Pond work!

It's been a while since our pond looked like this... 5 years in fact, when we first moved into The Grange.
Over the years we have clearly had a leak, which naturally has caused the level of the water to go down, to just below the pond lights. We've put up with it for some time, but after a cold harsh winter, the rendering has cracked and is looking a bit of a mess.
So, we've hired our friend James who has a wealth of talents to repair the damage and find the leak! No mean feat!!
We have a few wedding guests including brides and grooms staying over the summer so ideally it wants to be finished by then!

Rooms upgrade

After much moving of furniture and as a consequence only having to buy a new dressing table for the new en-suite, we are now putting the final touches to all the rooms.
The new 19" LCD TV with built in DVD arrived this morning for 'Acres Suite'. The old TV from here has moved into the Garden Room and the 'huge' portable TV from there will be finding a good home.
Terry will putting his DIY skills to the test this week when he attempts to put a TV bracket on the wall to fix the new TV. He has until Friday when the next guests arrive! No pressure then!!

Not a good w/e

So, after my cancellation on Friday, due to Volcanic ash, i decided to ring my next guests that were due on Friday morning for 2 nights.
Good job i did. They were settling themselves in nicely at The Grange at Hellifield and they weren't budging!
So, that's 3 nights lost bookings.
Just had a phone call this morning.... another cancellation due to the guest's friends being stuck in France!! Looks like it's going to be a quiet week.

What an interesting day!

I thought i'd heard every excuse for having to cancel a booking until i heard this one, this morning!!
Due to volcanic ash coming from an eruption in Iceland, all filights into and out of the UK have been cancelled!!
My guests, due tomorrow lunch time, for a wedding at The Tempest Arms have therefore had to cancel, as they didn't anticipate leaving Spain in the next 12 hrs!!
My husband is also stranded, but in Paris. He was on his way back from a business trip in Atlanta!!
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47650000/jpg/_47650708_c466_260_volcano_ap.jpg

Tuesday - Golf day!

So, it's been sunny and warm for the past 4 days but not today!! Always the case on a golf day!!
Having dug out my short sleeved golf shirt i ended up putting on a rain jacket. It was bitterly cold.
A pretty good round of golf, then off to the supermarket as guests are due sometime today.
Dogs also back in residence - Tyskie the 19 month Labradoodle and Webster the 5 yr old Bearded Collie.
These 2 dogs spend nearly half their life at The Grange and have their own guest room - the laundry!!
I recently spent 2 days with them on the Coast2Coast Walk which they really enjoyed. It was Tyskie's 1st Big walk.

Booking mix up!

I was expecting 2 ladies to check in on friday around 4pm. They were late..... 24 hrs to be precise! they turned up at 4 pm on Saturday!!
Unfortunately, i had already managed to sell one of their rooms (they needed 2 singles) at 9 pm Friday night, after having spent 2 hrs at the pub complaining about my absent guests!!
What are the chances of this happening?.... very slim. I don't think i've ever been able to re-let a room out so quickly.
I managed to find the 'late' guests alternative accommodation, which was quite lucky, otherwise they were going to have to sleep in our loft!!
They were very good about the whole situation and in the end admitted blame. They did say in their email 9th and 10th but what they meant was the saturday and sunday which was the 10th and 11th.
They said they would tell everybody about us and i gave them a leaflet to leave at Tarn House, Stirton, where i'd sent them!
So, all in all a poor w/e in monetary terms!!
My single lady who is currently staying with us, has extended her stay by 1 night.... every little helps!!

New reference books for myself and the b&b too!!

I bought these useful reference books for myself this week.
Since i've just started the Coast2Coast walk last week and intend finishing it by the end of the year, i thought i'd get some inspiration!!
I bought the Pennine Way book because i feel i don't know enough about the walk and it goes right past my doorstep!!
The next big walk perhaps!!