FRONT OF HOUSE | JAMAICA INN
FARM SHOP
What about it ’ s smuggling history ? It used to be used as a place to store smuggled goods that were brought in [ through ] secret pathways from the north coast and the south coast to Jamaica Inn . It was a safe place to store stuff because it was so far and so remote , then it was moved up country to London and the Midlands when it was safe to do so . Daphne du Maurier was out on Bodmin Moor on a bad November morning in 1930 when the mist and fog came down . She was with a female friend on horses ; they got lost and they couldn ’ t ’ find their way back and it was the evening when they decided to leave the horses to see if they would lead them out . They got off the horses and [ they ] walked them out to Jamaica Inn just as the rescue party was about to go out . To recover from her ordeal [ du Maurier ] stayed at Jamaica Inn for about three days and during that time she learnt about all the smuggling that was going ; about a year later she started writing the book Jamaica Inn .
And how have you helped to retain its history and how do you hope to keep retaining its history ? All my development has been on the side of the existing Inn and in two places out of the
MUSEUM
three it ’ s been getting rid of eyesore ; just old sheds and old tanks . It ’ s really two parts to the development - the farm shop and the kitchen . They were really rough , I did not touch the actual inn itself but I built on the side of it .
What does the farm shop sell ? It ’ s almost all Cornish . We ’ ve got all the usual things that you would expect to get in a store with an emphasis on it being Cornish . We do ordinary things like eggs and bread every morning . We bake bread here every day . We sell all the usual things groceries , meat , vegetables and so on but with a strong emphasis on Cornish food and drink . For example we have Cornish vodka and rum .
Would you say this places you in an important role in the community , with the history of the hotel and your food shop ? Yes . We ’ re in a small village called Bolventor which had no store at all until I built the farm shop . It ’ s the only place they can buy anything in Bolventor including newspapers .
Do you get many tourists who aren ’ t guests who just want to see the hotel ? We get tourists and locals , a mix of the two coming to the inn and to the farm shop . We have more tourists in the summer than we do in the winter but we have locals all the year round and tourists especially in the summer months .
How do you make the most of the visits for those staying and those who are just passing through ? We ’ ve got a combination of things to offer them more than the average hotel . We have the smuggling museum , the Daphne du Maurier room , they can go in the farm shop and of course we ’ ve also got a huge gift shop which some people describe as having more gifts to buy in it than most . And of course we ’ ve got the great views over looking Bodmin Moor .
Do you offer tours ? No we don ’ t offer tours , [ but ] people go off walking on the moors from here . We ’ ve got the highest points in Cornwall just two and a half miles away , a tor called Brown
36 www . hotelowner . co . uk July 2017