Seil, Tourism, Uncategorized

Looking forward

Back in January I wrote a post called “Looking forward, looking back”, it was a look back at our time here, and a taste of the season we were looking forward to.

Little did I know.

It’s nearly the end of the year.

Spring was sunny but we had it all to ourselves.

Our summer was much better than we could have expected. We had to make changes, but were rewarded with lovely guests once again. And we managed some family time and personal celebrations before restrictions tightened in the autumn. And then this month our community managed to deliver some Christmas sparkle for local children, with a walk through Cinderella performance.

Tomorrow we’ll celebrate alone, raising our glasses to toast a new year. And looking forward to opening our doors to guests once again.

Stay safe, stay well, and have a happy new year when it comes.

Caroline, George, and Bramble xxx

Covid, Seil, Tourism

That’s all folks, ……………. until next year.

Way back in March, even before we went into lockdown I started to doubt that we’d be welcoming guests this year. And I was worried because we already had a good number of bookings which I thought might have to cancel. When lockdown came I had to decide how far ahead to cancel bookings and luckily, made the right call. Also we have the nicest guests, so everyone was understanding about their bookings being cancelled.

Bramble enjoying the spring daffs

We could have reopened mid July but wanted to spend the time planning our approach. And of course to have family visitors. So we delayed our reopening until 1st August, when we were please to welcome some return guests.

Daffs replaced by daisies

Now the leaves are turning, mornings are much darker and we’ve closed our doors for the season.

Autumn colour

We’re now thinking ahead to 2021….

We are going to retain the two night minimum stay, I haven’t liked refusing bookings but it’s more rewarding when guests stay and explore the area. Even without some of our local attractions we’ve found visitors have found plenty to enjoy on Seil and its surrounding area.

Boats in Balvicar bay

We’re going to concentrate on booking out one room. This year it was Nancy. Next year we’re going to use Flora, though we’ll book both rooms to an extended group.

That will mean guests will have exclusive use of a bedroom, bathroom, sitting room, and the dining room. Like a small apartment. Except we cook your breakfast.

Other breakfast dishes available

And as it seems unlikely that this virus will disappear any time soon we’ll continue to avoid back to back bookings.

But most of all, whether like this

Or this

Maybe without the shades?

We’ll be welcoming you with a smile

Stay safe and we hope to meet you(again) next year.

Caroline, George, and not forgetting Bramble xxx