It has turned out to be a perfect day for the happy couple getting married here at the hotel today.  All the guests awoke this morning to brilliant blue sky and sunshine and it has stayed that way all day today.

The ceremony was held in the Piano Room at the hotel and (thankfully) went perfectly, I had the very important job of music co-ordinator for the afternoon and the pressure was on to ensure that the timings were right.  As luck would have it the stereo behaved itself and the ceremony went without a hitch, well not completely smoothly…   The bride did forget her flowers half way through the ceremony, so one of the guests had to frantically run up to the room to grab them in time for the signing of the register and the photos – oh well it is something to talk about in years to come.  Overall a lovely day was enjoyed, congratulations from All at The Fowey Hotel to the Happy Couple.

The official start to the season finally arrived this afternoon!  After (what has felt like) a very long winter we carried out our annual Easter Egg hunt on the Tea garden.  It was a little ‘touch and go’ regarding the weather, but thankfully at 1pm the rain stopped , the skies turned blue and the hunt for the Golden Egg commenced.

In total,  Stuart (our very jolly porter) placed over 150 chocolate eggs  on and around  the Tea Garden along with 4 giant eggs and the ultimate Golden Egg.  It was the ideal location and perfect weather for a really fun afternoon, the hunt managed to raise £88 for Marie Curie Cancer care and the afternoons fun and frivolities will be making the Cornish Guardian Newspaper next week!  Thankfully, all of the 40 children managed to find at least 3 eggs each, with the only casualty being one squashed egg that had been missed in the stampede.  It was a really fun afternoon and with all the excitement and running around that was being done, I don’t think that any of our budding hunters will need to attend weight watchers anytime soon.

Happy Easter from All at The Fowey Hotel.

Over the winter I have felt as though my brain may have slipped into a state of semi-hibernation, I have largely put it down to old age and I have now realised that it is necessary to dust off the cobwebs in whatever way necessary to defy the downward spiral that is doolallydom.  Some say you need to be a little doolally to work here, I just say that it’s the sane ones that we really need to worry about…

So in an attempt to regain my brain age youth I have discovered the marvel that is the DS!

Most nights I am eager to get home in order to train my rather tired and old brain on our new Nintendo DS xl.  It’s a fantastic piece of equipment and any one who has one will realise, it really does help to exercise the parts of the brain that I thought had actually shut down forever.  The first time I carried out the test, I had a brain age of 72!  Of course I was mortified and have tirelessly trained most nights since the beginning of March. 

Currently my brain age is 32, that being 5 years younger than my actual age.  As any of you who know me will understand, I will not be happy until I manage to get to the “Golden 20 year old brain target”.  For this I imagine that I will need to do the 20 calculations in 15 seconds, the Stroop test in under 1 minute and memorise 29 of the 30 words in the memory test.  But never say never and I am definitely no quitter!

My rather brainy boyfriend on the other hand (who happens to be a mere 18 months ‘real age’ younger than me) is rapidly nearing this magic number and currently has a brain age of 26.  It’s not that I am competitive or anything, however I do plan to steal the DS at any given opportunity in order to claim the DSXL ultimate prize, victory will be mine!!!

I have just tapped on to the BBC Weather forecast only to find that we are to expect rain, rain and yet more rain for the next five days!! On talking to some of our guests in the hotel this afternoon, many of them actually say that they don’t mind the rain because it just allows them permission to simply sit and read or snooze away the day and actually relax.  I hadn’t really thought of it like that, but after all, that is what a holiday is all about and so many of us do go on holiday only to be up early and rushing around so that we are able to visit the attractions and see everything the area has to offer before we return home.

So in light of this new revelation… Let it rain and I hope you are all able to create some much-needed relaxation time.

The main reason I wanted to check the weather forecast was because on Good Friday I am planning our annual Easter Egg hunt on the hotels Tea Garden in Aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care.  Of course (being true Brits) we do have a contingency plan and that is to hold it on Easter Monday instead, if that fails then I will have 200 Cream Eggs to find homes for  - something tells me I will have a lot of help from both staff and guests….  

Our very comical and philosophical day porter - Stuart, who many of you may remember, has just walked in this morning and announced that his seaweed was “on the turn”.  This has had a history of being fairly accurate for the guests and his prediction for the next week is of a “good spell”.  Well hopefully it is true and we are set for a fabulous spring.  The weather, so far, today has been glorious and we are looking to be busy with both Sunday Lunches and Afternoon Cream Teas – it will soon be time to open the Tea Garden again for the season, where has that year gone?!

Some guests have visited Heligan Gardens recently and commented on how surprised they were to see that the Rhododendrons, Camellias and Magnolias are only now budding!  I think that due to the harsh frost and snow over the winter months spring has been delayed, as a result we are hoping that there will be a burst of colourful budding very shortly.

After the success of The ShelterBox Appeal day last Saturday we will be holding our annual Easter Egg hunt on the Tea Garden on Good Friday at 2pm.  It has become a bit of a tradition here at the hotel and we have 40 spaces available, should anyone wish to come along and enjoy the fun.  This year will be in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care.  Please do call the hotel to book any budding chocolate hunters in (maximum age 12 years), please note there are only 40 spaces available.

A fantastic day was had here at the hotel on Saturday, we held a coffee and cupcake afternoon and raised over £1,000 which was the target and now gives shelterbox a further 2 boxes (each costing £490)!!  After the Haiti disaster we here at the hotel wanted to do something in order to help and thankfully we had a great deal of support from local businesses, neighbouring hotels and sister hotels. 

Three of our chefs here had their legs waxed by three St Austell college beauty therapists on the NVQ level 3.  They were all fantastic and gave up their time in order to help raise the £178 in sponsorship money – the only payment they received was in the form of a coffee and a cup cake.  Full respect went to the three brave chefs, Brian (aka Bubba), Tom and Kevin who are now walking around with legs that are smoother than a baby’s bottom – I wonder if they will be able to wear their shorts this spring/summer???

There was also a live auction, where some very generous gifts were donated from our sister hotels, and the Fowey Hotel - one night Dinner, Bed and Breakfast stay reached £140 alone, with the total money raised for the auction on the day being £415.  So as you can imagine we were all delighted!!

 Many great pictures were taken by Mike, photographer for the Cornish Guardian.  Lets hope it makes the front page and raises even more awareness for this incredible charity.  Many thanks to all who got involved – you have helped to make a real difference.

For further information on shelterbox please visit:  http://www.shelterbox.org

Being many miles from home some of our guests from time to time find themselves in need of something here that they might normally be able to put their hands on at home.  This mornings question I think is quite high on the list of comical ones and that was “Have you got a soldering iron?”  Well I know that we do try our best to overcome every possible eventuality, however a soldering iron is a little too specialist for us.  Anyway our multi-tasking maintenance man Ray is well and truly on the job, if anyone can fix the broken glasses then Ray can.

Another comical one is the evening that a sorbet was retuned to the kitchen because it was “too cold”, after microwaving it into a warm liquid the guest ate it up quite happily.  Never let it be said that our work here is boring…

Thankfully we here at the Fowey Hotel are proving that romance is far from dead.  We have accepted over a dozen bouquets over the weekend on behalf of many romantic people wishing to spoil their nearest and dearest.  It’s been a really beautiful day with blue sky and sunshine, and a lot of couples have been enjoying a nice lunch and then a stroll in and around the town.  The Restaurant is packed to capacity this evening and the chef has created a deliciously romantic menu for our valentine visitors.

I myself have enjoyed a perfect morning with my gorgeous boyfriend who has spoilt me rotten.  Breakfast in bed, well juice and a cup of tea – but that is all I have.  We then both opened our cards and I was given chocolates, a rose, a very cute cuddly toy and some beautiful bubble bath, what a lovely treat!  Surprisingly, I haven’t even eaten one of the chocolates yet; I may not be able to say that tomorrow morning though! 

I am a real romantic and I love to see older couples still enjoying each other’s company, holding hands and laughing.  Some of whom are staying here at the hotel this weekend - Ahhhh how sweet!

Well this evening we are going to enjoy a quiet night at home, it is my idea to have an indoor picnic with both of our favourite foods - It’s a bit of fun, I’ll let you know how it goes.  Happy Valentines Day Everyone!

It has been a very sad week for the Richardson group.  A number of you will know Mrs Ann Richardson who sadly passed away suddenly last Thursday evening.  As you can imagine, it has been a huge shock for the entire Richardson group as Ann has always been a very warm and welcoming part of The Richardson group.   I am sure that there are many guests who have met Ann at the Fowey Hotel throughout the years.  Many of you reading this will remember that Ann always put a great deal of effort and enthusiasm into meeting and greeting new and old friends at the Fowey.  She was always incredibly generous and a lot of fun to have around, I would describe her as a ‘natural hosts’ and she will be sorely missed by myself and many of the team here at The Fowey Hotel.

Just wanted to let you know that the South West Tourism Awards was a huge success last Thursday.  Both Candace and myself dressed up in our evening gowns and had a really wonderful evening at the Headland Hotel in Newquay.  I was lucky enough to bump in to an ex college lecturer Vince Falco and a few other ex students of Camborne College that night and it was so nice to enjoy some banter about “how things use to be”.  As always the evening was well organised and the after dinner speaker was Kirstie Allsop from (one of my favourite programmes) Location, Location, Location.  A few of us were a little miffed as to how Kirstie could be ‘linked’ to the catering and hospitality industry.  However, she quickly explained that she owned a holiday cottage in the area and had always visited Cornwall as a child with her family.  Kirstie gave a great (no notes required) speech and cracked a few ‘Cornish’ jokes which we all appreciated.

So I have waffled on and kept you in suspense for long enough, I expect some of you may be interested in how we did?  As you may know we entered the hotel in for small hotel of the year.  Last year we were delighted to receive the Silver award and this year we were awarded with the same again!  So Silver two years running, which we are again very proud of.  If you are visiting the hotel over the next few month do look out for the certificate and award displayed in the hallway.

Murder Mystery night at The Fowey Hotel is taking place on Saturday 28^th November this year and is set to be another memorable evening in the very capable hands of the murder by appointment team.  Anyone in the area wishing to come along for the evening can do so or similarly make a weekend of it and take advantage of our two night break from only £239 for a double room for the two nights!  Visit this link for find out more     http://www.thefoweyhotel.co.uk/murder_mystery.php   .

The Fowey Christmas Market is again rapidly approaching and again the hotel is getting busy with booking for this time.  Friday 4^th and Saturday 5^th is when the festivities begin with the turning on of the Christmas lights and carol singing on the Friday night, the main Christmas Market day on the 5^th is always a fantastic day to get those final ‘local’ and unique gifts.  With Cornish Christmas cakes, delicious local cheeses and the friendly family butcher you can’t go too far wrong.  The Market opens at 10am on the Saturday so be sure to come along if you are in the area – it’s a great festive start to the season.