Spain - where???



Before the waves and wind came!



Well then - we went to Spain for a few days last weekend and I'm starting to think I dreamt the whole thing - but looking at the photo's it's clear I didn't!!  We went away to celebrate our first whole year of marriage and we had an absolutely brilliant time. Weather was a bit pants, 1 really sunny day but after that huge winds and massive waves the like of which I've never seen before............... In fact all I could think about was the recent Tsunami in Japan. It actually made me quite depressed because the waves in Spain were really huge powerful things which were uprooting beach umbrella stands and throwing them out to sea and all I could think about was how the people that were affected by that dreadful tsunami must have felt and the dreadful devastation it caused. So many thousands of innocent lives taken away in a heartbeat - I actually sat on the sea wall and cried with the wind drying my tears!  Anyway - apart from that, SOH and I had a lovely break - asleep till about 10.30 every morning except one (unheard of in our business!) delicious lazy breakfasts on the balcony, strolls along the promenade, and then quite delectable meals out in the evening! Oh and fabulous wines!!  The Gin was quite nice as well............... :) Had two wonderful Tapas meals  - I adore Tapas, just love the whole concept of picking at lots of little different tastes and textures. Discovered I LOVED the Spanish Black Pudding! Ole!!

Anyway - so back to normality now and back to the rush and hurry of getting every thing just right for the Easter break............. and I just cannot believe how busy we are right now! (neither can the staff!) Yesterday (Sunday) we did almost 150 meals - 150!!! We're not even in the 'season' yet either!! I'm going to be bulk buying pro-plus and caffeine drinks for us all........ only joking! But I do think we're going to have to revise our staffing levels quite soon. So I already have a couple of new people with us, and a couple more interested in coming to work with us - so I think we'll be ok. Our sea corner of the garden is almost done and just the other boat to come in for us to be able to offer cooked fish in the garden just like that offered in Spain - barbecued Sardines! Yum......... as well as another surprise for the garden in the offing!

We had the Old Gaffers back to sing on Friday - what a fantastic night especially as some of the Harbour and Rugby boys came in and then a complete change of pace with Symon- Paul a Harpist in the pub on Sunday! Both delightful in their own unique way. Both of them are going to be here on a monthly (or more) basis, so we are offering just that little bit extra and pleasing many (I HOPE!).

Um - and oh yes - a holiday in Greece for me (alone) in 6 weeks time!! Now, where did I put my Apple and Ryvita's.........????

What a great start to the season!!

Crikey - if this is the start of the season Salcombe should be in for a good year! Yesterday we had standing room only in the bar and again last night we were really busy! Seems to be people taking 3/4 day breaks and really treating themselves. We've seen a rise in the numbers of puddings being sold (always a sign people are 'treating' themselves) and also the more expensive wines are being asked for.  

I had hoped to be able to put a photo of exciting developments in our garden on this blog post - but, technology is resolutely determined to not allow me to upload anything today......... We're having the most amazing feature created at the top of our garden from hundred year old sailing boats, sailing artifacts and sails etc! Just wait till it's all finished!!  We've also got some work coming in to provide food for the opening of a new business as well as the hosting of a Festival event in June. We're also going to be doing a 'Poppy Party' on the 10th June to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Royal British Legion.  More of all that as the year progresses.

There seems to be a general consensus that people are staying home again this year - finance, airport delays, terrible weathers and disasters in far away places - I think they're all conspiring to encourage people to stay in UK again this year??  We have lots and lots of advance bookings for the Hobbit House and we're signing up to an electronic booking system as well which will make it even easier for potential guests to see if we have vacancies and if so, to be able to book on line. 

I popped off down to Portsmouth again last weekend - my little car is giving me the most amazing freedom, and whilst I still don't like the motorway driving it is all starting to feel a little bit more natural.  But Guy my driving instructor was absolutely right when he said that getting your license was only the start.......I've seen some bonkers driving and I am only surprised there are not more accidents on the road! Also discovered I can get lost even WITH a sat nav!!  

I suppose it doesn't matter what business you're in, but particularly the hospitality business, I tend to be quite critical of the service I receive. Never more so than when I was in Pompey again last week. A huge world Hotel chain and the girl behind the bar couldn't even mix a Campari & Soda, the barman in a Harbour side pub who just sloshed the wine into a spritzer (I didn't complain - I was on the receiving end of a VERY large spritzer - but I bet his bosses stock take is a pickle!) and the slip shod service all round in the various establishments I visited. Tables not cleared and wiped down etc etc.........a poor indictment of our industry

SOH and I are bucking the trend of staying in the UK and we are going to have a short break next weekend in Spain for a couple of days to celebrate our 1st Wedding anniversary. Yes - a whole year since we said 'I Do' - where does the time go?? Scary isn't it! Then it's only 9 weeks till I go off for a whole week to Greece - Kefalonia actually, followed by SOH and his friends back to Spain for a week.    Sounds like we're permanently away but thats how it seems to go sometimes and then nothing for ages after that - we'll be too busy working (hopefully!). 

So it's a determined effort now to lose at least another stone before I go to Greece - so although I'm not having my personal trainer again (JC) right now, I AM trying to remember all that he taught me! I'm using the gymn in the hotel at the top of the road and trying very very hard to eat healthily. Back on the wagon - on the water and off the wine! In fact, munching a very healthy apple as I type. So all being equal my efforts should pay off - I'm just 1 pound off what I was before Christmas last year, so I'm ok with that. So on that note, as the sun has gone in and the rain is starting I'm off to the gymn and also a sauna and steam today - so see you all again soon my lovelies!   

P.S Huge Happy Birthday love to my big son Paul for tomorrow the 13th! Here's to a fantastic year for you son! X

Computers!

 Well all I seem to have done this last few days is work on the computer..........either uploading, downloading or  transferring data! Replying to emails, writing e mails, writing a cancellation policy and compiling lists!!! Frankly, all a bit tedious and not overly exciting. One of the most frustrating things was uploading this video (link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkY4h-XYon ) of the 'Old Gaffers' who came to the Victoria to sing last week.  It took close on 5 hours to upload to You Tube!! I thought these things were supposed to be easy................. I've also been playing around with our Victoria Inn website and after a couple of false starts I think I've got the hang of it now!

Anyway what a fantastic evening we all had last week and what great blokes the Old Gaffers are!!  They are all local men and they bill themselves as: Men of the Sea singing Songs of the Sea, and my goodness they did just that. After the event a few of them stayed on and after just a couple of pints started singing again and at gone 10.30 we were all still singing and customers were still walking through the doors! In all of our three years here that evening ranked as one of the best ever and we can't wait to repeat it again and again - here's to the Old Gaffers becoming regular fixtures at the Vic!  

What else? Well half term was an amazing week for trade. We were very, very busy almost every day of the half term break and it was fabulous as usual to see so many old faces coming in to say hello and spend time with us. Consequently, we were both a bit shattered after such a busy week, half term is normally agentle introduction to the season to come, but not so last week!

The weekend was particularly busy with about 80 covers downstairs and a private Birthday party upstairs in our function room for 'Bruce' and 16 of his friends and family. The function room lends itself really well to this type of intimate gathering - good light, great views out over the harbour - and of course great food and service! What more could you want??

Our new 'special' specials board was also a great success last week  with new Lamb and fish dishes flying off the board. You may recall I've talked about ensuring that our main menu reflects a good 'pub grub' approach with dishes for most pockets and tastes. But to run beside that we wanted our 'specials' board to be really special and reflect not only our Chef's James greater cooking talents, but also dishes that are that bit more complex in content and taste and reflect that we can offer a more refined menu as well. You can see the new menu's in full on the Vic's website - http://www.victoriainn-salcombe.co.uk/  On another foodie note, James and I have been mulling over the idea of working with more sustainable fish other than Cod or Plaice etc, so on tonights menu we are trialling Gurnard with sauteed Leeks and Chorizo on crushed Garlic Potatoes - guess what I'm having for Dinner tonight?! 

More work has started today on the garden, this time the very top end of our garden - we are going to transform a dull patch of garden that hardly anyone ever sits in - to a place of nautical interest.......! Boats, ropes and watery artifacts......... You'll just have to wait for the pictures! Better still come and see progress for yourself!

I'm off again this weekend to Portsmouth to see my son and his wife, and as it's the second time I've driven there on my own I'm not feeling so anxious about it and in fact I'm looking forward to it this time - and beter still - the weather forecast is good!!!!   

Just before I finish for todays entry I thought you'd like to see a picture of some of our hardworking staff from last Sunday........... captions on a suitable postcard please!?!



Jessie, Karen and Alex - Great youngsters!




Tanya our second Chef and  the boys: Mattie and little James



Hoorah it's half term

Victoria Inn Frontage

Hoorah it's half term and we're all ready to welcome our guests and give them a great time!

The new spring menu is up and running and wow, it's been given the thumbs up by everyone who's eaten with us - absolutely everything is selling well. The closed sandwiches with new exciting fillings are proving hugely popular especially the Chorizo & Brie and the Crayfish Tails. The Steak & Onion Baguettes are to die for......... they are juicy and full of flavour - it's difficult keeping me away from them!

As for puds - well the Pan Seared Pineapple with Lime & Chilli Ice Cream is amazing.   As well as a great new menu we have an improved 'specials' board and high upon it are Scallops, Monkfish and a wonderful Rack of Lamb with fresh Asparagus at the moment......Crikey, I'm salivating!  

 Other new ideas to look out for at the 'Vic' are firstly, a basket of reading glasses - how often do you get to a pub or a restaurant and you've forgotten your specs (all the time in my case!) well, know we have a basket of reading specs on the bar for you to help you see the menus or papers.  Then if you want to sit out on the terraces right now, well it's still very cold - but we have some really colourful blankets for you to wrap yourself in and enjoy the fresh clean salcombe air. 

Next, my lovely SOH has been working hard , planting up the tubs, and great new boxes we had especially made for the garden - and very nice they're starting to look as well. We also have something really, really exciting going to take shape in our garden,  but until; it's done and looks as fabulous as we think it's going to look it's staying a secret - but I think all of the visitors to our garden will LOVE IT!!!!

 SOH has also been working on the wine lists to make sure that they are reflecting what's popular and what people are drinking - AND - we've also introduced a loyalty card!  You nominate just one item, and that could be a pint, a glass of wine or a Steak meal, but you pay for 9 and we give you the 10th one - COMPLETELY FREE!! Anyone who comes in the Victoria will offered a loyalty card as a way of us saying 'thank you' for their custom.  On the Ales front we have the utterly amazing Admirals Ale on the pumps as a spring 'special'.  I'm especially excited about Thursday 24th February at 8.00p.m - we have our first visit from the OLD GAFFERS!  Devonian Men of the Sea singing singing Sea Songs (try saying that when you've had a few!!)  

The Victoria 's own 'Likely Lads'!

Behind the scenes there's a lot going on as well and here are a couple of boys you'll be unlikely to see 'front of house' but this is Mattie and James - 2 of our kitchen hands who work their socks off ensuring the kitchen works to full capacity, they do most of the prep, cold section and the washing up and clearing down. 

Our lovely Jessie

This young lady Jessie - well you will see her... she's one of our front of house staff and is really great either behind the bar or serving in the restaurant! Always a cheery smile and although quite shy, we think she has great potential in the hospitality business - in fact we're going on a 1 day course together in March (now I can drive I think there'll be more courses to go to!). Jessie is also very talented at writing the blackboards - an art all in itself! Lastly, of course there is James our Executive Chef with his back to the camera - working hard as always making sure that we have enough dishes to satisfy our guests!  So it's off to the bar I go now - see what's going on, check up on the bookings for tonight and the weekend...... Hope we'll see some of you very soon!

Chef James doing what he does best!

The Dash

Since I've been officially sworn in as Church Warden at Holy Trinity Church in Salcombe I have pottered about a bit in the Church, attended a couple of meetings, sat and had informal meetings with Father Daniel our Vicar but not much else yet really, except sadly having to 'look after' two very large funerals for local people. The Verger is the person who does the hard work of getting the Church tidy and ready - tidying and sorting etc - but I had to be around as the 'face' of the Church.  The two funerals I've attended in that capacity were for people who were much loved in Salcombe and who made great contributions to Salcombe as a small town. 

The funeral this week was for a lady called Jean Furness. I only met Jean a handful of times and found her in some respects to be a quite formidable lady - she had a great sense of humour and she was polite to me, but I always felt she was also a little guarded with me.  I suspect that this guardedness was about us being outsiders coming into her beloved Salcombe, but the one thing I think we both had in common was our love of her home town - Salcombe!  As well as a wife and mother she had been a councillor for many years, Vice Mayor and Mayor of the town and was instrumental in homes for local people as well as other important town decision making.  

But until the tributes were read out I was unaware quite what part she'd played in the traditions of Salcombe and it's young peoples welfare. She'd been part of the Regatta committee ( a massive part of Salcombe tradition) since she was a very young girl, and played a huge role in making sure the event happened year in and year out as well as numerous other activities including the local swimming baths and the local Brownies etc.

It got me thinking about what small communities will do as the stalwarts of our communities start to disappear through age and death.  Who will take up the mantle of ensuring that traditions carry on for generations to come. Does anyone care enough to step up to the plate and take on the responsibilities??  My own Church is a very good example of this (as I expect it is up and down the land) the average age of the congregation can't be much under 55 and for tasks around the Church I seem to be calling upon the same people time and time again - for that, I guess we need to look at how we get younger people to attend the Church - but is there that spiritual draw for people? I don't know the answer - do you...??

Anyway, back to the funeral - of course a very sad affair but with a Church absolutely full of people eager to show their love and pay their respects to Jean and to support her grieving family.  I was reasonably detached through out the proceedings until a poem was read out called 'The Dash' by Linda Ellis, which moved me to tears with it's beautiful, simplistic message. 

For me personally, this poem has been a sure sign from God that He is watching over me, as in the last couple of weeks when I've been mulling (short hand for worrying/anxious/stressed!) over various financial, business and personal matters it has put my life completely into perspective - and I'm really grateful that I was able to be at Jeans funeral to hear this poem.    So there is no more in this blog post except for this short poem that I want to share with you, and I hope it moves you to reflect on what your life is and what you can do with your 'Dash'! 

The Dash

by

Linda Ellis 

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend.

He referred to the dates on her tombstone from the beginning to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth and spoke of the following date with tears,

But he said what mattered most of all was the Dash between those years.

For that Dash represents all the time that she spent alive on Earth,

And now only those who loved her know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own, the cars, the house, the cash,

What matter is how we live and love and how we spend our Dash.

So think about this long and hard; Are there things you’d like to change?

For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough to consider what’s true and real

And always try to understand the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger and show appreciation more

And love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile,

Remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.

So when your eulogy is being read with your life’s actions to rehash

Would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your Dash?

Good evening from the Victoria Inn

Good evening blog readers and what I thought was going to be a straight forward normal Sunday evening blog write is anything but as the B*****ds at Google have changed the way you add text and photo's and not told me!!! Hence this is my third attempt and as for photo's?? Well, that's going to be more luck than judgement and all because I have got a new camera and lots of pics to show you!! Growl.............   Why change things when they're working so well......... I just don't get it! And I don't like it either!

OK - moving swiftly on - otherwise you'll think I'm auditioning for Grumpy Old Women! No thank you, I am not quite one of those just yet but I'm sure getting close! 

Firstly, have you seen anything of two great TV programmes on recently - Mary Portas and Michel Roux? Both about customer service in their own way and both quite fabulous! 

Mary shows customer service at its worst and how she would put things right and Michel Roux has taken a bunch of kids who've barely been in any thing other than McDonalds and turned them into good waiting staff with some showing signs of a great career in hospitality.  But he's done it in such a lovely way - no hysterics, no Mr Ramsey swearing episodes and I think even I learnt a lot from the series - and even though I think we're great at customer service here at the Victoria I'm going to try to put some of his ideas in action.  I started today with talking to a customer about Champagnes and then taking a glass to the table (we sell it individually) and going back to check she was happy etc ( ala Michel Roux's sommelier) and really enjoying doing it all a bit more fully! I've even got staff enthused about a different kind of customer 'experience' so watch out for some changes!!

Also I have a new camera thanks to SOH, so I've been out and about happily snapping away....... whether I can get them loaded on here is a different matter tonight! So here goes..........Ah - now I have to load the photos on to the net to load them on to the blog! Ah well - I have  nothing else to be doing..... so then, here are some of my first offerings!    

The gentleman here is Mr Smith MBE - known to all as Smee! He had a very prestigious Lifeboat career here in Salcombe and is a thoroughly nice man - photo taken obviously in the Victoria Inn bar. Great character and it was him who supplied the tractor for our wedding.  The scenic one is of Salcombe 'bar' this week, the entrance to the Estuary - very wet, very windy, very wild and fantastic - Salcombe at it's best as far as I'm concerned. Lastly our little dogs: Rosie and Archie, both under 18 months and harder work than any child alone!! But we love them to death!  The photo at the top is of our great sign outside the pub.  

That's it for tonight - putting those 4 photo's on has taken me the best part of 30 minutes, loss of temper, a bar of chocolate and a glass of wine!!!! Hopefully next time will be easier.......................Night night all. X  

Introducing Captain Morgans

Just a quick blog tonight to let you know I've started a second blog - I know I can hear you - where do I get the time!!! I have to make the time to advertise our business's and blogging is a great way to do it! Plus, I think the Pub Landladys blog is getting a bit crowded with all the things I have/want/need to write about.......... hence the new blog: http://captainmorgans-salcombe.blogspot.com/

This new blog is all about our other business Captain Morgans - the breakfast cafe over the road from the Victoria.

I hope you like it and will follow it.................... I will write another exciting episode on the Pub Landlady's Life hopefully tomorrow! But for tonight, I need to go and sit down and let my dinner go down - I cooked for a change and it's nearly always calorie laden, tonight, was no real exception to that!!

Night all x