06.02.08
The Aaron House
To start off my travelogue of the Isle of Man and London, I wanted to put in a plug for the bed and breakfast lodging we stayed in for eight nights at the Isle of Man. This bed and breakfast house has a Victorian theme. The rooms are furnished and decorated in Victorian fashion. Not only is the house decorated in that era, but the hosts, Kath and Reggie, dress the part as they serve breakfast. Kath is a wonderful cook! Her breads are delicious! And while there were several choices on her breakfast menu, I just loved the kippers, so had those most mornings. Oh, I suppose I should mention the “name” of this bed and breakfast? Why, it’s called the Aaron House in Port St. Mary’s on the Isle of Man. Here’s Brian sitting at the front steps:
The house is situated right in the middle of the block, nestled amongst a row of other Victorian Houses. It actually reminds me a lot of parts of San Francisco, but this house is right on the waterfront. I thought for sure Brian took a shot of the view from the bay windows, but alas, I can’t find a shot! But here is a shot of one side of the street showing the row of Victorian homes.
Our room was on the third floor. There were no elevators, so we just walked up the stairs each night. I must admit after walking all day visiting sites, then doing the last three flights of stairs in the evening gave my rear a work out, ha! Here’s me at the top of the hallway standing just opposite our room door.
The more expensive suites had bathroom access from their rooms, but we had to go down this 1/2 flight of stairs to get to our bathroom. It was exclusive to us during our stay, but we were also given a “key” to the bathroom to keep it locked while other visitors were there in case they decided to use our bathroom. This was actually the first time I’ve ever stayed in a lodge where the bathroom was down the hall a bit. But it turned out fine, and again, I don’t know why I didn’t take a pic of the bathroom since it was also rather cute. A funny thing I found was that there appears to be the impression that Americans don’t like baths, and will only take showers. That was a new one on me. Since the hostess knew we were Americans, she offered us the only bathroom with a shower, the rest have tubs. Anyway, I did take a pic of the “key” to the bathroom door because this was a different kind of a key. . .
Now that I’m sharing our pictures, I’m realizing what a poor job we’ve done of capturing this cute lodging! I’ve missed the view of the bay from the front, I’ve neglected to take a pic of the cute bathroom, and now I see that the pics I’ve taken of our room also do not do justice to the quaint decor. Here is our one shot which does *not* show the small fireplace, or the vanity, or the armoire for our clothing.
I will say that the bed was very comfy. The sheets were fresh and pressed ready for each evening, and the comforter was just warm enough, but not too hot. For more pictures of the Aaron House rooms check out their link as they also had a parlour and a reading room available to us where I was able to read a bit on Manx Murders, heheh, and some of their fairytales. Each night we’d come back to find freshly baked cakes.
While I’m on the subject of food, the breakfast menu had a nice selection from pancakes and waffles to bacon and eggs to kippers and smoked haddock. I think my Filipino taste buds really surfaced here because I really enjoyed the kippers and requested to have them almost each morning while there. Here’s my first plate of it, heheheh:
Kath baked fresh bread each morning:
Now these are “organic” “whole wheat” breads! The advertisement that organic foods were served for breakfast was actually the first lure for me to check this place out. We did learn something here, too, that they don’t have “red” wheat there. Their whole wheat is naturally light, kind of like our whole wheat pastry flour. Kath made lots of other breads, but here’s another shot of only two other types, the ones on the right with the currants are scones and boy did I love those!
Since I liked the kippers so much and Kath knew we were interested in local foods and stuffs, she suggested I try the smoked haddock. This is milder than the kippers. It is smoked, then boiled in milk and served with butter and bread.
Now I hope not to mislead people as from my pictures it might sound like this is what Manx “normally” eat each day. Kath mentioned that it was not all that common for Manx people to eat kippers for breakfast as I was doing. I just loved it, so that’s what I had. Other breakfast foods on the menu included pancakes with maple syrup, waffles, eggs and toast, cereals, etc. Brian particularly like their porridge which you had to request the night before because it is soaked overnight in milk, I think, then cooked and served with butter. I had a taste and it was actually quite nice!
We had the option of having breakfast taken up to us in our room in the morning or coming downstairs for breakfast in the dinning room. We chose to come down each morning since I really like the view from their bay window in the morning. We could look out at the bay and watch the kids walk by as they went to school. One morning there was a line of kids standing out front, and they noticed Brian and me in the window. It was funny because for some reason when I was sitting in the bay window, I felt like I was in a cozy nook and I could see out, but no one could see me. I was obviously wrong! Ha! I don’t know why I felt that, but I did. So it was surprising when the kids started to wave hello to us! Ha ha! Some waved, and a couple had their hands up uncertain if we would wave back. When we waved back they started to wave to us, ha ha! So sweet.
So there’s my plug for the Aaron House! I would recommend it to anyone, although there are some restrictions such as no children allowed, and no smoking. While I know this wasn’t the perfect plug for them (I missed some good shots), I hope I at least conveyed the message that we really enjoyed our stay there. If we were ever to go back again, I would seriously like to return there again.
Marlakins
P.S. Just a little trivia that I found interesting. . . Here in America we have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There in the UK I was told they have breakfast, dinner, and supper. What we call lunch, they call dinner. What we call dinner, they call supper. Good to know if you plan to make dinner arrangements!
