Eriska, Scottish Island

Deadline met with room to spare- just!

When we set out on major worked we always set targets which not only can we achieve but that we have a minor leeway if we hit a snag, however with our new indoor hall we set a target on the same principle however due to a stalled start date we soon used up the contingency and left ourselves with a deadline of tomorrow for phase one to complete. phase one is the ground works and completion of all work below ground level- the foundations, drainage , structural columns and floor slab. Yesterday in some of the heaviest rain witnessed here at Eriska we completed the major works leaving today- with the help of a brisk wind and sunshine to level out the surface and prepare the road for the arrival of the structure on Monday.

So no we are ready although tomorrow we will have to continue with the rolling of the surface to compact the slab in preparation for the 30 tonne crane and two low loads of steel. the next deadline will be to complete the structural erection and then clad it by the middle of November and then we will be back on site and finish the walls and storage areas. then it will be a matter of waiting for thefloor to dry out before we can complete the project, install the surface of the hall and have a grand opening- all seems so simple and so far so good!

Christmas Planning

It seems to come round so fast every year and whilst many may think that it is too early to think about Christmas I have always been a believer that the more planning we do the easier it will be nearer to the time. With only a few rooms left for Christmas and enquiries coming in the main thrust of thought is on the activities we will be able to offer.

 On a positive note we may be able to use our new indoor facility and with the huge number of opportunities this will bring even more options but on the negative side I am never willing to commit to finishing a product by a date unless I actually can see light at the end of the tunnel or in this case no light through the roof! The building is scheduled to be out of the ground by November with a full frame erected and the walls under way and then it will be the roof and cladding all before we can even start thinking about a surface on the floor and activities over Christmas.

However at the back of my mind is that if we can have it ready for Christmas MacPhersons Law- the one that says if you drop a slice of bread on the floor it will always fall butter down- says that it will be a stunning Christmas for weather and outdoor activities leaving any effort to finish by Christmas in vein and if we fail to make the deadline its sure to be a rotten- so we will strive to finish in time!

Other than that we are also working on the calendar for next year so it is ready in time for anyone who wants a copy before the year begins and we have just selected the image for the Christmas card,  fortunatelyDennis was alert last year when the frost was on the ground so we have plenty to choose from, in fact almost too many leaving a  tricky decision to be reached.

Multi Purpose Indoor Facility breaks ground

With the unpredictable weather we have here in Scotland, the team at Eriska are continually coming up with different ways in which we can make our guests’ stay at Eriska as memorable and enjoyable as possible regardless of the weather.

As a result, earlier this year we announced that we had gained planning permission for a Multi-purpose Sports Hall at Eriska to provide our guests with plenty of activities should the weather turn on us!  Having gained this planning permission, we have finally been able to push ahead with our plans. 

 

Back in August, diggers were brought in to clear the ground which has allowed the real work to begin in September.  This week, our Estate team have been hard at work moving our plans forward and laying the foundations for the sports hall.  However, this has meant that our tennis court is temporarily out of action as we work hard to finish this project in time for winter.

For those of you who will be joining us this winter and during future visits, we look forward to welcoming you to try out our new Multi-purpose Sports Hall while we will put on our thinking caps for our next venture!

 

 

 

 

 

Cowal Highland Games

Once again, the last weekend in August saw one of the biggest turn outs to date, as the Cowal Highland Games took place in Dunoon.  The three day event began last Thursday and culminated in a marching of the 130 bands (over 3000 pipers) and a fireworks display over Coal Pier on Saturday which closed the event - until next year.

 

 

As always there was plenty to keep the whole family entertained, attractions for the children as well as the finals of the World Highland Dancing Competition and the Cowal Pipe Band Competition – 130 pipe bands from around Scotland competing to win the title of Pipe Band Champion.  We even had local success, with our local high school - Oban High School Pipe Band - successfully beat off stiff competition to be awarded 1st prize in their class!

For the athletics amongst us there was the opportunity to enter into the “Heavies” Competitions however, as you can imagine, watching from the side lines was more preferable! 

 

Of course, no Highlands Games would be complete without a Ceilidh and we were spoiled fro choice with 4 Ceilidh tents to choose from.  The highlight had to be the band, “Skerryvore”, who have even been billed as the next Runrig and they certainly lived up to that name.  

Glorious 12th!

Sometimes others highlight that I neglect to learn from my mistakes but this day every year I like to highlight that I have. The reason is that always on the 12th August I try to escape from the hotel and island and today was no different. The reason is historical as it is the Glorious 12th and some time ago I thought it would be good to not only serve Grouse on the day that the season starts- today - and even better was that I invited the local press to join us.

However this was a great plan not thought through. Firstly the bird really needs to hang so that it begins to age before its cooked so eating on the day It is shot would not be ideal, secondly whilst the west highland grouse is possible it is also dwindling to such a level that locating and then cacthing is a huge challenge and not one which we could count on due to the pressure. So I arranged for grouse to be delivered from a different region and with time against us the van arrived in the late afternoon with dinner closing in quickly.

Having stood on the back door panicking that I was to be let down I was so thrilled to see the delivery that I confidently strode into the kitchen clutching the birds and handed them to the open mouthed kitchen staff. However they were not aghast at my success in getting birds but dumbfounded because they had never seen the birds in real life and certainly had no clue how to pluck or draw them. Not giving up I then retreated to the back door with the birds followed by a chef with a book. He sat on a stool and guided me through the plucking, I sat on a stool with a black bag and bird in hand and started the  operation.

 Feathers, fluff and fury filled the air. As I finished each bird I looked up and asked if the chef had understood how to do it and consistently he shook his head and asked for another demonstration. Two hours later with diners arriving I completed the plucking the came the instructed drawing and skinning, again a new experience and by now lots of promises never to do this again. The good news was that all was completed in the nick of time although it was touch and go, the bad news was that no one else had learnt how to do it, if they had they had hidden it,and my whole afternoon had been a simple lesson learnt. So no August 12 is get out of town day or never mention the grouse day!!

Four or Five Men in a Boat by guest contributor- Vernon Gayle

Every so often a really welcome e-mail appears in my in-skip (this is a more accurate term than in-box). A message recently arrived from Beppo very kindly inviting me to crew his boat for some of the races in West Highland Yachting Week. Beppo had pre-positioned the boat, a Delphia 24, at Dunstaffnage Marinain preparation for the Oban to Craobhrace on Saturday.

 

I understand that somewhere in the United States there is a Scottish ex-patriot called Menzies Farquharson-Urquhart, who is constantly explaining how his names are pronounced. I really hope that this poor chap isn’t originally from Craobh, which is pronounced Croove.

 

The weather wasn’t ideal but I am pleased to say that we arrived safely about four hours after the starting gun in twentieth place out of a field of twenty seven. The next day we raced back from Craobh to Oban. All eyes, and cameras, were on one boat. Griff Rhys Jones (no hyphen), Dara O’Briain and Rory McGrath of ‘Three Men in a Boat’ fame where racing a classic yacht. I’ve just been searching for my old copy of Jerome K. Jerome’s wonderful book. Many years ago I heard the old sociologist G.A.V. Sergeant ask ‘what impression might a burglar form of us from looking at our bookcase?’ The search for my copy of ‘Three Men in a Boat’ was fruitless but I noticed that amongst the many cook books and wine guides, there was a book on yoga and another on Marx. Would an intruder therefore jump to the conclusion that I was an obese but supple alcoholic communist?

 

 The BBC’s three men managed to arrive in second place in their class. We managed tenth in our class, but were still warming up. Watch out for the series which is due to be aired over the Christmas period.

With five, rather than four, men in the boat on Monday we had a victory, coming first in our class in one of the Firth of Lorne Races. The 2010 campaign ended today with a very respectable third place in the Round Lismore Race. I plan to contact Hancock & Co. of Burlington Arcade to see if they can strike a replica trophy for more permanent display in the hotel! If this is not possible then Beppo will have to win a trophy again next year.

Vernon Gayle

Green progress!

About 5 years ago we were convinced to buy a new machine for the golf course. The Aero King was sold to us as a bargain and on the basis that it would transform the golf course. This now seems like a similar story to many of the other pieces of equipment we have amassed in the golf shed and some have indeed transformed our lives and made them easier but few on their own have actually transformed the course. Anyway after much maoning and growning it was eventually admitted earlier this year that the main reason this particular piece of machinery was having little impact was its lack of use and in particular the fact that it did not work.

It would be easy to understand that it was for this reason that it had had little impact however we were left with a decison to retire it or fix it and gamble that it would make a difference. We finally elected for the latter and found the issue simply rectified- a change of spark plugs and clean of the filter and off it went. So for the last two months we have regularly solid tined the greens and watched to see the change. amazingly it does seem to have had an impact, firstly the surface of thh greens seems to have lifted and have life in it and secondly some areas that had a history of draining issues sesm to have waned.

So now I am looking around to see if theere is any other equipemnt we own that we do not use incase it too will have an immediate imapct. in truth maintaining the machines and keeping all in order remains the number one task and the most important chore, much like runniing a hotel where looking after your guests is the most important chore and then gaining new ones so looking after equipemnt and keeping it going is often more important than buying more "solution"  

New Entrance to Eriska!

This month we were joined by a new member of the team. Elizabeth has come straight from University and brings with her some fresh new ideas about marketing and sales and whilst we do not understand or comprehend much of what she is trying to get us to do having a fresh look at many of our assets and attributes has allowed us the chance to take a fresh look at the future. From the outset we told her that nothing was set in stone and to that extent we did not provide her much background but asked he r to do her own research rather than use data and information we had already studied.

it was certainly an interesting way to move forward but it has thrown up many new ideas, such as increasing our social networking- still not sure what that means- and emphasising on our strengths whilst working on the weaknesses. One of the initial suggestions was that given our new moorings at the pier and the wonderful pier, although used by some it is mostly a venue for our staff to fish and a platform for me to launch my boat It should really be seen as an alternative entrance to Eriska with the large number of boats that enter loch creran.

 So after a bit of research , which included my sitting in the sun at the Pier watching boats sail by I was forced to agree as many of the boats clearly detoured close to the shore to see what the golf course really was and one boat even approached me on the Pier to ask if there was a hotel! So today we erected a new sign at the Pier highlighting the fact that we do exist, that we do have moorings and that we have a golf course and spa. Amazingly within an hour of the sign going up the phone had rung and a dinner reservation was made. lets Hope that this is a measure of the success we can hope from all of Elizabeth's new suggestions.

Stables Spa comes of Age!!

When we started with our indoor facilities back in 1992 we simply ran out of funds to complete the whole envisaged project so finished what we could to the best of our ability and shelved later developments. In truth the Spa was not part of these planned later developments but one of the advantages of the fact that we built the stable in stages was that it allowed us to change and evolve our plans rather than having to actually structurally alter already completed facilities. to this extent we have now added the restaurant, the balcony and now the spa with it separate entrance and amenities.

When we started offering spa treatments we probably, like the rest of the world, -apart from those who spa-, believed a hot tub and pool served the purpose but we have learnt that there is a great deal more to the whole operation than water and massage, it is all about the journey and the ambiance, personal wellbeing and spiritual rest! You see I have learnt something!

Anyway this year we were approached about being considered for an entry in the Good Spa Guide and after discussion decided that we were not only ready but needed to stand up and be counted so agreed to the inspection and visit. I was therefore delighted to receive the report which offered us the second highest accolade for Scotland- 4 Bubbles- and gave great credit to the team at the stables. It highlighted the benefits of a small personal spa and the fact that although we do not have endless rooms and facilities we have more than sufficient for our needs and most importantly excellent service and treatments. What more can we ask for! 

Neverending task of fixing Grasscutters!

Last week we arranged for an engineer to call in and check our coring machine for the golf course. we bought it over 5 years ago and I was reliably informed that it has never worked properly so the solution would be to purchase a new one. this to me was not the first option but the last option so I arranged for an expert to call and inspect the machine and he duly arrived. Immediately I liked him as he told  me the machine was an excellent choice and that he was certain he could fix it.

True to his word he immediately identified the major issue and then set about rectifying it and even spotted some minor niggles which were attended too. However in the time he was with us Gerry had pointed out a couple of other problems with machines and he then moved onto them however not expecting these issues he left promising to return with parts the following week. I could see light at the end of the tunnel, a full fleet  of cutters a golf course ready for attention and Gerry keen to get started.

So the engineer returned and for 20 minutes all was working and smiles spread but then disaster- Gerry limped back into the shed with a toiling greens machine and after another 2 hour investigation not only was it described as broken but looking terminal! Not to fear the engineer would depart and seek advice and our old hand mower would be exhumed from the mothballs and pressed into service. Well it started and it went but not very far and soon that too was on the medical bench but today Duaine has persevered with it and it is now in much better health and ready for tomorrow on the greens, vowing not to be left unattended for so long and Gerry promising to run it monthly if it keeps going for the next week until the main greens machine is fixed!

That is now the key to firstly keep the machines operating and secondly to keep a back up ready so |robert has been working on a back up fairways machine that had been mothballed by Chay and is now in full working order and ready to leap into action!! So all being well by Tuesday night we will not only have a full complement of cutters working but also a couple of spares- and no doubt a huge bill!! Now whats the next disaster to be