Hello 2009

It's hello from Salcombe and welcome to 2009........... my goodness what a great couple of weeks it's been. Just before I start on about the last couple of weeks in too much detail - I've been thinking back to this time last year, (New Years have the effect of making me a bit maudlin!! :) ) I was just starting a major spell of bad health, I wasn't overly enjoying my career (lie - I was hating it!) and I had certainly never heard of Salcombe (truth)! Then in the space of less than 8 months - we're here in Salcombe and truly having the time of our lives.

So then - the New Year..... where do I start? Lets start with the arrival of 4 of our closest friends - now there's a side to living in Salcombe that wasn't thought about.... all the visitors (tee hee) but can't say I blame them for wanting a little taste of heaven! Great mates from Winchester who shared this frantic period with us, (thanks Mark G for washing up NY's day - I'm forever in your debt x).

The weather? We have felt some of the coldest winds since we moved here, but gorgeous days where although bitterly cold the skies were as clear as clear could be, and it was a delight to walk Beth and just watch the seagulls and other birds riding on the wind, listen to the noises coming from the lifeboat moored up and generally enjoy the peace and quiet of our early evening walks.

Then of course, there was the business itself of running the Victoria Inn in one of it's busiest periods outside of 'the season' .................. well, all I can say is what an eye opening experience it has been! Completely knackering - but enjoyable and quite good fun a lot of the time! Our New Years Eve 5 course dinner for 52 was an overwhelming success and once again we were extremely proud of our team and the way the whole thing ran, but we were equally proud that so many locals visited and spent time with us that night in the bar as well.

Most days over the festive period we were doing 70 - 90 covers each period. So on Saturday when assured by staff that all would start to be quieter, SOH and I decided on a trip to Brixham (mmnn, not so sure I liked that as much as I thought I would - perhaps another visit in the summer!) for a bit of a run, only to discover that we had achieved over a 100 covers in the lunch hour....closely followed by almost 90 on Sunday!! But today? Well now - there's a whole different story, Salcombe tourist destination extraordinaire is no longer - it is suddenly Salcombe the ghost town!!!!! Amazing............. it's the only word to describe the town today - amazing! So all in all it's been an interesting festive period, we've both learnt lessons about Salcombe and what we may encounter in the 'season' and before, and we now have lots to concentrate our minds on before the spring:

The Garden - advertising it and using it to it's full potential

Staff - ensuring we get no's right

Kitchen - getting a new 2nd chef in

Promoting the Victoria - lots of Internet work (for me I think)

Last but not least - remembering to get out and about and have fun together as well.............so I really look forward to continuing this blog in '09 and sharing the fun, the laughs, the aches and the pains as we gear up for business in our first full year.