Cornwall County Council or Creator of County Chaos?

Much upheaval has resulted in the latest work being carried out on the road directly behind the hotel. Since the 2nd January Daglands Road has been closed in order for important structural work to be carried out on an old wall belonging to the hotel’s neighbours. Whilst the work to the actual house is looking fantastic, the majority of the disturbance has been due to the removal and rebuilding of the brick wall adjacent to the rear of the hotel. This work has (so far) taken 12 weeks! I have been assured however that the team will be completing their work by the end of this coming week. As Easter is rapidly approaching, we await with bated breath!

Throughout the 12 weeks I have had machinery plant parked in the hotel’s staff car park, an argument between my head receptionist and one of the construction workers and suspicious damage to a hotel sign! So far conversations regarding the sign replacement are amicable, let’s hope this continues. As you can imagine, some of the inland rooms at the hotel have experienced some interesting sights over the past couple of months. Thankfully the sight of “builder’s bums” have been few and far between though I will go as far as to say that there have been a few diet coke breaks going on!!! Oh well I‘m sure we won’t complain if the work does have to continue for a little longer! We have also had cranes, industrial rollers, concrete mixers and large lorries operating between the hours of 9am and 4pm Monday to Friday. To say we won’t miss them when they are gone is a huge under statement!

Continuing along the theme of building, the owner of the Fowey Hotel - Mr Richardson has annoyingly had his plans refused for the building of a unique round house on the spare site adjacent to the driveway. After initially receiving good feedback from many councillors within the district and approval, the plans have now controversially been refused on the grounds that it will conflict with the existing old, round ‘look out’ style structures at the mouth of the estuary! (Round and round don’t go together???) Currently at the moment this area is described as “waste ground” and sadly that is just what it looks like. Some would argue that to build an impressive piece of architecture there would further help to enhance the area! Oh well, that’s town planners for you…..

As we are all well aware, Easter is rapidly approaching. This year the hotel is holding a children’s Easter egg hunt in the Tea Garden on Good Friday. In all honesty I was wrestling with the idea. What with all the issues now involved with Health and Safety these days. However, my ‘fun side’ got the better of me and I think it will be a great opportunity for the children to have a giggle. I remember when I did an Easter egg hunt at my Primary school many, many years ago. We all had so much fun; surely that’s what Easter is all about! Hmm just had a thought, I wonder if I can get one of the team to dress up in a bunny costume for the afternoon…

One of the hotel’s regular guests stopped me the other day to ask if I would mind him researching the history of The Fowey Hotel. I have since got very excited at the thought of this, as it will make a fabulous reference tool for many of the guests that take an interest in the history of both the building and the business. With the hotel dating back as far as 1882 I think there will be a lot of fascinating information unearthed. If I hear anything juicy I will be sure to let you know!

The sight of Dolphins in the estuary always creates a lot of excitement and this weekend has been no exception. A pod of between 6 – 12 have been spotted playing in the river just across from the hotel. It’s such a wonderful sight and with the blue skies and sunshine it’s hard to imagine a better setting for them. If weather conditions remain favourable there are many of us hoping they will become frequent visitors over the next few months.

Finally, the new smoking ban due to be enforced this summer is causing a few concerns already. Whilst I am in total agreement of the hotel becoming a smoke free zone, I still have concerns regarding where guests will stand if and when they do wish to smoke. As you would guess, I have been receiving conflicting opinions on what I should do. It is interesting how some of the non-smokers are happy for our smoking guests to “stand out in the cold and rain as this way they will soon be incentivised to give up”. The smokers feel that a covered structure should be erected either on the balcony or close to the building. It will be an interesting few months to see which way we decide to go. As with a lot of fellow hoteliers we may wait and see how the new law “beds in” before setting anything in concrete.

Yippee spring has sprung!!

How great is it to have the lighter evenings? Blue skies and sunshine are already helping me to come out of my winter hibernation state. Spring is definitely my season with the bright yellow daffs and baby lambs in many of the fields around Fowey. This morning I opened up the car’s sunroof for the first time in what seemed like forever, wow it felt good.

Emma (sister) and I took the family dog out for a bracing walk on the coast path on Saturday. We both realised how much we had missed just taking some time out from our busy lives to catch up and simply ‘put the world to rights’. Em is now almost 6 month pregnant and looking ‘obviously’ pregnant now, it so suits her. She’s now noticing that she is less able to do certain things such as walking up a hill without getting breathless, it’s all a little alien for her (as she has always been so fit) at the moment but she is going with the flow and managing to find her own pace. We have been having a giggle about the fact that her hubby is nesting like a mad thing at the moment, he has been working his normal full time job as well as fitting in their new kitchen units, sanding down floor boards and painting many of the rooms. She says she is afraid to stop him, but we don’t think she could if she tried. He’s definitely on a mission and I think they are both going to make the greatest parents any baby could ever wish for.

Its really fabulous being in the hotel at the moment, there is an obvious ‘sea of change’ taking place both physically and professionally. Lighter colours and fresher paintwork are all contributing towards giving the hotel a revitalised and much improved feel. Gone are the dark walls and tired furniture, now replaced with classy ivory colours and elegant wallpaper. So many of the guests that I talk to are loving the improvements. Currently the refurbishment team are concentrating on the restaurant ceiling and this is being restored to its former glory with classical creams, ivory and whites being used, it really is so exciting to be involved.

Its all gone a little quiet on the new neighbours front. Neither Dawn nor Lenny have been spotted yet, but rest assured once they are you will be one of the first to know!