Wild weather, high tides and river surfing in Bude ... officially the warmest place in January 2014!!

Heavens! What a wet and wild start to 2014 we’ve endured weather wise. 

As reports of chaos across the West Country hit the headlines many of our lovely regular guests contacted us to check how we were doing in light of the storms. I was relieved to be able to tell them each time that we were fine and that fortunately Bude hadn’t been too badly hit.

Our hearts go out to those whose homes, businesses and lives in general were so dreadfully shaken by storm damage and winter flooding.  With the much needed dry spell we’ve all enjoyed in the last week or so we hope that life for everyone is starting to get a little more back to normal.

For those who know Bude, the extremely high tides and strong winds in January did cause the River Neet to overflow its wall slightly along The Strand and the lovely little shops down there were saved by their sandbags on more than one occasion.  With sea conditions being unsafe for surfers at the height of the storms some locals were actually filmed surfing the waves in the river where it approaches the town centre itself … this was quite a sight to see and was caught on camera (and YouTube) here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTBz8g7c9Hc

The winds and high water levels resulted in a large amount of debris being washed ashore onto our beaches and some of the beach huts were sadly damaged beyond repair.  Across the county a call went out to help with a clean-up operation and on a sunny Sunday in mid February  50 people volunteered at Summerleaze Beach to assist with helping to clear the debris scattered during the extended period of stormy weather.  The local community well understand the importance of tourism to the area and wanted to reassure visitors that Cornwall is still very much open for business.    

The Met Office confirmed what everyone suspected all along, we had just endured the wettest January in one hundred years.  No great surprise there then, however they also revealed the maximum temperature during January was actually recorded on the 5^th …. at 14.1 C …. in Cornwall …. right here .... in Bude!!!!

You can read more about this in the Met Office Blog here

http://metofficenews.wordpress.com/2014/02/14/january-weather-summary/

 

As we moved into March many pretty yellow daffodils popped up in our front garden and in the last week or so we’ve had a lot of lovely warm sunshine …. all day long … no rain at all. We noticed our Agapanthus plants (who've looked very sorry for themselves throughout the winter) are starting to push new green shoots up through the soil outside the breakfast room bay window and the shrubs we cut right back in the Autumn are all showing new growth.  At last there's a definite feeling of Spring in the air.

After a winter of re-decoration and refurbishment (and you thought we did nothing from December to March!) the AA have confirmed our "4 Star Gold Award" status for another year and we're keen to get going again with our 2014 season. To coincide with this our Spring Short Break offer is up and running again where 2 people can enjoy 3 nights bed and breakfast in a Superior Double or Twin En-suite Room for £150.00 until early May.  Please follow the” Spring Break 2014” buttons on our website below to locate full details and terms and conditions of this popular offer.

http://www.fairwayguesthouse.co.uk/index.htm

So, if you are thinking of visiting Cornwall for a few days but were at all concerned that that the county is still suffering the effects of this winters’ bad weather please be reassured …. it’s very much “Business as Usual” in Bude and we would all very much love to see you here.