Stoke Bruerne: 'Sunny days are perfect for us'

As temperatures soar on the hottest day of the year so far, how has it been for hospitality businesses in the picturesque village of Stoke Bruerne in Northamptonshire?

"Stoke Bruerne is always busy but the sun comes out and the world and his wife come with it," says Andrew Woodward.

As the co-owner of the village's Boat Inn, he is expecting a "very busy evening".

The Boat Inn has been owned and operated by the Woodward family since 1877.

It is believed to be the longest-running family pub that has maintained the same family name throughout, and is therefore claimed to have the longest lineage of licensee in the country.

In its early days, the inn was run in conjunction with the family's other businesses, the local butchery, bakery, smallholding and working narrowboats.

It also runs boat trips, which Mr Woodward says have kept it busy "all the way through" the coronavirus pandemic, and they were even able to run a "Santa special" in lockdown.

Even though the pub's costs have "gone up" with the rising cost of living - Mr Woodward says their electricity bill for the next three years has almost doubled - they are trying to find a balance.

"All of our costs have gone up, we've offloaded some on to the customer but you can't offload everything on to the customer because they won't come out," he says.

Meanwhile, Emily Thorpe says the Canal Museum offers the "best of both worlds" in the hot weather.

The visitor services manager of the museum, which showcases the lives of the people of Stoke Bruerne, says the sunny days are "perfect for us".

"We've got our indoor space for our museum and we've got a cafe but then we've got chances to go outdoors and explore, go for a woodland walk, a nice shaded area.

"So we can cater for both sides of it, we're not restricted by the weather," she says.

The museum was renovated last year and admission is free, something which Ms Thorpe says they hope will help people in challenging times.

"We want to be here for the community, we've set ourselves up where there's a lot of free activities so we are hoping we will continue to see people come through," she says.

While people are keeping themselves cool by stopping for a drink at the pub, or enjoying an ice cream at the museum's cafe, the animals at Rookery Open Farm are taking shade.

Gillian Bament says the hot weather means it is generally quieter at the farm "because the children we have coming to the farm at the moment are school-age children so they're vulnerable to the heat so mums tend to stay away until temperatures are lower".

"But generally the animals cope really well with it, they get under the trees, they find cool spots so they tend to cope fairly well," she says.

"If we could have slightly less temperature and the sunshine then that would be perfect, absolutely perfect for everybody.

"But it's swings and roundabouts, you have to have rain for the farm too."

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