Eriska, Scottish Island

Going Gong Going

Part of the fun as well as challenge of running Eriska is being able to develop and evolve all that we do however at all times we try to insure that changes are improvments and this is where the challenge comes as what we see as an imporovement can be a detraction in others eyes. Fortuneately one of the overriding ethoses behind Eriska is trying to create a stay whihc is in line with how we would wish to find the place and stay were we the guests on holiday. Fortuneatly to date we have been blessed with guests who seem to like the same sort of things and if they don't they are polite enough not to mention it|!

Over the course of the last month I have been aware of the strain on both the kitchen and diningroom as soon as the gong is run at 8.00 as everybody rushes in and in an attempt to keep everyone happy we create bottlenecks waiting for the carving trolley and cheese trolley so last week I decided we had to try and resolve the issue. We looked at suggestions such as setting times for dinner, simplyfying the first courses and guarding the door from unwelcome intruders, to extending the dining hours and try to let guests spread themselves out. Then Robert hit the nail on the head when he remarked that it was only when the gong went that everybody rushed in.

After a wideranging consultation with guests it became apparent that the gong seemed like a starting gun and instinctively everyone rushed for the door as sson as it was sounded so for the last few nights we have not rung the gong but have invited guests to the diningroom when they were ready. In truth few have noticed the absence of the gong and in reality it is still there both for effect and we can always reintroduce it if we need to. So for now it is still on view but maybe it will be surplus to requirements in the future, one never knows!

All seasons in one day/ All seasons in one hour!!

If I planned the weeks outdoor work on the Saturday then this week all plans would be thrown out the window by this morning. I was expecting a wet and windy start to the week followed by a slight change in fortunes mid week and then a return to storms by the weekend! Not so, we have started the week with some stunning weather bringing out the best of the autumnal colours but interspersed by dramatic snow and rain falls.

Indeed this morning I set of a  wake up run in a stunning sunrise with wonderful silhouettes of the Cruyachan range and by the time I was half way to the crossroads it was snowing so when I turned for home the road had disappeared in a blanket of snow and by the time I got home there was no snow to be seen. In truth if we had sat and waited for a good clear break in the weather before venturing outside we could have been beside the fire all day but in reality it rarely snowed or rained and when it did it was short and sharp and most guests have made the most of the great scenery and clarity.

Anyway that all said tomorrow is not looking too clever with a drop in temperature and some certain precipitation, but having been so wrong so far maybe my luck will continue and all the outside list Chay has left me before going on his holiday will get finished!

Weather w/c 26th October

Well I suppose I should noty be surprised, we really have had a good run of temperate weather. My bricklayers have rarely been forced off site but this week it all caught up with us and they had two days of going home before they started and two days of sheltering form the wind and rain culminating in a horrendous day on Friday and a very windy day on Saturday! The good weatherer of the summer is now a distant memory and if it was not the tail-end of a hurricane in the US it was its own wee hurricane here. the only positive ting I can say about the weather is that now it can only get better!!

Sunday: It will be a bright day with sunshine at times but occasional showers will also occur, some heavy and falling as snow over the Hills and frost over night.

Monday: Turning colder but often dry and bright, with any showers mainly confined to the west coast although these could be wintry in nature.

Tuesday; After another night frost it will seem colder than yesterday but at least it will be more dry than wet.

Wednesday: The best day of the week, but clear blue skies will bring cold conditions so be careful on the roads in the early morning

Thursday: It will remain on the cold side for the time of year with a wintry mix of rain, hail, sleet and even snow showers, especially on the high ground.

Friday: There is a risk of more persistent rain in places.

Saturday: At last temperatures will tend to rise a little, paradoxically, to nearer-normal values for the time of year. There is still likely to be some rain or showers now and again, but perhaps a hint of some longer drier spells too.

 

Pets welcome?

As I mentioned earlier this week I committed as part of my Chairmanship of Pride of Britain hotels to visit all the members during my tenure. Part of the reason is to meet with the fellow hoteliers in their place of work, part is to try and benchmark where Pride of Britain stands in the industry and the final part is completely selfish which is to see how we can improve all that we do at Eriska. I can do this by simply watching and listening to others operations and cloning the best bits and noting the areas that are not suitable, in my opinion for Eriska, and insure that we do not adopt them! 

When I was down south on my latest Pride of Britain tour, I noticed that one hotel was very detailed in their rules and regulations about pets. In particular they listed those most welcome and those clearly not so welcome. As with all these lists there is always room for maneuvered but some of the categories and regulations did force me to raise a chuckle. That was until I reyrned home and met one of our new guests. At Eriska we state- in a wide generalisation- that all pets are welcome but that we simply request that they are controlled at all times and not left unattended nor are they permitted in the public rooms.

Eriska is a wonderful island for pets to explore with lots of walks and trails and therefore we do encourage guests to treat it as their home. However this week I was slightly perturbed when I met one of our guests struggling down the stairs to pop his pooch in the car I was unsure who was taking who for a walk and then when I saw Ronnie our night porter welcome the guest and his pet back after dinner I was again unclear as to whether if he had not been fed Ronnie was safe!!

However the good news is that Ronnie was still in one piece the next morning and the guests had a great stay exploring all corners of the island! 

Eriska features in the Hardens Guide

When I was down south earlier this week one of the hoteliers I met was thrilled to have been included in the Hardens Restaurant Guide and whilst I was aware of the guide I always considered it to be London book never including properties beyond the boundaries of the M25! I was also slightly jealous of the delight inn  the hotelier who was clearly both excited and thrilled to have been included. Anyway I congratulated him through gritted teeth and we moved on.

Anyway imaging my delight when I returned home to Eriska and opened my mail only to come across a most unexpected letter from the guide congratulations me on the entry of Eriska. "Fortunately it’s “worth the drive”; reporters leave “never disappointed” from this luxurious but “isolated” hotel – a “romantic” destination, where the food invariably satisfies. "

Luckily I opened my mail early as I was intending to head off on te warpath and firstly find out why we had not been considered by the guide and secondly why our kitchen had not been considered worthy enough. Luckily no humble pie needed on this occasion and we are all thrilled to have made our little mark!

Southern Dash!

When I accepted the role as Chairman of Pride of Britain Hotels i suggested that i ought to follow my predecessor and visit all the members. On the basis that i had already seen many of the members this seemed like an easy offer. However given it is some time since I was in some of the hotels and the changes they have all made and the fact that the consortium is changing too it has seemed like an endless task.

However yesterday after a quick zip round the south of England I have managed to chalk off the last 4 members. In reality i made te simple touristy mistake of consulting the map rather than the hotels and then simply setting off. I was however accompanied by Peter Hancock our Chief Executive who nobly took on the driving and sped me between the stops. Well at least next time I stand in front of the membership I can speak with knowledge of the members and although I may not have stayed in every property I do believe that I have a pretty good impression of them all. Whilst some are more glitzy than other some alrger some smaller and all different it is also true to say that all have a warmth of welcome and wonderful service that stands them apart from many of their competitors.

Anyway as I flew homee last night, in time to help with Dinner service I could relax in the knowledge that in the last 30 hours I had managed to eat two lunches, one breakfast and an excellent dinner, clock up 14 hours in a car and had seen over 40 bedrooms, several restaurants and some wonderful gardens. Whilst they are all interesting in terms of evaluatinging Pride of Britain they are also interesting in terms of benchmarking Eriska and pinching ideas! I know whilst many at Eriska may enjoy my absence they do also await my return with more ideas and developments so it is really a double edged sword.

Weather w/c 19th October

As I monitored the weather last night I heard the corresopndet suggest that summer was over and it was time to put away the Barbeques! Well, it seems a long time since summer was ever hear and maybe even longer still since we have the evenings outside, but all in all 2008 has not been too bad for weather, we had a great May and June at Eriska which kept ushappy through most of the summer as really it has been far too long since we had a period of sustained dry weather.

However as I look out the window now the leaves that re left on the trees are definitly autumnal and I think if todays gales materialise most will be off over the next few days. Anyway its the middle of October so what should we really expect?

Today: Cloudy with rain, persistent and heavy at times especially across the higher ground . South to southwesterly winds increasing strong to gale force, with severe gales possible over the Isles.

Monday: Rain clearing early in the morning then sunny intervals and scattered showers, and windy.

Tuesday: Sunshine and showers, but turning colder, with showers wintry on hills.

Wednesday:Patchy rain but still predominated by sunny spells.

Thursday: Continuing like Wednesday keeping an unsettled weather pattern

Friday: Showers interspersed with drier, brighter intervals. It is expected to be quite a windy day of weather as well, especially in the north and west where coastal gales are likely.

Saturday: Calm after the storm but only a limited risk of showers

Light work!

Anybody walking passed the swimming pool first think this morning may have been slightly alarmed as they may have thought that Chay and I had had some disagreement and Chay had won the day as he was pushing me underwater in the pool with a pole. In actual fact having nagged him for several days, the phrase be careful what you wish for coming to mind, about fixing the underwater light in the pool, I found myself being volunteered to do the underwater work. As explained to me by Chay it was essential for him to remain dry and above water in order to manage the technical electrical work!

So I was the seal having to dive under the water and release the lightfitting, however I struggled to hold my breath and unscrew the fitting without bobbing to the surface so Chay suggested pushing me under the surface with a pole. All this seemed sensible until I ran out of breath without completeing the task but after a bit of a struggle and few choice words we developed a working relationship!!

The light is now both fixed and operational and I have returned to dry land although next time I will make myself slightly more absent before nagging about maintenance work below the waters surface! Just rewards Chay must be thinking!!

Map Reading!

About 20 years ago my parents asked the advice from one of our longstandiing guests who had over many years demonstrated that he could operate a large buisness. Working on the basis that if he could manage something large then advising a smaller business would be simple. The couple were asked by my parents how best to set Eriska aside and whether or not we should invest in further facilities. After some time they returned with their advice.

Firstly they believed that it was inevitable for Eriska to survive that we would have to invest in further facilities but their first step which caught my parents off guard, was to invest a small amount to start with by building a simple putting green and croquet lawn by the main house and secondly painting poles and setting up tracks around the island and once this had been done then produce a map so that we could encourage visitors to explore the island.

This advice has developed over the years and we now have many good tracks round the island and indeed have had to produce a map with several different grades of walks to help pick the wheat from the chaff!! However due to an oversight our map has become  slightly outdated firstly and secondly we have run out of the new improved map which is being reprinted as we speak. Anyway we have tried to offer maps to those who are intrepid explorers of the island and the slightly alter those to match the current trails. However despite this one or two guests have become slightly disorientated and even lost for a short while so I thought today I would try and retrace one of the paths to check if the posts had fallen over or if the path was overgrown or even if incompetence was involved.

At the same time I thought it would be a good oppportunity to walk the dogs especially since I have been entrusted with my mothers wee puppy that seems to have more energy than both the other dogs put togteher. So we set off and walked several of the trails and naturally, probably because I knew where I was going and what I was looking for I managed without getting lost but still the dogs seemed to have too much energy. However I then came up with a cunning plan to walk straight up one of the banks by Arnotts House where the bracken had recently wilted. The puppy could not simply walk over the bracken but had to pounce like a kangaroo to avoid being trapped and by the brow of the hill the task was complete. Three exhausted dogs, one tired explorer and hopefully one very quiet night!

Good news too that the new maps will be back in tomorrow!

Building memories

We are currently investigating the possibility of changing the layout of our diningroom. whilst it is full of wonderful memories for all of us it has grown and changed over the ages. Initially it had to sit 50 guests in the main part of the room and then as the table sizes increased and the style of service became more sedate we reduced the capacity to 30.

The addition of the conservatory then allowed us to return to the 50 cover diningroom and in time the removal of the buffets, first from lunch, then from from Sunday dinner and now even breakfast in favour of all being served from the kitchen. Whilst one or two may object to these changes- most admit that the style is more in keeping with Eriska and in the end it is also more suitable for them. With all these chages we are therefore looking at ways that we can develop the actual physical layout of the room now for the benefit of all and as with all blank canvasses all is up for discussion at this early stage.

Whilst all may be up for discussion it is also possible that most of the suggestions will be uneconomical and impractical but there is no harm discussing them! The first suggestion raised was the reduction of the central pillar which was created to support the conjunction of the Butlers Pantry and the Morning Room and Business Room. Having now scrabled through all the 1973 drawings, nothing seems clear and I therefore thought of contacting the original architect about his recollections. Whilst he rememebrs much discussion and lots of talking and pontifictaing he cannot remember the exact outcome.  Clearly the resolution worked but I cannot be certain whether they over compensated for lack of knowledge or built it to just the right specification!

The latest suggestion is to insert a small camera into the ceiling void and see if we can determine the hidden situation! Already it is sounding too expensive!!