Autumn? Really?

Yes - I think Madam Autumn is knocking on the door............. and with such a storm over Salcombe the other night!! I can't remember the last time I heard a storm like it - we didn't realise it was hailstones till we woke up the next morning to find pockets of ICE on the garden!!! Scarey as hell it was too with one clap of thunder seemingly directly over our house!!

So on the basis that all the children have cleared off back to school, the car parks are quieter and an influx of 2's and 4's have hit the streets - it must be time for Jam making and the introduction of new menus.

Seafood Platter

Ploughmans

 So here's a link to our website where you can see for yourself the new menu's - which incidentally the main ones will change every FORTNIGHT now and  specials will really be special and change daily.  http://www.victoriainn-salcombe.co.uk/Great_pub_food

We're also offering Sunday lunches cooked and carved straight from the oven alongside a 'special' roast - this week the special will be lovely plump Chicken legs. Last week we could not get over how many Sunday roasts we served.......... Cauliflower Cheese is new on with the roast as well as stuffing balls, and SEASONAL veg.

SOH is busy making jams and I'm busy packing as I hit the shores of Menorca at the end of this week for a well earnt break (don't worry - SOH has his when I come back!)

This morning the new chimney fan has been installed and is ready for the first fire of this season to be lit -  judging by the weather out of my office window, that moment is not too far away!

So, its adiós de mí durante un par de semanas - cuidar - see you all in a couple of weeks

Liz x

Strawberry jam in the making

Our 'Thank You' to YOU!

Tim and I constantly look at ways to make the Victoria Inn more inviting to you the Customer. We listen to your comments and we try to work with them as much as possible. 

We know that right now, these are tough times all round, that's why we are delighted to offer all of of our customers - whether its those of you who visit a few times of the year or those who visit every week - a very special 'Privilege Card'. 

Here's how it works: You visit us and have a great meal - that's the first part of a simple process. 

When you get your bill, we will offer you the opportunity to register for our unique 'Privilege Club'.  When you give us back that completed form, you will receive through the post a £10 voucher to come back and use towards your next meal with us! 

When you have completed the registration form you will receive there and then a Privilege Club Card - and for every £20 spent on food you will receive a Gold £20 stamp on that card. When you have just ten stamps on that card - you will receive a £20 voucher through the post to spend on food at the Victoria Inn. 

So, should you choose to join, and you come in with  friends and spend £80 on a meal you will already have 4 Gold Stamps on your card and will be almost halfway to your first £20 voucher!!!

What else do you get with being a Privilege Club Card Member??? You will be told of special deals and any special Privilege Card events that we plan to hold. But, more importantly you have the opportunity to save money every time you dine with us, and we thank YOU for your LOYALTY. 

This really is our way of saying a huge continuous 'Thank You' to you, our loyal Customers and Friends as we enter into the Christmas spirit and the New Year of 2013. 

You asked for it...........

You asked for it...... well you've got it!! I had lots of feedback on my last blog post where I posted the link to a little bit of test video for the Victoria Inn.  We will be putting together a video with much more of the pub, the garden, the fire (!) and a bit less of Chef James boning the meat (!!). The video probably won't happen now till after the summer hols as when you have a professional doing it, it's not a 5 minute job!

BUT.......... I had lots of comments that you would like to see much more about Salcombe as a whole....... So here is the link to my Youtube page http://www.youtube.com/user/Licensee54

Well at least I hope it is. I'm going to try to load up videos from my Iphone - nothing technical at all, probably quite out of focus and no lovely music, but, I really hope you like them. You'll see there's one of the Old Gaffers, and then some from Salcombe starting from where the RNLI is. When you look at the one taken from the Snapes Point - the noises off screen are my dogs panting - not me!!! Do feedback to me about them won't you.

Thats all for today I'm afraid, but I promise to blog again soon and happy viewing!!

Love & hugs to all of you - Liz x

Excited? Moi?

Actually I don't think I can tell you just how excited I am right now.............. We have this week completed on our little dream house!!!! I swear if I get any more excited about it all I shall just burst!!!!  In a few short months of talking about getting our own place to live in and then actually doing it, here we are - homeowners!  We completed on Monday, with Tuesday seeing us go out and starting to buy furniture and lighting, Wednesday saw a succession of tradesmen to quote for a myriad of jobs we shall need doing and the buying of paint 'match pots' to see if the reality will live up to the colours in our heads. Because of dreaded planning application rules and our desire for a couple of new windows it's unlikely we'll move in until end of February but I just know that this time is going to fly by in a rush of on line buying and shopping in the sales for all those things we need (no really, we do!!) to make our new home perfect. There have been so many times in my life when things seemed pretty bleak and I could never have imagined that I would feel this overwhelming happiness that I seem to feel so much of the time these days - but I DO, and I constantly thank the Big Man upstairs for it! In one of my next blog posts I want to introduce you to Lee, the young man working for us now as assistant manager and who will take the live-in role when we move. But trust me - we will still be around lots and lots - in fact I bet you'll see more of us than ever..... no intention of taking our foot of the gas too much!!!  

Trade is incredibly quiet again this week - with the awful weather not helping much either, but tomorrow we have the Island Street bash at the Victoria Inn. This all the traders like boat builders, craftesmen, fishermen etc.  They take it in turns to go to one of the pubs in town every year and this is our first ever year - so I'm determined we'll give them the best pre-Christmas meal ever.  I think we're catering for just over 80 so should be a great buzz about the place tomorrow!

If you're still debating where to spend Christmas Eve Dinner or New Years Eve Dinner - then you really need to get on to the phone to us fast as we have only a few tables free for Christmas Eve and for New Year we only have 2 tables left! New Years Eve we have the Old Gaffers and Alan Dark with his 'Touch of Magic'.

Christmas Day it's just SOH and I working from 12 - 2 only - so come in and say Happy Christmas and enjoy a pre-lunch drink why don't you???

Also again this year we are doing our fabulous Homemade Curry Buffet but ONLY on New Years Day: 12 - 3!!! £10.95 with a choice of 3 or 4 curries including a great vegetarian Balti, Chutney and Poppadum............ every year the numbers grow and grow for this - so don't miss out!

Right then - I still have some cards to write, a couple of pressies to wrap and tomorrows paty to sort out for seating and crackers etc.......... If I can manage another blog before the big day then I will.

Keep warm and dry my lovelies x

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.........

Well that's what Michael Buble was singing just now on my Ipod in the pub!!! First time of putting the Christmas music on in the Victoria Inn this year and we certainly had some very jolly customers and staff at lunchtime! The pub looks gorgeous as usual with even more decorations in the restaurant this year - so looking festive and smelling festive with the great mulled wine that we're selling! It's been a very (and I mean VERY) quiet week this week at some stages - a couple of lunchtimes that we didn't see half a dozen people come over the threshold and then a couple of evenings where we did really, really well - so it's very hard to call at the moment as to what trade will be like over Christmas and new Year - but today has been exceptionally good with quite a few bookings in for tonight - so it's any ones guess really. I can't help it, but whenever we have a quiet spell I always worry that it's us, what we're doing etc etc - but then when you speak to other traders and they are saying the same thing - I calm down a little. The menus are written and up for Christmas Eve & New Years Eve, and I have had a major triumph with SOH about putting together a special children's menu for this holiday period............. He wasn't at all happy about it, but I just want to see how a good, wholesome and healthy Children's menu will work??



Think he's trying to tell me how to play!

We had a great night out in 'Plymuff' last night with 2 friends of our who run the restaurant Catch in Salcombe - we went to a Casino. First time for both men and I have to say it was a fairly eye opening experience for many reasons............. Firstly, may I say that I have a fairly limited experience of Casino's myself. I used to love to go to the casino in Gibraltar when it was next to the posh Rock Hotel but on my visit back last year it had moved to being part of a huge marina complex and it was decidedly down market! Anyway - back to last night.......... I was really disappointed in the fact that people just don't dress up to go out anymore - unless you count dresses that are showing bottoms (& Tattoo's) and men in tatty jeans. Oh my - now I sound dreadfully old AND old fashioned, but where has the glamour gone from our lives???? Then there were the people you see in all casino's across the world - the ones with the haunted pallid look, inwardly praying for THEIR numbers to come out and that look writ large across every muscle of their face! The orientals who would bet on the first thing that moves and the little old ladies spending dead husbands money and maybe their pensions. The drunk blokes blowing their wages ( & their wives housekeeping) and then those men with an eye out looking for the main chance. I can say this as a man stepped forward from the shadows and commented on my diamond earrings............. and I quickly commented back on my Husband less than 10 yards away!!!  So as much as I really enjoyed the evening and our £25 quids worth of fun - I walked away slightly unsettled at the overall experience. As for Plymouth late at night...?? Less said the better..........  Anyway, I must go as I have Christmas cards to write still and just a couple of pressies left to wrap!





My favourite Salcombe Places Part 1

 So, in keeping with the fact I'm going to talk about Salcombe as much as the Victoria Inn and my own goings on, I'm going to start tonight with 2 of my favourite things in life these days (well no 1 has always been a favourite part of my life!) Food and Jewellery!  The first 2 photo's are of Pam and Pete Bennets place - the Salcombe Yawl Sandwich Shop and Deli in town - but sooooo much more there than sandwiches!! We're very blessed in this part of Devon to have some of the most amazing produce I've ever been lucky enough to taste - and this shop is no exception......... we're fortunate in as much as living in a pub we can pretty much eat and drink anything but even we get a bit tired of having OUR food all the time so we sometimes treat ourselves  to either a tasty  Salcombe Crab tart, or a pastie or hot sausage roll or one of their dozens of sandwich/baguette fillings or simply do what I did this week and that's wander in and buy great unusual cheeses, olives and fantastic homemade coleslaw then get some crusty bread and have a 'carpet' picnic!  They stock the fantastic Cornish Yarg, wonderful Devon Ham and great Scottish Oak Smoked Salmon. They also supplied the buffet at a meeting I went to recently and that was excellent!! So maybe worth thinking about if you come down on holiday and you're having a birthday or celebration in your house??? 

My next favourite place in Salcombe is Michael (Mike) Yeomans place in Island Street - Salcombe Antiques. When we first came down to Salcombe I didn't really take too much notice of this little shop and then like a piece of metal drawn slowly to a magnet I started to be attracted to the beautiful jewellery in  his window. Now, there are a couple of really nice things about this shop - firstly, you are never ever going to see the same things in his window year in and year out. This is because all of his jewellery are one offs! New or secondhand he has beautiful pieces and I  have to say I have become ever so slightly addicted........ Secondly - he is never ever pushy! If you want to browse, feel and just try on and admire then you can. He has even let me take a ring home to see if I really liked it when I got it home - BEFORE paying!!! Then lastly - if you want to sell items or sell back to part exchange, then he really does give great prices - in fact he buys back at what he sold it for. I've had a couple of people say that surely in the middle of Salcombe Mike must be expensive?? All I can say is that if you want classic, classy items of jewellery you'll go to Mike - if you want rubbish and to see the same on any other woman......think High Street names!  I can't speak about his antiques because I know nothing at all about antiques - but I have seen one or two silver picture frames I quite fancy!!!

So thats the first of my favourite Salcombe places and there are many more to come...... I hope you enjoy this little deviation from my normal blog!  

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



Then on to Autumn........

Don't you think there's a bit of a nip in the air in the mornings and evening's.....?? I love the Autumn - it's my favourite time of the year, and I especially love Autumn in Salcombe. There are still quite a few people in town but it's lost that huge hustle and bustle and a feeling of not being able to move for hordes or cars and tourists. It's not quite lazy and yet the town has a nice gentle feel to it - locals are coming back into the Victoria and old faces who love this time of year here are appearing for their 2 or 3 week sabbatical. Now then, where shall I start - well, firstly my training with JC is paying off dividends..... I'm now a whole 20lbs lighter than I was when we started! He also has these amazing scales that show not only weight loss but water, fat round your organs, bone mass etc - very interesting actually - so you get a whole picture. Then there's my new short hair with its natural colour that I'm really starting to love as well as receiving lots of lovely compliments on how well I'm looking so that's all very lovely!!! On top of that, I have started driving lessons - and I am chuffed with how well I'm doing. Guy is my instructor and after a couple of dodgy moments in the first lesson I've one what he said - relaxed, thought about my positioning in the road and used my mirrors, and on Friday I drove all the way home from Kingsbridge! SOH has even started looking for a little SMART car for me......................

Work wise, we've been making some serious business decisions - particularly about the White Hart. When we took on the temporary tenancy we did it for a couple of reasons; firstly the challenge of taking a pub from scratch and making it work, secondly, we rather liked the idea of being 'multiple operators' for the brewery - taking this pub and then using the business model for maybe 2 or 3 others. Well, we soon discovered that for us, the dreams didn't match the reality! Immediate issues with staffing made it all very difficult right from the off - as well as the usual teething problems with appliances that every pub suffers, getting the pub up and off the ground when the last 2 owners had gone bankrupt meant we had a hard audience in Modbury to try to impress - I'll never forget the 'interview' with a local before being allowed to do a wake!! It's also been much more difficult than we thought in trying to get the right mix of time at both pubs - being 'seen' at both was proving almost impossible! Great in theory but bloody difficult to achieve in reality.

So we have asked the brewery to accept our notice, which they have done and I'm absolutely delighted to say that Mark & Christine (our current managers) have been selected by the brewery to become tenants in their own right of the White Hart from the end of September. We are so pleased for them, they have worked really hard for us in achieving the start of a great local customer base; the pub has a sound regular clientele now, the hotel rooms have come 6th in the Trip Advisor rankings for the whole of the UK, with the breakfasts often being cited in reviews as the best ever and I know it's only a matter of time before the beautiful function room upstairs starts to get regular bookings.

I still believe that the White Hart has huge potential and that they are completely the right people to do it, but for us.......? Well, we'll go back full time to our lovely Victoria Inn and of course Captain Morgans! We didn't come down to Salcombe to kill ourselves, we tried with the WH and I don't feel we've failed, but being multiple pub operators is perhaps just not the lifestyle we want after all.

So here's a toast to Mark & Christine and the White Hart Hotel, Modbury and lots of good wishes for it's continued future success.

Just a quickie..............

Well then - we're almost through the holidays!! A last hoorah this weekend with the Bank Holiday and then it will be a gradual return to the newly weds and the more mature couples.

It's been a pretty horrendous week weather wise, with rain water cascading down the middle of the street. I had to take the dogs out in the middle of it all (dogs bladders wait for no one - rain or not!) and stepped straight off the kerb and into an ankle deep puddle....... trust me, the words 'f'ing hell' came out a lot louder than I meant them to!!!! But the Bank Hols promise better weather apparently.

Talking of the dogs they both had haircuts today, as did I yesterday - pictures of both to follow next blog. Suffice to tell you that I have gone from long flowing blonde locks as per the wedding photo's to growing all of the colour out and a very short crop........... But I love it, and more to the point so does SOH!!

My latest love arrived this week at the Victoria - a York Fitness Bench!! Whoever would have thought that I would EVER get so excited about a piece of fitness equipment........ and oh yes, 5kg weights as well!! When the weights arrived I could barely lift the box - now JC has me using them like they're feather dusters..... ok, a slight exaggeration, but still can't believe how easy I've got to grips with all of this training malarky - and I'm still loving it!!!!! A record 6 minutes on the 'step' today and I could still talk and breath at the same time!! No respite for the poor man..................

After the Bank Hols I'm off to Portsmouth for a few days to see my lovely son & his wife, catch up with some old friends I haven't seen for a while, spend time with my bestest mate and hear all her news and probably (hello - probably!!) do a little incy, wincy, tiny bit of retail therapy.

Until the next time dear readers ...........................

I'm home AND fighting fit!

Well then -'Hola' I'm home, fresh and fighting fit!!! I had a great few days away, didn't speak to anyone for 2 whole days unless I wanted something.... even had my hair cut with a few great mime features! A bit of sun on your body (lot of sun) and time to reflect does wonders for the soul, and boy did I do a lot of reflecting!!

Thought I'd start the blog with a picture taken this morning of our two 'babies' Rosie (black one) and Archie (blonde) it was very very hot here even first thing and with so much thick coat - Archie in particular is not enjoying the weather. Everyone else is though and we started off our BBQ sessions at the Victoria Inn, on Saturday and we were very gratified to have so many visitors to the garden, many on their way home from the beach!

So here we are ready for the 'season' good and proper, starting off with Merlin Rocket week this week - small boats sailing contests from around UK. More staff starting to come on board over the next couple of weeks - but I have to say for a Monday we have had a spectacularly good day. People are definitely making the most of this great weather and the estuary across from our pub is full of boats of all sizes.

I had another fitness training session with 'Reg' this morning, and bloody hot it was as well...... he keeps us in the shade as much as possible but blimey, it makes me sweat.... or is it HE makes ME sweat?? Part of my reflection on holiday was about trying to get my head in the right place to lose weight and get so much fitter - I did a bit of stomping up and down the prom in Spain, and then a bit of walking on the beach front like the locals - now THEY turn walking into a fashion show and an art form! Love to sit and people watch that................! Anyway 'Reg' gave me a little headmasterly chat last week about my eating (& drinking) habits and that combined with my 'reflecting' has (I think) helped me turn a little corner..... which is why when I'm not quaffing bottles of water right now, you can find me chewing on Almonds, Apricots and Raisins and all things healthy - well almost!

The World Cup - apart from God what a disaster - I'm not going to say much, apart from - WONDER IF I CAN GET A REFUND ON THE BIG SCREEN TV WE BOUGHT ESPECIALLY FOR IT!!!!! (for the White Hart Hotel, Modbury) Engerland - what a flipping disgrace you were! Bobby Moore must be spinning up in Heaven. But here are a few of our happy customers (this was the game before Germany) old and young enjoying the match.

Plus I must tell you we had our first trip advisor review for the Victoria Inn 'Hobbit House' en suite bedrooms and they LOVED IT!! We've also had great reviews in the guest books as well.......... so all that hard work is paying off.

Lastly, here is a rather nice photo of SOH I took when we were out for a quiet hour last night - he'll be over in Spain for a few days himself in a couple of weeks - time for him to have a break now, and then we'll both get a break together in October - hopefully! In the meantime, my list of to do tomorrow gets ever longer and the days seem to get shorter..........

The Hobbit House - Newsflash

Ok, ok - please don't be getting bored with my 'newsflashes' it's just that I have so much happening at this time - I really don't have the time or the energy to sit on here blogging right now :(

But - at last, the Hobbit House - the Victoria Inn's new accommodation is up, running and being used - AND, more bookings in the pipeline!!!

Seb Joli - Salcombe's lovely young french photographer came and took some shots for me - so now our website can be bought up to scratch and along with the White Hart Hotel in Modbury, I can start to really market both of them strongly with TIC's and various other sites! If you know of any good sites that YOU use please let me know - free ones preferably.... ha ha.

Talking of marketing - I have been working with a great young man called Matt who operates http://www.devonsfinest.co.uk/ if you go to You Tube and put in White Hart Hotel Modbury - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-GYJIh5CdI you'll see this rather clever video clip he's done......... going to get him to do the same for the Hobbit House! I really like Matt - here's a person who does what he says he will!

Business has been exceedingly good at the Victoria Inn and over at the White Hart Hotel you can see every week getting just that little bit better.......... That must account for why SOH and I fell asleep in front of the TV at tea time tonight when we actually sat down....!!

If I have another late night this week - I'll try to sit and tell you more about life as a pub landlady at the moment - I tell you what though - boring it ain't!!!!!!!!!!

It's coming together..............

Just a quick blog post - almost time to lock up for the night and call it a day........ but I wanted to show you a couple of pics and also let you know that the new Victoria Inn website is also now up and running.

Firstly - the Hobbitt House is starting to take shape - No 1 room is all pale green and white furniture - pretty cushions, don't you think?? These pics are a bit dark - but I'll take more tomorrow in the daylight......

It feels very restful though - I could hear the birds tweeting a treat this evening whilst I was in there.

No 2 will be pine, gardens greens and earthy browns with sparkly cushions..........photo to follow - not quite there yet.

But both rooms reflecting the garden setting that they're in. It's been blooming hard work today and very, very hot and my eyes are drooping as I type - and as for my poor aching back!!

Then over at Modbury - the White Hart Hotel now has 4 rooms up and ready for use, and again they all have very different looks - probably a bit more classical and typical of a great middle England town.............but I wanted them to reflect what I look for when I stay in a hotel........... nice laundry, fluffy towels, state of the art TV's, pretty colours............ etc!

As for the websites - well we now have both up and running - please check them out and let me know what you think of them......

www.victoriainn-salcombe.co.uk

and www.whiteharthotel-modbury.co.uk

Thats it - time to cash up and off to bed.............. first training session with Reg tomorrow! Wish me luck...........

We're on You - Tube!!

A very quick blog post as I sit here past midnight and eyes are steadily closing. Our wedding video / stills footage is on You Tube and this is the link (hopefully) for you to be able to see it.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zrq19TTGxI

I haven't yet been able to watch it without crying, although the tears are a bit less of a river and more like a steady trickle.................. I really hope you love it as much as Tim and I.... what a great thing technology is!!

Love and hugs to you all.................. X

Here is Archie..........

And ain't he blooming gorgeous!!!!!!!!!! Archie is the latest edition to our family - he's an 8 week old cockerpoo, the same breed as our darling Rosie (but from different parents). You must know what I'm like by now.... if I want something, I want it now. So we (sorry, I) went from talking about another puppy to looking on the Internet to getting Archie from a lovely couple in Lostwithiel, Cornwall in about 5 days flat!! Tim was wearing the air of a man who knew he was beat, but he is the one who now can't stop playing with Archie and cuddling him.

Its been a fantastic few days as Rosie and Archie get to know each other - you can almost see the conversations in their heads,

From this on the first day:

Rosie: WTF is this.................??

Archie: OMG I'm scared - I want my Mummy....what is this huge black thing panting and slobbering all over me???

To this on the second day:

Rosie: Will you stop trying to hang off my ears and for Gods sake boy - I'm not your Mother so move away from my belly!

Archie: I'm not scared of you, you big bully - now, where does the milk come from you??

Its been sooooo funny to watch them having power struggles over the toys and also trying to get affection in equal measures, but what is just breathtakingly fabulous is Archie was crying and yapping today, because he was stuck halfway up the stairs and Rosie was straight there to see what the matter was..... ohhhhhhhhhhhh!! AND, they curl up asleep together on the settee's!!! Double ohhhhh...

So life in the Hore household is far from normal right now - in fact so NOT normal is it, I was up at just gone 6 this morning and witnessed the most beautiful sunrise!! Consequently, I was half asleep this afternoon......

Business wise, the Victoria Inn has had a great 3 weeks trading over this prolonged Easter break and we look forward now to the May holidays. The garden has been very well used this weekend as the weather has been glorious, and we have had very favourable comments on our re-styling of the garden - the awning, the new steps and now some new garden furniture. You might notice a few problems with the web site over the next couple of weeks, but I'm taking this opportunity to get it re-vamped when the White Hart Hotel website is developed!

We had a'celeb' in our garden this week - and it was really quite funny because I wouldn't have recognised him had he not been pointed out to me..... it was Ben Shepherd from GMTV with his family. I was talking to his wife and children mostly - getting lollipops and feeding the chickens with them (as I do with all children!!) and it was only afterwards that my giggling, swooning girls told me who he was! It's just as well these celebs don't like a lot of fuss isn't it......!! I have to recognise them first!!

Back to business, our latest venture the White Hart Hotel is moving ahead at a brisk pace - the builders are on site tomorrow and last week SOH and I ran 2 evening courses. I did one on customer service and SOH did legislation, serving drinks in general and the 'perfect serve' - that's the way to present a perfect drink - proper branded glasses, ice, fresh cut fruit etc etc etc! Seems like we have a great team, they were very interested and enthusiastic, and we are all very excited to be opening in 2 weeks.......... yes, that's right, 2 weeks!! Goodness knows how we're ever going to be ready, but we will.

Right now though, I have to go - Archie is terorrising Rosie behind my chair as I sit typing and the yapping and barking is giving me an 'eadache..........................

We're Winners...........

Wow - we're winners - the Victoria Inn, Salcombe won an award last week.

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We had a great night out last Thursday - at the 2009 Annual Dinner & Tribute Estate Awards. The event was held at the Atlantic Hotel, Newquay (http://www.atlantichotelnewquay.co.uk/) and after an initial mix up with our booking, they gave us a superb suite! Very nice it was too, pity it was only for 1 night! The food on the evening was really good and the service excellent! Breakfast the next morning even more so......

We found to our delight that we were shortlisted for SIX awards, a couple we knew about, but they were:

Pub Floral Display of the Year (we got a highly commended for this one!)
Cask Ale Pub of the Year (Tenancy)
Training Award

Wine House of the Year

New Tenants of the Year

The one we actually won was Marketing and Business Innovation of the Year (Tenancy). What a fantastic achievement in our first year for us and all our loyal hard working staff!! !

In the picture you can see SOH and I with the sponsors of the award Diageo GB, and a St Austell representative. Not only did we win a lovely plaque for our outside Pub entrance, but we also received £500 of holiday vouchers! That will go towards a lovely holiday after the summer season has ended - something to bear in mind when we're knackered out again!! We have of course treated our team to a little thank you each as well.

In a business that seems to be suffering a lot of knocks, particularly at the hands of our cretinous politicians it was great to meet other licensees making a success of their business. Its also always such a good opportunity to meet colleagues from the brewery and our industry and this particular evening was no exception!

So to everyone at St Austell who put so much effort in to the evening a huge 'Thank You' for giving us such a great time!

On the home front, I continue to make good progress in my recovery, although its very much a case of 2 steps forward and 1 step back.... Sunday was a two steps back day and today was 1 day forward! With only 52 days to the wedding I have to concentrate on getting fit and well - not thin, just fit and well........having said that I've put myself on a healthy eating plan, lots of vitamins and walking with Rosie when I feel up to it.

On the Victoria Inn re-fit front, well............ what can I say!! We got home from the awards on Friday morning to find absolute chaos in the Pub - virtually everything was done, but it looked like one massive building site! Dust covered anything and everything........... because of that I couldn't play as much of a part in the clean up as I would have liked, however, despite staff being in most of the day Friday, SOH and I putting in a 17 hour day and then being up for 7 on the Saturday, we were still not able to open for Saturday lunchtime. However, everyone turned up again on Saturday morning - and somehow we were able to open for 5 Saturday afternoon.

SOH has a really great eye for decor and he has put up different pictures, mirrors etc to what was up previously. I did the blackboards and signs for outside, and between us we made the Victoria Inn 'our' pub, with 'our' stamp on it.

The floor in the restaurant is Brazilian slate and is truly beautiful - it has opened up the restaurant and with less dividers in the room there is far more natural light coming in from the estuary.

A new way of laying out the comfy seating area has given more covers as well as the new sexy red leather sofa's being one of the first things that customers see.......... and yet again, this is the area that people are naturally drifting towards!

We have (thankfully) been quite busy since re-opening, and customers love the new look! It's certainly given the pub a different atmosphere - it feels calmer and warmer......??

Anyway - the re-furb has moved upstairs now............ where there was a garden area, there is now yet another building site! The paving now has to be done so that the awning can be placed, the 'Hobbit House' (our en-suite holiday accommodation) has a fab new roof, builders will be going in there in the next few weeks to transform that. The upstairs restaurant will start to be painted tomorrow, the new lighting is in place - only the carpet to make firm decisions on! And BREATH!!!!!!!!!!!

Carl the builder has been a joy to work with - and when he looks me in the eye and tells me its on track, I believe him....... I just take every available opportunity to remind him that we have about 200 guests at our wedding on the 20th March!!! In fact I tell every workman that - just to ensure they get a sense of purpose!!

So there you have it - another interesting week as a pub landlady/project manager/ customer services director/bridzilla................. I'll leave that last bit for the next blog update!!