Jonathan Thomas (00:21)
Welcome to the Anglotopia Podcast, where we explore British travel, history, and culture. I'm your host, Jonathan Thomas. Today's episode is a very personal one for me, and it comes with a big announcement. So Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset, is one of the most iconic streets in Britain. You know it even if you don't know it. It's the steep, cobbled lane lined with ancient cottages that Ridley Scott used in the 1970s Hovis Bread advertisement. It's one of the most beloved and nostalgic television commercials ever made.

And and you've also seen this street and countless travel guides, ph photographs. It's it's everywhere. And so for many people, including me, it the image is the very definition of England. And so Gold Hill, though, for me is a little something more. It's the place I dreamed about going before I ever set foot in Britain. And as a teenager in Indiana, I bought a poster at Hobby Lobby called Gold Hill Dorset.

And hung it on my wall next to my bed and looked at it every single morning and thought one day I'm gonna go there. And when I finally made it on my second trip to Britain with Mrs. Anglotopia, it was one of the happiest moments of my life. And we have been back dozens of times since staying in the former Updown Cottage that was right on the hill in the middle. It's a place that means the world to us. And today I'm announcing something we've been looking forward to for a very long time. This coming February.

Mrs. Anglotopia and I are finally returning to stay on Gold Hill after nearly 10 years away after Updown Cottage went private. We will be staying in Button Cottage, which is right next door. So Button Cottage is a remarkable property in its own right. It's a 400 year cottage sitting right on the cobbles of Gold Hill, and it has been painstakingly and authentically restored by its owner, Melanie Fontana, over three years. It's one of those rare places where history isn't just preserved, it's lived in.

And it's on Airbnb. So Melanie, welcome to the Anglotopia podcast and thank you for making our return to Gold Hill so very special.

melanie (02:24)
Thanks, Jonathan. I'm really excited to be here today and I'm looking forward to chatting to you about it.

Jonathan Thomas (02:27)
I

I have been looking forward to this interview for weeks and ⁓ so let's let's start at the beginning. How did you come to own a cottage on one of the most famous streets in Britain? Was it something you dreamed about or did it just pop up unexpectedly?

melanie (02:47)
It was love at first sight. It was a complete accident. We, like many British people, thought that the iconic place that's used in the film for the hovey spread was up north, in the north of England.

And we were very surprised when we came for a long weekend, one Easter, that our host at a B &B mentioned, you might want to go and visit Shoresbury and see Gold Hill. So we came and our jaws literally dropped.

when we stood at the top of the hill, it was just a phenomenal view. And there is a cafe at the top of the hill. We came each morning for our three day stay and just sat there and looked in all the view and the view of the cottages and the countryside behind them. So that's how we came to own one. My partner got on his phone and Googled to see if there was anything for sale. And this little cottage, ⁓ the cutest of all the cottages,

was for sale and we went home and got on the phone and booked a viewing and we just wanted to snap it up right away.

Jonathan Thomas (04:02)
So you guys bought it in twenty nineteen, right before the world turned upside down. So what were those early days like as a new property owner in the middle of a pandemic?

melanie (04:07)
stress.

Well, we couldn't get to it actually because travel was restricted by the government's safety guidance and so we couldn't come and start work on it which was really really sad. When the restrictions released a bit we began then and the majority of the initial work was umpteen trips to the rubbish site.

to dispose of materials that shouldn't be here and general belongings left in the property. So ⁓ yeah, it was pretty grim actually as a time for everybody not being able to just come and go as they pleased and do what they wanted to do. So it was very restrictive.

Jonathan Thomas (04:59)
And so as a consequence, the renovation took three years. ⁓ what was your philosophy going into it? in our previous conversations, you've described wanting to use the right materials and the processes for an old building. What does that mean in practice when you're restoring a four hundred year old cottage?

melanie (05:17)
So our philosophy was to recreate as original a cottage as we possibly could and that meant revealing the original features. There are restrictions that prevent you doing anything else, but really you have to ⁓ restore the cottage with original type materials. So that means materials of the time.

and ⁓ we found that it was very much spoiled in the 1970s. There was a real trend in the 1970s in the UK to get rid of fireplaces, to block them up, and clearly somebody felt...

They wanted it to just look like a modern house. ⁓ The ceiling, all the beams were covered, all the woodwork around the window, everything original was covered ⁓ with modern plasterboard. The walls were plastered with modern plaster and ⁓ modern materials were used to paint it. It was actually really, really damp.

⁓ and that's because it had been tanked with bitumen tar, means that the natural moisture in the walls can't escape and the moisture coming up through the floor was prevented from doing that by concrete.

So I don't know how much you know about old properties but actually the old-fashioned building techniques are fantastic because what they do is they allow a cottage like this to absorb moisture.

and then release moisture according to the weather patterns and so it just breathes just like we do and it needs the flexibility to be allowed to do that and once you put modern materials like concrete, modern plaster, plasterboard, tar, ⁓ things like that on it you stop it breathing and you hold that moisture in and it's got to come out somewhere sometime so the walls were very damp so we had a

lot of work to do to take all of that stuff away and that took the best part of three years.

Jonathan Thomas (07:32)
Wow. It's hard to it's it's ⁓ interesting to picture that because the cottage is ⁓ along with the rest of the street as iconic as old oldie England. And to think that inside that cottage was a nineteen seventies modern drop ceiling modern plaster board ⁓ cottage, it's so that's so funny. And I and I I applaud you guys for taking it back to what it what it's meant to be. And that's that's something I I've watched

Countless episodes of Grand Designs and various British home improvement shows. So I I'm I'm well aware of the challenges that that you can face and I know that that doing it authentically has a cost, not just in physical labor and financial costs. It just it takes so much to put into it. And so I I applaud you guys for doing that. And so Button Cottage dates back to to late 1500s.

And you've described uncovering building the building's original features and historical heritage during this restoration because you've stripped all of that nineteen seventies garbage back. What were some of the most exciting or surprising discoveries that you made other than damp and mold?

melanie (08:45)
Well what was really exciting is the sheer fact that those features were here underneath it all because you just don't know. You don't know as you peel it back what you're going to find and to find those beams and to touch them and to know they're approximately 450 years old is just goosebump. They are filled with

ancient woodworm holes from centuries ago and they're just beautiful and of course they require a lot of cleaning as well. You don't just pull down a full ceiling and wow it's already hiding away ready to to come back to life. No there is a lot a lot a lot of cleaning to do and work to do. So the original wood that we found was really exciting.

upstairs the original elm floorboards sadly had more floorboards nailed into them so when someone decided that maybe they weren't good enough anymore they didn't restore them they wanted to cover them up they nailed victorian floorboards into them and that unfortunately split them

So we were not able to take up the Victorian floorboards. But what I would like to say is the Victorian floorboards are now very historical in their own right. ⁓ And we have revealed those and there are a couple of Elm boards that you can see part of just outside the bedroom area. They were completely covered with chipboard because someone had tried to level the floor, you know, to avoid ⁓ any trips.

potential trips and it's just lovely to walk upstairs and see the elm boards peeping out and then go into the bedrooms and be on what you know are Victorian floorboards. So that was a wonderful, wonderful surprise and I tell you what the social history, the amount of different wallpaper designs, especially off the front of the fireplace here, that seems to be a real key feature where people

wanted to put lots of wallpaper it goes right from I don't know early 50s ⁓ through to even the 80s so it's really we've kept all of them and one day we hope to make a montage and frame it and put it up like a picture we haven't done that yet but anyone is very very welcome we'll pass over the folder containing all those snippets of wallpaper

What else is there? There's some wood upstairs where somebody has made a little bit of a gallery ⁓ wall to stop you sort of stepping out of the bedroom onto the stairs because that would be very dangerous. There's a little galleryed piece and that the wood there is from would have been from an old market chest so there's name of suppliers sort of ingrained into it and we haven't taken anything like that away because

whilst that might not be 450 years old, because let's face it, they wouldn't have had a staircase even back then, it is still part of the cottage history. So I think, you know, to add to your previous question, our philosophy has been to revert it back to its original state as far as possible, but also to keep some of those pathways it's taken over time, where they are interesting and where they are the correct materials. And wood is very much.

a correct material of course. ⁓ can I just say one more thing? A fossil. So when my partner dug up the floor, the concrete floor, he found a fossil. He dug it up by hand ⁓ with a pickaxe.

because he didn't want to use any kind of machinery that might damage or whatever lay underneath. And he's settled the fossil into the grouting next to the floor, the limestone floor tiles just in between the living room and kitchen. So it's there for people to see.

Jonathan Thomas (13:05)
Neat. That's lovely. So the name Button Cottage itself has a lovely history. Can you tell us why you guys ended up on that name and what the history is behind it?

melanie (13:14)
Yeah,

I'd like to say part of that is because it literally is as cute as a button. That's a phrase in the UK, cute as a button. But yeah, historically, Shaftesbury was one of the leading towns in the button making industry.

and people who made the buttons were home workers. There was no machinery then and they literally sat and hand embroidered buttons and this was mainly the women and children. ⁓ They all worked.

They sat at home making buttons and that what carried on right until the button industry was very much industrialized in Victorian times when industrialization came and what that meant sadly was that many families emigrated to Australia to find a future because of course their work disappeared overnight.

So Shaftesbury was ⁓ very much a leader in the button making industry and when you visit the art centre and when you visit the museum you'll be able to see some original examples of those buttons. It was very much the wealthy people that could afford the most decorative buttons. Yes, it was a very working class, very much a workers area, Shaftesbury. ⁓

Gold Hill particularly and there would have been markets outside the cottages here, lots of livestock, horses and carts going up and down with goods, all sorts of trades took place here, it was very much the market street of the town.

Jonathan Thomas (14:58)
So let's that's a good segue into the into sort of the next topic I wanna talk about. Let's talk about Gold Hill and Shaftsbury itself. So for for listeners who may not know Goldhill or Shaftsbury, can you paint us a picture of it? What what makes the place so special and other than the the famous commercial?

melanie (15:17)
Yeah, no, absolutely. So to frame the town, the first thing I would say is it's one of the five highest towns in England ⁓ and it's the only significant high town in Dorset. So it's a Saxon town and it was built originally to fortify the land, the town as such. ⁓ so it's all made from green stone.

⁓ It is ⁓ on top of a hill and it is very well known for its independent shops unlike very touristy other parts of Dorset and very souveniry parts of Dorset. Shaftsbury has a ⁓ more than its fair share of independent shops and that means artisan crafts. ⁓

homemade, handmade candles, pottery, ⁓ lots of art. ⁓ It attracts a lot of art, arty people. ⁓ They display their art here. ⁓ And we have a ⁓ worldwide renowned countryside bookshop. So it's a very interesting place. It's very good for browsing these little shops, talking to the owners. We have a kitchen bookshop, which is so

famous, they do lots of author signing ⁓ events, so that's become very popular far and wide. yeah, it's a delightful town. So a lot of old buildings are still here. And the stone of the time was greenstone. So predominantly, you're looking at greenstone buildings. We have our own art center, our own outdoor swimming pool, and it's a very small town, but I'd say it's quite

vibrant. What you also may not know about Dorset, ⁓ if you haven't, if your listeners haven't come here on holiday, there's quite a lot of quiet time as well because

It's a little bit still kind of old fashioned in that shops are not open 24-7. We do have a Tesco that's open till midnight, just about a 10 minute walk away. But typically, places shut at four or five and it goes quite quiet in the evening. ⁓

And so it's a really nice space to just walk around and relax and we walk our little dog. So you do get some quiet times and then you get lots of buskers at weekends, making you feel, we feel that we're on holiday when we go up into the town. It's just got that feel about it. And especially if there's a bit of a breeze being on top of the hill, the sun and the breeze, it just often makes us feel like we're on holiday.

and we don't have to pay to go home. So that's quite nice. But yeah, there's lots of interesting things to see. There are plaques, historical plaques, to define the history, the connection between a person and a place or a house and a point in time ⁓ whereby it will tell you who lived there. So lots of buildings have been lived in by famous people.

Jonathan Thomas (18:16)
Ha ha ha.

melanie (18:41)
⁓ Yeah, it's great for walking. We have fantastic views down ⁓ just at the top of the hill. There is a walk, which we call it the promenade because it would have been a promenade for Victorians to promenade and show themselves off to meet young gentlemen. ⁓ And that's beautiful because it's just a lovely wide place for people to walk.

and to admire the view. The view just goes for miles over the Blackmoor Vale and you can see that from the cottage as well and then from the other side of Shaftesbury there's another fantastic view ⁓ over to the north so we're lucky to have the Blackmoor Vale and Cranborne Moor Chase just right by us here and we can see all of those views. So it's just a delightful market town.

Jonathan Thomas (19:35)
Well and to to pick up on one of the points you made, the the the quietness of Shaftsbury is one of the things I love the most about it because you stand on the street in the evening after ever all everything is closed, or early in the morning when you wake up, all you hear is bird song and silence. And it's a kind of silence I don't get here where I live, even though I live out in the country. I I live near a major highway. So like it I never have silence. And so

That's one of the things I enjoy the most when I'm in Shaftesbury is it's just so quiet. And even though Gold Hill is world famous and there's lots of visitors even on

Jonathan Thomas (20:12)
In the middle of the week, ⁓ it it's it's still very quiet. And it's like you hear something, you're like, what is going on out there? You know, or someone drives up the hill and you're like, What is going on? And it's just other than that, it's just quiet. And ⁓ like you said, there's so much history there. And I I like to say that really ⁓ Shaftsbury is kind of a microcosm of all of English history.

It's it's been there for most of it. And it's the settlement on this hill that has seen so much. And one of my favorite bits is actually right out the front door of of Button Cottage. And that's the the Abbey Ruin Wall, which is a grade one scheduled monument that was built over 600 years ago. And so what's it like living alongside an ancient monument every day?

melanie (21:06)
It's fascinating. It's truly a beautiful wall, ⁓ beautiful green stone and little flowers popping out of it. And it's just so peaceful. So it's a really nice thing to live opposite and to know that that will always be there because it is, as you say, it has the highest level of protection and conservation. So it will always be there. ⁓ And

Jonathan Thomas (21:07)
It's truly a beautiful wall. Beautiful green stone and little flowers.

melanie (21:35)
these little houses are just kind of built in there.

you know, under the impressive status of the wall. It's beautiful. And of course, the Abbey ruins can actually be seen as well in the town from Park Walk, know, the promenade I mentioned. You can go in, it's free. You can go in there and you can just sit. You feel a real sense of calm when you go in there as well. And they're quite happy for you to just sit.

welcome people to take in picnics and things as well, but it's just nice to see the ruins and ⁓ they have a card for you to take round and read what each ruin represents ⁓ as a part of the abbey that would have been. It was extensive by the way, was one of the biggest and richest abbeys in the UK.

Jonathan Thomas (22:24)
Yeah.

Yeah,

it was founded by Alfred the Great, who's considered the the founder of what we think of as England. And ⁓ yeah, the Abbey itself dates back to the year 888. It's not 1888, 888. So, you know, 1300 years ago, this place has been there. And it's yeah, I highly recommend the Abbey Museum. It's fascinating to to learn about life in this Abbey and how rich it was and then what happened to it ⁓ during the Reformation.

⁓ yeah, and and how really the ruins of the Abbey are the entire town because they use the stone to build all the the iconic buildings. So so Gold Hill became famous because of a a television commercial directed by the famous director Ridley Scott. He wasn't famous when he made the commercial, but he has since but made some of Hollywood's most awesome movies. ⁓

So how how does that legacy of that TV ad ⁓ affect the town today? And do visitors still come specifically because of the advert? 'Cause I know when I when I first visited in two thousand four, ⁓ y you made a point that actually the a person who had was visiting from elsewhere also made that everyone thought it was in Yorkshire.

melanie (23:48)
Yeah, it's such an iconic place, isn't it? And people do come, we have international visitors, people do come because of the advert. And sometimes, you know, one of the couple will say to me, I hadn't seen it, but my husband showed me on YouTube.

So yeah, and we have tourists walking up and down actually humming it, singing it along. Yeah, so it seems to span all ages, even though of course younger people don't see it on television now, of course, but once they hear about it, it just seems to be quite, you know, every member of the family seems to be quite enthralled by it. And, you know, in terms of how

how it impacts the town. I'd say the town has got used to it. The town is just...

very protective of it but it almost wears it like a comfortable cardigan. You know the town doesn't do anything special and one of the really attractive things about the hill is is exactly that because what that means is it hasn't been overdone, it hasn't been presented

you know, in a certain way. It is very much as it is. You know, nobody's out there polishing cobbles. The cobbles just exist. The cottages just exist. Unfortunately, when one is derelict, someone...

comes along who really cares about the history of Shaftesbury and the history of the cottages and wants to maintain that legacy. And they come along and they do the right thing by the cottage. And so, you know, another generation lives in the cottage and the cottage gets saved. And it kind of just almost, it just works by itself. It just almost is self-sustaining.

Jonathan Thomas (25:50)
Yeah, one one thing I've noticed over the years looking at ⁓ historical pictures of Gold Hill. ⁓ I've seen them in all eras, and including back when it was painted instead of photographed. And one thing that doesn't change is the street doesn't really change. ⁓ maybe there was a tree overhanging from the Abbey or the doors are painted slightly different, but the hill is largely the hill. It's it's it's a very it's a thing that doesn't change. That's one of the things I love about it.

Most wrong.

So ⁓ let's talk about the restoration a little bit more. ⁓ restoring a listed building, and for my American listeners who don't know what that means, a listed building means that the building is of historical interest and it's on a register with the British government that says this building is important, is of historical value, and any changes to it must adhere to that hist history. And so because of that, it's notoriously complicated to to restore an old building like this.

What were the restrictions and requirements that you had to work with then? Because I believe you still work with English Heritage to do these things.

melanie (26:57)
Well, yes, I mean, the first thing we did, I think it's fair to say, is to educate ourselves actually, because, you know, we've done a Victorian property before, home, as it was on our Scott Racecourse.

but we have never done or lived in anything this old. And so we wanted to make sure that we were more than just a little bit, you know, advised and informed. So we became ⁓ members of the property, listed property owners club ⁓ and, you know, read all their publications and looked up ⁓ certain aspects.

⁓ as we came to them, whether that be furniture in terms of fixtures and fittings type furniture ⁓ or materials. So we were quite well versed and certainly you have to use materials of the time. So lime plaster, which is the old fashioned plaster that would have had horse hair in it.

⁓ and different eras would have had slightly different ingredients in that lime plaster, so you need to go to a specialist supplier who is very well versed and knowledgeable in what it would have been like at that time, so that you're using something that is as similar as it possibly can be to the original, ⁓ whatever is left on the wall, whatever you can save.

And that's another good point. You should save everything that you can. There is really very little that can't be repaired. ⁓ You know, and that goes for windows, doors, everything really. It's very few things that can't be repaired. Sadly, the floor, as I mentioned earlier, was concrete. So you're allowed to take up everything that should not be there.

just go do it. Heritage people and experts are happy for you to do that but it must be replaced with materials of the time and actually you can't get green stone for floors now. It is considered too soft a stone to put on floors and in any case there aren't any more

You know the places where you excrete, that's it. There aren't any more places where you can ⁓ get green stone ⁓ from the earth. yeah, for all sorts of reasons, it wouldn't have been right to put that on the floor. So what we did was we said, okay, well, we know we need something breathable and...

Jonathan Thomas (29:28)
Quarries. Yeah.

melanie (29:50)
what would, you know, what's the pragmatic approach? What would people have done then? Well, of course they used the closest source of stone, didn't they? They used it from the Abbey as it was destroyed by Henry VIII. So what we did was we went into a stone specialist retailer and said, you know, what is our nearest pit where they excavate the stone? What, know, and what's the main source of stone in the area? And that's how we were

given this particular limestone recommended this particular limestone that we have on the floor now. Yeah so lots of restrictions.

Jonathan Thomas (30:27)
So

yeah, so what were some of the biggest challenges you ran into as you began to peel away the layers and and restore it?

melanie (30:35)
The biggest challenge by far is bitumen tar. Never go anywhere where there's bitumen tar. It's very difficult. when the builders in the 1970s would have put in the shower room on the ground floor, ⁓ they did what all builders did then, which they knew very little at that time about restoring historical buildings. And what they would do is do whatever was in their power to keep

any damp at bay by what we call tanking it and they put bitumen tar on the walls and that is very very difficult. Tar is extremely difficult to get off.

So that's one of the main challenges, particularly in the bathroom. The bathroom was the most difficult room in the house by far. And also that links up to the fireplace. The fireplace was full of tar, but that is tar.

that is created when you burn wood that's not as dry as it could be. So we provide kiln dried wood for people to burn here. So that has a guaranteed maximum moisture content. It's the lowest moisture wood you can burn because it's actually the burning of wet wood that creates chimney fires.

And I'm sure a lot of your listeners will be in parts of America where they cut down their own wood and they have a special way of seasoning it, ⁓ making piles around the perimeters and using it in turn. And, you know, we go one step further, I think, rather than using seasoned wood, we actually use kiln dried wood.

⁓ So the stones in the fireplace were absolutely covered in tar, very difficult to get off.

Jonathan Thomas (32:31)
Do you get it off then?

melanie (32:33)
Well, I'm afraid you do have to use chemicals for this particular problem. ⁓ I didn't take part in that, so I couldn't even tell you exactly what, but it is hard graft and some chemicals and there's just no other way that I know of to remove material like that off your stonework.

Jonathan Thomas (32:57)
Well, while we're talking about fireplaces, tell us about the fireplace behind you. Why is it split in half and what what's going on there?

melanie (33:04)
Exactly, so this is one of the key features in the property. At one time, the portion that you see over on the left there would have joined up with this half here where the actual fire is burning at the moment. So it would have been one large Ingle Nook fireplace.

and someone came along in the 70s and actually cut the beam so where you see the plaster here and you can see kind of a square piece of wood that that's the end of the beam and it would have been all one long beam and they cut the beam in order to install another section so kind of sectioning it off into two halves if like.

and they did that because, we imagine, because they wanted to make a smaller place for the fire and they filled this in until there was just a small gap to put a gas fire and then the other side of the fireplace was all lined ⁓ with lots and lots of things like breeze blocks and lots of of plaster to make a very small cupboard.

and handy as a cupboard would have been, we wanted to get back to the roots of it and what was there behind it. ⁓ So we had a conservation architect round who explained how it would have been ⁓ and we did think about taking out this section of wall but actually due to the pandemic it would have taken, for something like this you need planning permission ⁓ and it would have taken over a year to get that.

which held up the whole project.

and so regretfully we decided to keep the two halves and actually are really super pleased that we did because they work so well side by side ⁓ and perhaps less overbearing for a small cottage to have those two sections. ⁓ It gives us a really handy place to store the wood in one side and to have the actual fire in the other side and it works really really well.

Jonathan Thomas (35:12)
So give us a tour of the cottage. What what is what all is there for people to rent when they stay there?

melanie (35:20)
Sure, so you walk in off the cobbled street, right into the room I'm sitting in, which is the living room, and you look across at the fire there, and next to the fire, just over to the wall, I'm in front of there, you will see a small reclaimed dining table with ⁓ a couple of chapel chairs. So we have furnished it with...

furniture that is old or reclaimed ⁓ and made into something else like the floorboards in the kitchen are made from reclaimed pine wood. ⁓ And so this room has

It's very cosy, it has a sofa, a leather chair. You can see the Abbey wall out of the window. It has a deep windowsill. You know the walls are maybe 18 inches deep. Very very thick which keeps it cooler than a modern house in the summer.

You see all the beams above you. You would walk out of this room into a small vestibule area where you've got the staircase going up and you've got your shower room and toilet on the ground floor. If I step down a couple of steps I go into what would have been the 1970s extension but is actually developed from what would have been outhouses initially, perhaps a scullery and a coal, you know, a coal

hole. ⁓ So that extension now is the kitchen and then if you go outside there is another room underneath the kitchen but it's accessed by the outside and that we keep as a laundry cum store room. If you go upstairs ⁓ you will come across a very nice main bedroom with a sumptuous ⁓ old iron bed. I say sumptuous because

one of the things we wanted our furnishings to be were, you know, as authentic of the time as possible. ⁓ the inside of the sofa is all feather, very, very heavy cushions. ⁓ And the bed also is goose feather and down, ⁓ which moulds to your body and makes you feel very much hugged.

⁓ and it's all kind of plumpshus to look at. ⁓ The bedroom has multiple pillows for you to choose what's just right for you and also to sit up and look at the tourists walk up the hill in the morning while you're sipping your tea or coffee. That's quite a nice pastime to do. So two rooms upstairs. The other one is a small single and we have done it as a daybed.

⁓ which is a three-sided bed. It's a full-size six-foot single bed, but three sides of ⁓ raw tine around it as the frame. And ⁓ we have chosen to put tongue and groove ⁓ in that small bedroom and in part of the larger room.

that creates a very warm feel and it does help to ⁓ create warmth and give that cottage feel. yeah, we have decorated and used wood to clad it where we felt that that would be a good idea.

And we've decorated in very soft muted tones because we wanted the cottage to be able to sing. And the color that we have chosen is called pointing, which matches or mirrors the pointing between the stones. We used Farram Ball Paint, which is a company based in Dorset, so very appropriate. ⁓ Their paint colors are all heritage.

and we've picked neutral tones plus some sort of countryside type colours, so some really soft greens and some soft pinks. And the textures, the textures are really important, I think. So rustic, ⁓ rustic coffee table, handmade by one of the shops in Shaftesbury from Reclaimed Wood. We have some velvet cushions, some linen cushions, some have fringes on the outside, so very tactile.

⁓ and very authentic materials, a mix of materials ⁓ and very soft linens on the bed ⁓ and they're made soft by the treatment that they have ⁓ once the cotton is woven, it's woven in a particular way and then it's treated in a way that makes it really soft ⁓ with a nice kind of soft, cosy, used, smooth feel to it.

What else can I say? Anything I've missed?

Jonathan Thomas (40:33)
When can I move in?

melanie (40:34)
Well, it does, it does. People tell me it's really relaxing and it feels like it gives you a hug. And when they tell me they didn't wake up till 11am the next morning and they actually missed meeting up with their friends because they just slept and slept and slept. We spent a lot of money on the furnishings and I think that's such a big part of the experience to get into a bed that's really comfortable.

under a duvet that just molds itself around you. ⁓ Everything is hygienic. ⁓

I just, I'm really particular about hygiene and cleanliness. So all our beds and pillows, they have two protectors on two sheets, know, two of everything. ⁓ So that you feel you're getting into something really clean. And that's important to me that everything is clean and smells clean and you feel that.

You know, you can embrace everything and touch everything because everything's squeaky clean. And there are bare wood floors upstairs so that you can see the history of the building. However, we have placed rugs where you get out of bed and in front of the dressing table ⁓ to make it feel more cosy and softer and more luxurious underfoot. And we put a stair runner on the stairs after stripping it all, years and years and years of paint.

on it, stripping it back beautifully. looked at it and I said, hmm, I think we need to soften it a little bit. Let's get a stair runner so you can still see the wood staircase at the edges, but you're walking up, perhaps barefoot, on a carpet.

Jonathan Thomas (42:17)
So I'm six feet tall. Am I gonna hit my head on anything?

melanie (42:20)
That's a really good point and I'm glad you raised it because I did mean to bring that up. Because we dug out the concrete floor we have gained quite a bit of height so I'm pleased to say that the height of the beams

is roughly six foot seven. ⁓ We can't quote for every beam because it's a natural piece of tree, right? So all of them are different thicknesses and so on and so forth, but roughly six foot seven. So someone of six foot or a little over six foot would be fine here. In terms of any places that you need to stoop, there is a step up as you go from the living room into the hallway.

So that might be one to watch. And there's also one at the bottom of the staircase that you might duck under. And what we've done is we've done some really nice wadding in those two places to make sure that if you hit your head, it won't be something terrible. ⁓ These are made from very firm grade phone.

and then the foam is covered in wadding, the wadding is covered in genuine leather to suit the cottage and the edges are trimmed with upholstery pins and there is a nice little brass sign saying mind your head.

Jonathan Thomas (43:49)
No, when I stayed next door, quite a few times in the middle of the night when I would go to the loo, I'd hit my head on one of the beams spread outside the bedroom door, like ⁓ so that's ⁓ yeah. ⁓ so this is your first venture into the self catering holiday rental business. What prompted you to open it to guests rather than keep it as a private home?

melanie (44:09)
Yeah.

I've always wanted to have a customer facing business. I've always wanted, you know, to have that British tea shop and everyone in, you know, in the white pinners and the hats. And yeah, just always wanted to provide a...

a service that is more than that. It's an experience and I've always wanted customers to be wowed and for things to exceed their expectations. So I was able to bring it to life this time. I wouldn't be able to stand on my feet all day running a cafe now. It's a bit too late for that, but it's not too late for something like this so I can still do a job, a paid job and just about manage to manage this beautiful little coffee.

So

it was a bit of a dream to do something like this and I love interiors and I love history so everything just fitted together absolutely beautifully. It is my first time, although I do have a history a long long time ago, my first career in fact was in hospitality. So I've done restaurant catering functions, and dinner dances and know,

like that and always love the hospitality side of things and this is just a little bit like that but without having to do any cooking so it's great!

Jonathan Thomas (45:39)
So you you have people booked through Airbnb. What made you choose them over any other agency and and how has that experience been?

melanie (45:49)
So Airbnb has, well, it just.

I guess word of mouth, know, people that you talk to say, oh, you you should go on Airbnb. That's all I use and that keeps me busy sort of thing. we used Airbnb initially just to dip our toe into the water. know, it's certainly drawn customers in. And I would say also that they're very responsive if you have questions or a problem of any kind with the, you

the technology, they have always been very responsive. I've had good service from Airbnb.

Jonathan Thomas (46:29)
So for people who may have never stayed in somebody's ⁓ cottage like this before, what what what are some tips or advice you would give them for staying in a historic place?

melanie (46:40)
Well, I would say if your host is a good host, you won't have to worry really about anything because

We know what to do in what kind of weather. So we have a summer duvet on now. We also work through spring, autumn, winter, et cetera. we have everything around where we can kind of help you adjust the temperature and be comfortable at night as well and fans and so on, should you need it. But I think most of the people who come here are interested in the history of the cottage.

they're

not just necessarily looking for a cheap weekend away or an expensive weekend away depending on how you look at it and some people who just looked at the picture and thought it was nice but didn't really register their history at all are just really really delighted when they see inside that they weren't expecting something quite so historic and how it's nicer than the photos everyone says it's just like the photos but it's nicer you just can't really

and no photograph can really do anything. ⁓

totally justice. ⁓ I guess the things you need to bear in mind are the hill. So if you're going to stay here, you're going to have to walk up that hill. It's quite a steep hill, but you know, the great thing is you can take as long as you want. There's a handrail and there's loads of benches on the way up and we're only about halfway down. So you haven't got to walk right from the bottom to the top. So you've got that. ⁓ what else? It's not, it's not, we've never experienced it to be slippery.

by the way. I know you've been here 12 times so correct me if I'm wrong but we haven't experienced it being slippy. You tend to find that green stone is quite a little bit feels a little bit like sandpaper it's quite gritty so we've always found the cobbles okay to walk on and you can walk across where there is a quite nicely surfaced footpath to

just under the Abbey wall, just cross over to the other side and there's a pedestrian footpath with a handrail. What else might you want to bear in mind? Well, we've kind of done everything for you. We have a beautiful place outside for you to sit. It's got very comfy cushions on wicker garden furniture. There is some shade by way of a parasol and we have installed a pergola now where we're growing the wisteria over the top.

There is a beautiful view through the fence panel that we have cut out, specifically positioned the fencing to give that angle where you can see the beautiful view over the Blackmoor Vale framed by this window if you like with some restored shutters. In fact, I don't know that they are restored particularly. They are original shutters from somewhere.

in Dorset. They came from a Dorset reclamation yard so it's very fitting. So that you know it really is like a window and if you wanted to you could shut those windows as well, shut the shutters.

as well. yeah, the outside space is lovely. We provide blankets ⁓ and the cushions that I mentioned that go on the furniture as well as scatter cushions out there. People are generally quite keen to have that experience of sitting there and just completely relax.

looking at the view. So I do have people who make their coffee in the port coffee machine that's provided and perhaps take a croissant as well and go out there, pop a blanket around them if you know if it's not summer or if it's just inclement weather ⁓ and just enjoy the view and just relax out there. In fact a few of the reviews say I wish I'd stayed longer because I needed longer in the garden.

Jonathan Thomas (50:47)
So the most important question I'm gonna ask is what tea do you keep in the kitchen?

melanie (50:52)
What tea? Really? So I generally provide English tea. So the kitchen is equipped with the essentials for you. So you'll find English tea at the moment. I have organic Clippity tea bags.

I'm very fond of Earl Grey tea, so there's always the option of Earl Grey tea. ⁓ If you require something, I'll make it part of your welcome pack. So if you're a green tea drinker, as some people are, that's the sort of thing I can get in. ⁓ So that's the tea. The coffee pot machine is Lavazza coffee, which I believe is an Italian coffee.

I had some Italian customers who said that's the best coffee ever. They enjoyed it. We provide sugar. There are some sweeteners should you forget yours. And I always start people off with some milk.

If there's something you want, what I always try and do is find out where guests are coming from and roughly when they think they're going to arrive, partly because I can welcome them and show them how to work a few things to save them looking that up, especially if it's in the evening and actually all they want to do is go out and eat or maybe they've had a really long flight and they just want to get to bed. It's probably nicer for them if I show them, this is what you do, I've got the heating on this for you, if you want to off, this is what you do and just run

through a few quick things with them. People seem to appreciate that, so that's, you know, that's how we like to look after our guests if that's what suits them. I provide some biscuits. I used to ⁓ provide more breakfast stuff but I found that people didn't...

everyone's tastes are so different. you can have Dorset cereals, but people don't have cereal. You can have bread, but people are gluten free. You can get the wrong type of milk. lot of people are on plant-based milk now. So I prefer to keep that to a minimum. And you tell me, actually, you know, when I arrive, would you mind getting me oat milk?

I'll have it for you absolutely ready because I want you to be able to come in, sit down, have a cup of tea and a biscuit. Then we also provide a gift and that's quite seasonal. So at the moment I'm doing Prosecco and Dorset Apple Cake because it's a tradition in Dorset. But in the winter it might be red wine and local cheese. Just something that is a gift from us to you. It's not part of your kind of standard.

essentials pack, it's something a bit nicer, a bit special and something to get you to start embracing your experience. And there's also toiletries, Jonathan's, so there's essentials again in the bathroom, know, shower gel, hand wash, shampoo, conditioner, so that people can travel lighter if they want to. There's laundry facilities here as well, so if you're on a long trip going to several places, you know that when you come here, you're going to be able to do your

laundry. It's like home from home really. There's nothing else that I can think of that should be here and everyone says it has everything. They can't think of anything. ⁓ But our last guest from America that just left this morning actually said, hmm, the one thing actually would be a cat. Now if I could have a cat while I'm here, that would be the icing on the cake.

Jonathan Thomas (54:32)
That all sounds wonderful. And so the big the big announcement is that Mrs. Anglotopia and I are coming to stay at Button Cottage in February. And this is an announcement I've been like super excited to make. This is this is a return to Gold Hill, which is a place that has changed my life and is really why Anglotopia even exists. So what does it mean to you to welcome guests who have a deep connection to Gold Hill?

melanie (54:59)
I'm almost as emotional as they are, honestly. So many people feel the history and they see it as a quintessentially English place to see, to be, to drink in. I just feel really proud, actually, of what we've done here and I feel really satisfied, fulfilled, in fact, myself.

Jonathan Thomas (55:02)
Mm-hmm.

melanie (55:29)
to be able to offer that kind of experience and that kind of stay for people. So yeah, I'm just absolutely over the moon ⁓ with every guest that comes and every guest that loves it.

⁓ and certainly people who've waited some time to be able to come here, you know, it's a really big deal. It's a big, it's as big a deal for me to get it right for them as it is for them to come. And I want to make arrivals smooth as well.

So I usually ask people, you know, is it train or car? Do need any help organizing a taxi? Can I get your taxi organized for you on your return journey? Just little things that take some of that stress away so that when you arrive here, hopefully you're starting to kind of de-stress and then you walk through the door and you know you're going to get a cup of tea straight away or a coffee or maybe you asked for a cake.

Just tell me you know what you want. Sometimes when people are traveling on a flight and they have very particular things, so I have a customer who wanted honey on Muesli in the morning, so little things like that that are going to set you up for the night you arrive and the next morning so you don't have to worry about grocery shopping. If you just let me know I will get a few things ready for you.

Jonathan Thomas (56:56)
Well, I can't wait. I'm literally counting down the days. So what a wonderful conversation this has been and what a special episode to record. Thank you for joining us on the Anglotopia Podcast, Melanie, and thank you for giving Mrs. Anglotopia and I the chance to finally return to Gold Hill and stay there. If you want to experience Button Cottage for yourself, you can find all the details at buttoncottage.co.uk and bookings are handled through Airbnb. The links for both will be in the show notes.

And we, if you enjoyed this episode of the podcast, or I'm gonna I'm gonna do this again. Sorry. What a wonderful conversation this has been and what a wonderful episode to record. Thank you for joining us on the Anglotopia Podcast, Melanie, and thank you for giving Mrs. Anglotopia and I a chance to finally return to Gold Hill to stay a little bit. If you want to experience Button Cottage for yourself, you can find all the details at buttoncottage.co.uk and bookings are handled through Airbnb.

And when we do, go to Button Cottage next year. You, of course, will be able to follow along with us on Anglotopia and our social media channels. And if you enjoyed this episode of the Anglotopia podcast, please subscribe, like, or comment. And if you like the Anglotopia podcast, please consider joining the Friends of Anglotopia Club, where you can get early access to new episodes and connect with other British Britain enthusiasts. So join us next time as we continue exploring the people, places, and stories that make Britain's cultural heritage so endlessly.

Fascinating to discover. Thank you, Melanie.

melanie (58:25)
Thanks Jonathan.