Our recent weekend in Wiltshire brought us to this amazing and incredibly charming bed and breakfast in Castle Combe, the Fosse Farmhhouse. The photos I’ve seen of the house made me want to press fast forward to the weekend that we were to spend there, I couldn’t wait to see it for myself. I wanted to check if the photos were heavily photoshopped or if it’s truly that beautiful.
The day before we arrived, Caron the owner of Fosse Farmhouse called me to welcome me in advance. She also asked if we have any dietary requirements that they must be aware of for our breakfast. The hospitality and the attention to detail started even before we set foot in their property, I knew then that I was definitely in for a treat.
We arrived late Friday night so I wasn’t able to see much of Fosse Farmhouse, Caron was there of course to welcome us and gave us some tips on where to go for dinner in the area. As it was quite a long drive, we decided to call it a night earlier than our usual Friday nights. To be completely honest though, I couldn’t wait for morning to come to finally see this property in daylight.
At 6am, I was up and ready with my camera(s). I started exploring inside the house as it was still too cold and damp to go outside at that time. The beautiful receiving area was cozy and filled with Japanese manga paraphernalia. Yes, Japanese manga – you read that right. Before coming here for the weekend, I did notice the Japanese characters on their website so I did a quick research about it.
Fosse Farmhouse was used as the house of the main character in a popular Japanese anime series called Kiniro Mosaic, also known as Kinmoza. I came across this post which features some of the anime movie stills and the resemblance to the house itself is uncanny. From the design of the house itself to the things displayed inside the house, the anime was able to capture it extremely well.
I read some of the reviews of Japanese tourists who visited Fosse Farmhouse and found out that there is actually an anime pilgrimage around the Cotswolds which visits all the key places featured in an anime movie and Fosse Farmhouse is one of the stops included in the pilgrimage. From the movie stills that I’ve seen, I can imagine how it must’ve been an incredible experience for anime fans to see that the house is exactly how it was portrayed in the animation.
The breakfast dining area is another highlight of the house itself, it’s so charming and homey. Every single corner of that small dining area is instagrammable, it’s like walking in one of the houses featured in Country Living magazine. Caron who is a vintage collector filled the whole house with her unique collections but I think there was a huge focus on this lovely dining area.
I explored the grounds after and realized that it is as beautiful as the photos. Set in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Fosse Farmhouse couldn’t have chosen a more beautiful and more relaxing location than this.
We had a hearty full English breakfast for both of the days that we were there and Caron served her homemade jam from the fruit grown in her orchard. Fosse Farmhouse is also famous for their freshly baked scones which we weren’t able to try sadly but having had a taste of what they offer for breakfast, I’m sure it’s great.
We were booked in the Pine Room which was again featured in the anime. I’m sure that if an anime fan is reading this now they’d be extremely jealous that I actually stayed in that room. It has an old world charm which may work for some and may not for others. I was sure that The Greek Mister wouldn’t like it but surprisingly, he kept talking how comfortable the whole room was as the size was quite bigger than what we’re normally used to when staying in family-run accommodations.
Caron gave us walking map routes that we can take around the area. Fosse Farmhouse is a mere 25 minutes walk away from the main village of Castle Combe and the path was a pleasant combination of public footpaths…
the woods…
a golf course…
and under what looks like an ancient bridge.
The reward you get after a 25-minute walk is the beautiful and charming medieval village of Castle Combe.
There’s another route that we can take which will take us 3 hours to complete, we were just not made for that much walking so we decided to go back to the house to get the car. 🙂
I don’t think I could’ve chosen a better accommodation in Castle Combe to stay in other than Fosse Farmhouse. The location and its character set it out as one of the most unique and comfortable accommodations we’ve ever stayed in but of course the highlight of our stay was the hospitality of the people in Fosse Farmhouse who took great care of us. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough.
Pin it for later:
Fosse Farmhouse
Nettleton Shrub
Nettleton
Nr Castle Combe
Wilts SN14 7NJ
caroncooper[at]fossefarmhouse[.]com
+44 1249 782286
Website
My visit to Wiltshire was sponsored by Visit Wiltshire which includes the accommodation in Fosse Farmhouse and the entrance fee to Longleat. As always, all photos and opinions are my own and are in no way influenced.
Wonderful post and photos! Is it far from London?
What a beautiful place! I love that there is an anime pilgrimage too!