroom.
The first floor Chinese room (sleeps 3) is in the upper corridor of the property, with a double-glazed window onto Mill End Street and a view through the bedroom door and the landing window out to the garden. It has a soft Art Deco style double bed with a chinese throw, and a single wooden bed to enable this room to be used as a twin room or a family room.
This bedroom is suitable for a family with a child and/or a baby, as it is more private and quiet, being situated on its own in the upper corridor, it has a cot already set up in the room and has it’s own en-suite bathroom. It has hanging space in a low cupboard behind the bathroom door and also on decorative panels of wood on the wall. There is also an old fashioned low cupboard for unpacking clothing etc. The bathroom has a medium sized bette bath , a cloak room hand wash basin and a loo.
The first floor, family shower room has a bath with shower mixer, and a separate shower cubicle with an independent electric shower. It has a large wash hand basin and a WC. The wallpaper is vintage 1950′s Eames.
Although much of the plumbing is relatively new, it must be remembered that the property is some 600 years old, and uses narrow pipe work. There is a saniflow in this bathroom and also water pressure is sometimes low if all bathrooms are being used at the same time. For this reason, each bathroom has it’s own electric shower, which is not reliant on the main hot water supply and water pressure should the house be fully occupied.
The first floor, small bette bathroom is a compact bathroom on the main landing, using Waverly Edwardian style fittings, and appealing especially to children with it’s compact Bette Sitz bath. It has an old fashioned, ‘watering-can’ style overhead shower, again running off an independent electric shower.
Miniature, marble mosaic tiles surround the bath, and the room is decorated with shell and ceramic glassware.
The four poster bedroom, has a free standing bath with central taps, and it’s own en-suite loo and wc. The four poster bed has curtains and cushions made from antique french linen bed spreads, and a linen curtain hangs over the door way to the Upper Malt House.
This room is unfortunately the internal access point for The Upper Malt House, but has a sliding lock on the inside of each door for once its occupants have gone to bed. There is an additional external stairway from the other end of the Upper Malt House into the courtyard garden below .
For reference in allocating rooms, if the Upper Malt House is going to be locked at night, then the rinky dink pink and sunshine yellow rooms become unsuitable for children, and better for older teenagers or adults, who can use the external stairs at night if necessary.
The clog and habitat carrier bag paintings are by Dave Merrills from North Wales. The floor is wide tumbled oak boards, and forms the sides of the in room bath and also the custom made window shutters.
