Eriska, Scottish Island

Festive Games

When most people talk about festive game sthey immediately think of Charrards, pictionary or other post Christmas dinner board games but as ever Eriska is different and we try each year to create our own games to keep everybody who wishes involved and warm. In previous years this has consisted of games which we could dash outside between showers and perform but this year it has had to be challenges which do not require breaking the permafrost or the surface of the ground to be broken as we have had a thick frost for a couple of days and little sign of it abating.

So it has been a triathalon of ten pin bowling on the front lawn, garden target darts, in the shadow of the old tree- the only place the frost has not reached so far and ice croquet!  By adopting our own games we have alos been able to adopt our own rules and the most important one of these is that the managment decision is final!! Tomorrow will be the treasure hunt and yet again we have put on our cunning heads for the cunning plan!!  After a slight debacle last year I have had a couple of other people try out the challenge and search and insured they too end up in the right place.

The main aim however is that tise who wish to can have a great time and thos who wish to hide and prepare for 2009 can slink away and do so. All in all its all part of the festive stay at Eriska.

Weather w/c 28th December

Its about time thatw e had a good week of weather to finish the year having suffered with cold and rain over the last few years, and the good news is that it looks like we have finally broken the duck as the next few days both looks settled and calm. Although in general it will be cooler, the lack of cloud cover and frosty weather will at least insure that it remians fresh- the perfect way to end one year and start another.

Sunday: A cold and frosty start to the day, this gradually melting away to leave a dry day with some bright intervals developing.

Monday: Staying settled with bright or sunny intervals and overnight frost.

Tuesday: Best brightest day of the week with clear blue skies

Wednesday: Whislt it will remain dry there is a slight chance of clouds pushing in from the west

Thursday: New Year's Day, the weather will be generally fine but cold, with frost and fog patches morning and night.

Friday:. Little change is expected as we head into the first weekend of 2009, in that the generally cold and settled theme is set to continue with frost and fog patches morning and night.

Saturday: Although there will probably be a few wintry showers towards the east coast we should remain clear and dry here at Eriska.

Chair trial

Having spent hours sifting through catalogues and time walking round shops, sitting on chairs as trials-not avoiding shopping as Seona suggests- we decided to delegate the selection of new chairs for the diningroom to Jill at ward Robinson and true to her word she managed to  get the sample to Eriska by Christmas , although it did only arrive late on Christmas eve!

We asked for the chair to come to Eriska firstly so we could see it without any travelling and secondly, and far more importantly so that we could ask a avriety of people to sit on it and try it out. Chay being slightly more practical wanted to see if anyone broke it and therefopre was responsible for stregnth testing where as I was keen for guests of varying shapes and sizes to gain their opinion and indeed we have had some really constructive opinions.

The good news though is that almost all really liked the feel of it and it did stand up to Christmas wear and tear so the orders can now be placed. Next stage I bet having eventually found one we all like will be that its no longer avaibale-- The trials of Hotel management!!

Happy Christmas

Well it seems the fair weather helped as Santa and his little freinds manage to make it to Eriska and Christmas Day has arrived. The only downside so far has been that the advent caleander providing a daily fix of Chocolate is over and its back to normal cereal for breakfast! This year we have more small people at Eriska than before and whilst it brings with it its own challenges it also definitely brings thew Christmas spirit too.

Yesterday we played for the new Eriska Christmas Golf Quaiche and as ever this closely fought affair insured that much merriment was mixed with ambition and eventually  declared Mr Heath as the deserving winner, the winning lady- Mrs Lathange was however slghtly surprised by her award and although many of her family, who watched on with envy as she collected her trophy, had mocked her during the round trophy I am sure they will now offer her the high respect she is due!

So now it is onto Christmas serviece and teh Queens speech and then as always at Eriska at Christmas an early evening Christmas dinner and then the parlour gamnes. It is always a bit of a lottery and gamble arranging such entertainment with such a vast array of traditions in the house but normally those that like to partake gravitate and the old rivalries between families and freinds come to the forefront making for a true competition even if it requires a great deal of sensitive refereeing from Fabrice.

Hopefully the Christmas Spirit prevails and all will retire happy at the end of the day. In the meantime Merry Christmas to all from all at Eriska.

Lengnthening Days!

As the majority of Britain begins to wind down for Christmas we at Eriska are just getting going. No sooner was the shortest day over and done than the nights start to reduce and the days start to legnthen- or so we wish but in reality it will be a month or two before we really start to see the difference. Anyway with Christmas now upon us its the last chanceto make sure we are all as ready as can be.

Chay checks and double checks to make sure  we have enough oil and gas to see us through the festive period, Eric is dispacthed to check any out lieing buildings and insure that all paths and drains are cleat and the rest of the team outside are filling the coal bunkers and chopping and stocking the wood piles for what should be a busy few days and even Gerry is getting the greens cut and prepared for the last time this year and ready for the last Golf competition of the year and the Robin Buchanan-Smith Golf Trophy. And in  truth if we have as good a challenge as last year when we had to play the final hole again to decide the winner we may well need all the light we are offered. A

Anyway the good news is that the weather is behaving and we will probably get a good dry spell throuighout most of the Christmas period and certainly no threat of snow to deter the last visitors from arriving- clear skies fro Rudolf and his friends tomorrow night and in the words of the infamous optimist!!

What could possibly go wrong!!

Weather Christmas week 2008

If the guests for Chrsitmas had arrived on Friday, wet stormy and windy, then we may have had a very difficult week and in contrast had they arrived today, still calm and dry, then they would all have been optimistic and upobeat so I will try and make tis weeks weathwer seem as positive as possible given the pressure of a full house for christmas and the associated festivities!

Today: Cloudy with outbreaks of rain, heavy at times, gradually turning more showery during the morning with some drier and brighter spells developing. Fresh to strong southwest winds and mild.

Monday: A dry and settled day generally, although a little drizzle possible around the coast in the evening.

Tuesday:  Cloud amounts will vary, but bright or clear spells should develop leading to patchy frost and fog.

Wednesday: Driest and brightest day of the week perfect for Reindeer flying!:

Chrsitmas Day: In general we can expect mainly dry and settled day although there may be showers later in the day by teh time we are all back inside enjoying Christmas Dinner. No chance of a white Christmas though!

Boxing Day: A slight chance of showers and a good deal milder than last week

Saturday: A pleasant final weekend of the year dominated by high pressure. As quite often happens in these situations in winter though, there will be a fair amount of cloud around, and under any clearer spells we can expect a mixture of mist, freezing fog and frost to form during the night-time periods and these will be slow to clear .

Christmas lights

As a policy we try and keep the Christmas decorations down to the last possible moment keeping Eriska really only dressed for Christmas for those who join us over that period. Whilst it is nice as it keeps Eriska Christmas as really special and defineiltly gives a unique feel for the festive period as oppoosed to others who start lights and decoration back in October or just after fireworks night! The downside however is that there is always a mad panic as it doies not really matter how much testing and measuring is made when the lkights get near the tree an inevitable disaster happens and bulbs fail to work and fuses blow along with tempers rising.

We have over the last few years circumnavigated this sissue by buying lightsabut this year we thought we had it all covered and morte important all tested. i should not have been so confident as ever the lights failed, tempers frayed and new lights seemed the only option. However this delay also insured that the weather conspired agaisnts us and in a desire to see the job completed and the evapouration of assistance -and probably a health and safety risk assessment- I found muyself at the top of the tree in a howling gale, soaked to the skin and muttering under my breath about the goodwil of Christmas.

Howevber all was not in vein as when I walked down the hill this morning and the wind has dropped and the rain has stopped the tree at the entrance to the carpark is beautifully lit and it just seems to set the buildings off in a festive cheer. Christmas can now begin at EriskA!!!

Interior design progress

Last year when we decided we needed help progressing the design in our bedrooms we shortlisted from several options three candidates and collated their portfolios together before contacting them and from this shortlist we chose Ward Robinson. The next step was to get them to design a sample of rooms and then if we liked them we would proigress and start working through the hotel as a whole. When we first met them we explained the brief and they commented that we did not seem to have too much feedback on the layouts. In truth although it was important, providing it was laid out in a sensible fashion, then we wanted to judge the finished product and wanted to wait till the room was complete before passing judgement. This was a deliberate decision as we did not want them creating an idea which we then altered and then niether they nor we got a finished article that we really wanted.

On our side however we wanted to move the designs forward whilst at the same time insuring that we did not move too far away from our Eriska feel. In short we wanted our current guests to feel comfortable whilst at the same time we tried to broaden our market base. I beleive that have achived tis and therefore we have asked them to work on the new designs for the diningroom with the one warning that we would want to be involved in the layout and feel as the room is probably the most impoartnat area in the hotel. Therefore we have held a number of meetings face to face with them and endless telephone calls and emails moving the plan to a stage that Chay and I both feel is a real step forward whilst maintaining its feeling and connection with the past.

In short we are creating an open wine cellar in one corner of the diningroom, where the butlers pantry used to be, and panneling some of the walls in the coinservatory so that it feels more part of the original room. We also plan to change the lighting and the curtains and window dressings. Whilst this all seems to be prgressing the biggest change will be the wall coverings with a new wall paper higher up and a new tone to the wood pannelling. The wood pannelling currently is an amalgamation of pannelling which was recovered and waxed when my parents arrived here in 1973 and some old shutters which were salvaged when the house was converted.

Now we simply have to arrange for the wine cellar to be built and then await the new sample chair to be delivered. We then have plans to "road test" the chair and have a number of people of varying shapes and sizes who have kindly offered to trial it for size and comfort. Hopefully we cam get tis all done quickly, so there may be several long meals! as we must be ready to reopen on the 29th January and can only get vstarted on the 5th January so it will be all hands to the pumps! 

Potential new cellar

Eriska is slightly unusual for a building of its age as it was constructed on a concrete platform and therefore there were no needs for a substantial foundation and therefore no cellar. About 15 years ago we discovered underneath the staff diningroom a storage area with its own wonderful granite cornice. It turns out that tis was once the main water storage area for the house and had since been forgotten. We pumped the water out and set about working out, how we could access the hole, or snakepit as my father called it, but as the entrance was through the staffroom this was never really going to be a viable option.

However as eveer we have now been thinking outside the box- in fact outside the building and have come up with a pan to form a new entrance from outside into the room and then we would have a new cellar. Well thats the plan and so far we have a hole in the ground, next step is to see if we can create a hole in the wall and then see if we can fit in a new staircase outside to take the entrance. As ever however it will all be a rush as we need to do it before Christmas as after Chrsitmas we are converting some of the area into our new woodpellet store for the new carbon neutral wood pellet burning boilers.

Never a dull moment!!

Weather w/c 14th December

 

We have had a damp week here but at least it washed the granite chips clean in teh carpark. However our work getting the house ready form Christmas has been slightly delayed and hopefully once the frosty slippy conditions have passed there will be no excuse for not getting our fairy to the the top of the tree with the lights

Today: Mainly cloudy with outbreaks of rain with snow on high ground. 

Monday: Mainly dry with sunny spells after a frosty start.

Tuesday: Rain, heavy at times will cross all parts during the day.

Wednesday: Brighter with showers at the start of the day but more rain later.

Thursday: Rain, locally heavy, and windy conditions are expected to move southeast across the hills

Friday:Brighter but still showery conditions following but a white Christmas looks unlikely

Saturday:It is expected to be wet and windy with some gales and heavy rain at times but the good news is that drier, brighter conditions are expected during Christmas week!