Eriska, Scottish Island

End of an era at Eriska

It is now over 35 years since my uncle George first arrived at eriska towing a horse-box with the first arrivals on Eriska from his trekking stable outside Edinburgh. My father always told the story that he was asked to look after a few extra Icelandic Ponies for a short spell- a wee holiday- while they were reorganizing the herds around Scotland. They became such firm favorites and were lent out to guests for riding that he agreed to keep a small number on a permanent loan.

This all seemed sensible and after a brief peak a stable number around 5 was suggested. However by chance or design a stallion was slipped into the five and we soon started to grow the numbers until the reasons for increase was spotted and removed back to the Pentlands. They did however have a great life living all over the island and being used for "light trekking" indeed I remember when they lived at the back door of the house and I would often catch one and ride it up to the main house in the morning where it was left for the guest to use until lunch time when I would ride it back home again!

They were all real characters and really well suited to Eriska. the grass was always abundant and they lived outside all year round. there were many wonderful tales but I always remmebr watching guests departing from the stables with animals they called stubborn who would take them where only the ponies wanted to go and then as soon as their heads were pointed for home they would speed up and head back.

My mother remembers the foals we had and the fact that they used to lie in the sunshine by the Tennis court and play around but as soon as guest passed by they would stand ready for  apples and carrots by the fence. Anyway we had many happy years and as the herd dwindled we gave them company with other horses but in truth they were never as happy as they were when we had a large number roaming the island but it was then really a Ponies playground.

Anyway yesterday the last of the line, Ethan, passed away aged 36, whilst the end of an era it was also definite a chance to reminisce about all the great time we have had with them and the many characters they were. they will be missed but not forgotten!.

Golf course progress-back on track!!

Back in August we had a council of war on the golf course and in particular the new holes out towards my mothers house. The discussion centered on the improvement of the drainage and what was required in both the short term and the long term. I was then sent away to see what funds we could release and it was decided that given both the cost and the time implications, not to mention the disruption we would have a big effort on the course in September.

Knowing the west highlands as I do I knew as September passed and promises were broken we were not being ignored or forgotten just waiting in line for our turn, so this week when the lorry finally appeared with its load of mechanical equipment it was no surprise that so the heavens opened and the rain started. In reality it has meant that we have put drains where the water is most prevalent, if more than budgeted for and at least we jknow they are all running in the right direction and well!

This time in a change to previous visits we have also engaged a rock breaker in order to remove some of the outcrops and open up the fairways and whilst in the short term it may look a bit chaotic I know that in the long run, firstly it will be easier to land the ball in an area of ease abut most importantly some of the casual water features will now drain away off the fairway! So now having broken out the rock and prepared the ditches it is time to start refilling them with gravel and pipes and then let god do his best to recover it over the winter. Fortunately the grass is still growing- in our gulf stream climate- and hopefully by Easter it will all be unseen just improved- or so Chay keeps promising!

Minding the Skills Gap

Yesterday I popped (was delegated to attend) down to Edinburgh to attend a course on staffing and skills shortages being run  by a collaboration of several organisations in Scotland. It was a well publicised event and indeed I was amazed when I arrived to find so many people signed up and taking their places for what in my opinion was going to be a pretty dry event.

It began with several interesting but pretty wideranging topical speakers who I began to become disenchanted with as they seemed to all support larger organiatatons and then one speaker from the Isle of Skye spoke with passion about the trials and tribulatrions she faced in her small operation of Restaurant with Rooms. The atmospher in the room seemed to change as many of the klsteners became engaged in similarities and recognised the problems the speaker described.

It was amazing the whole conference then seemed to come alight and even the earlier speakers seemed to realise that the issues they faced in their organsations could help the smaller Scottish operations- the key to our industry especially in the northern part of Scotland and I then became far more eengaged in the discussions. It was not that the earlier speakers had been boring but that they had seemed irrelevant and now I could connect with them and understand their problems and see how we could utilise their experience and solutions. Anyway I came away from the day with a notebook full of ideas and the journey home kept my mind ticking over so today has been day one of the new regime!!

weather wc 25th October

well we can pretend no longer with the clocks changing and the evenings now noticeably creeping in winter is definitely upon us. at least we had a good last week to the autumn here at eriska with three or four great days of sunshine cool winds and plenty of leave off the trees to keep Chay and his team busy. Indeed the smell of the wee bonfires of leaves and the drifting smoke is now one which I feel represents autumn although when the wind dropped to nothing in the middle of last week and the whole island seemed bathed in a cloud of mist maybe it was not quite such the feel we had hoped for!

Anyway what's ahead for the first week of winter!

Today: It will stay mostly cloudy with further outbreaks of rain, heavy at times, especially over the hills but it will become lighter later. Windy with strong to gale force westerly winds will insure all the last leaves are tested on the trees!

Monday: There will still be a few showers at first, otherwise dry with clear sunny spells developing. Fresh northwesterly winds easing down later.

Tuesday: It will be a dry day and a much brighter day with sunny spells. Temperatures will be on the mild side with light winds so no excuse for Chay and his team not wrapping up many of the leaves and getting the grounds tidy!

wednesday: Wet and windy  with prolonged heavy rain and strong to gale force southerly winds.

Thursday: Drier and brighter on  then rain returning into the late afternoon and early evening.

Friday: It will be unsettled with rain, heavy at times. It will also be very windy with a risk of severe gales.

Saturday: The strong winds will continue to push in but at least it will keep much of the rain at bay and on the hills not Eriska

 

Scottish Thistle Awards

Last night Robert and I attended the Scottish thistle awards in Edinburgh. It is the first time we have entered the prestigious competition and we were delighted to be one of the finalists in our category. The evening was a splendid affair and full of pomp and circumstance but regrettably despite, what we believed was a strong application for the Taste of Scotland category we were pipped to the post. We had highlighted our new food mile initiative using the best local ingredients with miles trabvelled being considered when similar quality of products could be sourced and we managed to get a good mention for Chays experimental pig farm. However we were honored to at lest make the shortlist and delighted to have been beaten by such a worthy winner in the Doune Dining room in Knoydart.

Getting to Doune Stone Lodges is an adventure in itself; a three quarter mile walk from the nearest vehicle track or a sail from Mallaig aboard the owners’ own launch boat. However, the greatest discovery of all is the stunning food served at the Doune Dining Room: fish, shellfish and crustaceans straight out of the water; venison off the hillside; eggs from their own hens; fruit and vegetables from the garden; home-made bread, rolls, pancakes, jam, marmalade and local honey - all as fresh, local and seasonal as they could possibly be.

The remote location is an inspiration to quality and a challenge that Martin, Jane and their staff have risen to with relish, allowing Doune to truly provide a unique visitor experience. We are however not perturbed and know what we will have to do next year if we wish to make the heights. in the meantime we will have to  console ourselves that taking part is much more important than winning!!

 

Fathers unfinished business

Back in the eighties my father discovered a trapdoor in the staff dining room. During oe winter keen to investigate the hole he opened the trap door and discovered a whole unknown underground water tank. It was about 3 m deep and had a wonderful granite cornice work around the top. Over the last 30 years we have tried various attempts to clear out the tank believing that it would either be excellent storage space or possibly we could use it as a water store again. However we have always had an issue deciding wheterh we could afford the floorspace to create a stair into the cellar or retain the hatch then last year we had a brainwave- we thought- of creating a stair out with the building allowing access from the car park to the store.

We opened up the entrance and established a new access to the store however regrettably over the last century the floor has become slightly compromised and needs some remedial work. the option of barrowing cement was not greeted with enthusiasm so today we have enlisted the help of a concrete pump to relay a new floor on the cellar and hopefully create a new usable, easily accessible space. So along with a new roof on the stables building and the new floor we shall have our work cut out for us but at least we have a bit of technology and machinery on our side.

Eriska's historical Master Chef!

We received a wonderful letter this morning from a friend of one of our regular guests. They had been flicking through books in a library and had come across an article about Eriska and as they had mentioned not only was it interesting to see how we have changed but she also kindly pointed out that this was written before she was born!  Indeed the Head Chef and - master chef - then was my mother, who managed with no formal training but simple hard work and innate skill to grow a reputation at Eriska for great food and wonderful service- a tradition and aim we still strive to achieve today!
It all tied in quite well however as my mother has again been revisiting the attic storage at her house and Ihave inherited many books and albums of the house from the first few years when we opened. This has also led her to research how long we have been at Eriska and more specifically the length of service of others top Eriska as we are now eitehr the second longest custodians of the island or the longest - so moree digging needs to be done!

Weather w/c 18th october

about a  month ago one of the guests commented on how disappointed they were with the Scottish autumn colours and I had to agree but suggested that this was not a long term phenomenon but rather a reaction to the very changeable weather we had had over the last 12 months. In reality it all seemed to be more short term than I had anticipated as by this week the colours were stunning and even my mother who has just returned from visiting her sister in Boston remarked on how fantastic the leaves and colours were here compared with the much lauded fall colours in Massachusetts.

Anyway it all seemed much better here yesterday with a stunning blue skied day and crisp morning dew on the ground but i suspect our view will not last for ever- indeed by this morning thee leaves are plummeting down and even the drive was difficult to pick out as the debris of leaves swirled around in the light breeze- but whats ahead?

Today:Regrettably the predicted rain is already here- reaching most places in argyll throughout the morning but it is showing signs of becoming drier this afternoon.

Monday: Dull rainy conditions across the hills and near the west coast will spread east by lunchtime with some light rain being followed by dry weather with sunny spells

Tuesday: the morning will start with some dry with clear spells but occasional rain will regrettably push in in the early evening.

Wednesday: Cloudy with further outbreaks of rain, heavy over parts of Argyll at first, otherwise turning light and patchy.

Thursday: Cloudy with outbreaks of rain arriving during the morning but becoming drier, brighter this afternoon. Windy on summits at first.

Friday: Rain edging east to all parts being heavy at times, then clearing away to the west but becoming windy with strong southeasterly winds.

 

Saturday: it will become  mild and mainly southwesterly, although tending to become a little less mild through the weekend as the flow becomes more of a southeasterly later.

Eriska nominated for National Geographics Traveller

I received an email this morning letting me know that we had been nominated for National Geographics Traveller magazine. In truth I had not really heard of this publication although my family had been the beneficiaries of the National Geographical magazine from one of my uncles for several years. Indeed I  remember the fantastic images from the yellow bound publication and recently reread some of the fascinating articles but never in a million years thought we would ever be considered for such a linked publication.

However on reading the article I was sent with the information link I soon saw the snag as there was a request for verification of information - in the hotel trade this normally means an arduous never ending list of questions which in reality is an information mining exercise which is then sent on to other departments to help them place advertising. Anyway remaining unperturbed , probably due to the fact the dawn was so beautiful and I was in the office early, I clicked on the link preparing myself for the worst.

How surprised I was was when after 5 minutes i had nearly completed the questionnaire- not because of my efficiency not because it was a verification list and someone had prefilled most of the details for me but on this occasion I was delighted because the questions were all about the environment and the hotels policies and without really focusing in or changing any preconceived attitudes Eriska was meeting almost all of the requirements. Indeed it would be interesting to see whether we would have done so well 5 years ago as I suspect the continual dripping of reminders and constant pressure of enviromental issues has started to pay off and now we all consider green issues subconsciously when making decisions.

At Eriska probably like many other businesses , this is because it makes economic sense first and foremost and planet saving second or third. But for now we can pretend that its our attitude to planet saving which has achieved the nomination for National Geographic and we will keep our fingers crossed that we make the final list!

Winter Planning

No sooner do we finish our discussions on winter program's for the guests- wine weekends and other activities involved in the hotel than it is time to turn our attentions to refurbishment work and arranging schedules for the main house. Each year we seem to be caught between a rock and a hard place given what we would like to achieve- what we could achieve- and what we can afford to achieve. This all should be quite simple but now we have to find time and fit disruptive work into January when we will be closed and non disruptive work into times when we can access the rooms.

The current plan is to refurbish the boilers and convert the main source of power to wood pellet burners- this has to be done in January as we will potentially be without heat or hot water in both the hotel and spa for 7 days. Obviously this is not ideal as it can be the one time of year keeping the temperature in the house above freezing may be required but I have been assured that they will carry it out as quickly as possible and with minimum disruption- I think I will try to coincide a holiday to warmer climates and and avoid the office work in woolly hats and thick jumpers!

So having now set January aside for boiler work the room work will have to either happen in December in two windows o opportunity we have or squeeze into the later part of January when we are getting ready to open. Therefore its back to the drawing board and planning schedules with a wee bit of leeway to make sure we are ready to open on time. Once Chay has drawn up a plan it will then allow me to build in contingency- at least the tight schedules will help make sure we are restricted in terms of budget too but as always we look at January as golden time when if we do not  do the work it has to wait another 12 months and rushing to complete jobs is sometime s preferable to a 12 month delay