Hello, from Nigel

Firstly, may I thank you all for your continued support for us all at the Luttrell Arms and the Porlock Weir Hotel and for taking time to read this.

I have been asking myself “What am I going to do with myself now that nearly all the leaves have blown off the trees  in the garden and I will soon have no leaves to sweep up …? “  The answer of course is ‘plenty’.  I have enjoyed much of the latest lockdown which necessitated being at home, gardening - mainly weeding actually and if the garden doesn’t look ‘ship shape’ now it never will do I assume!  A highlight has been planting bulbs accompanied by Georgia, my youngest granddaughter.  We can already see green tips emerging from the soil and promising a new colourful time ahead …which is more than we can say about the ongoing Corona virus pandemic, although thankfully the vaccines on the horizon are now heralding a new season of hope for the world.

 Enough about me … I am sure everyone is more interested about the hotels…

 It’s strange how those involved in the building trade and plumbers, electricians  etc. don’t seem to be viewed by the government as being so likely to be in danger of catching Covid as the rest of us other mortals -  for this we are extremely thankful!  We are capitalizing on this enthusiastically  at the Luttrell Arms  and getting on rapidly with some jobs that couldn’t possibly  be contemplated whilst the hotel was open to guests.

Hurrah! A new system for hot water and heating!  
Remedial work to the fire escape which will smarten up the Stable Courtyard.
Investigating fully and sorting out a damp patch in the middle of the floor in the main bar!! (we know we haven’t struck oil but we don’t know why it won’t go away!!).
New flooring in the kitchen …… all rather tedious and expensive things that some think ‘people don’t appreciate’, that is according to the females in my family!

In addition, we are investing in the more glamourous aspects by creating a new vaulted ceiling Garden Room which will lead directly to the ‘Champagne Terrace’ where the new pods will be open.   We are also busy decorating several bedrooms and corridors, laying new carpets in some bedrooms, in the Residents Lounge and part of the Dining room.  Thank goodness the tradesmen are all fit and healthy and keeping to a very tight deadline for us!

We hope all this will be ready Christmas! Anne and Becca Way are also using this time as an opportunity to titivate the bedrooms individually and to swap furniture around whist we have no guests to disturb.  
 
Meanwhile at Porlock, Miguel has used his legendary multi-tasking talents to diversify from being Manager and Head Chef and is honing his skills as a landscape gardener. He is labouring away out in the garden at Porlock so by the time you return in spring the garden should be completed!! Hopefully complete with steps accessing the new residents Car park and also the orchard with water feature as well as lawns and flower borders beginning to become established. A couple of fire pits and benches to enjoy and contemplate the view will create a great backdrop for small events, afternoon teas and alfresco dining, and at last, we will be able to also make use of our dining pods !!!

In conclusion, whilst we have no money coming in we have plenty going out!! My wife and daughter keep quoting that one needs to ‘speculate to accumulate’ but having said  that we are proud to have kept all our staff on Furlough and made only a few redundancies in spite of the difficulties economically. We and our skeleton staff are working on promotions, new menus and ideas and preparing to welcome people back to two even greater hotels very soon.

  ‘Getting ready’  for who knows what …I will say a little ray of light is that you can purchase some cracking Christmas gifts from the hotel and The Mews beauty salon from our website! 

Unfortunately I have been made to withdraw what I think would have been the best seller – Nigel’s Homemade Spicy Pickled Onions as ‘they’ tell me there would have been issues with postage!!

Latest news, just heard from Boris - We will in fact reopen now on the 2nd December at the Luttrell Arms and a week later at Porlock Weir (we can get the new carpets done then!).

Meanwhile I can see the high winds have brought down the last of the leaves and I have some more sweeping up to do …..

Look forward to seeing you soon!

Nigel