G's Blog

19th July 2009

Must do better.. tut, tut, too long a silence. But it's a bit like cooking for a crowd and then hardly anyone turning up to eat! A bit dispiriting. Where are my readers? My webstats this past few weeks report few viewers. I guess this often happens with newly launched websites and I shall just need to be patient. But, a little light on the horizon... yesterday saw a 50% leap in viewers from the previous day. Sounds dramatic but I am not going to divulge the original figure it jumped from...

Here we are in the middle of July and the heatwave we recently enjoyed has given way to showers and changeable weather. I am back to telling our guests where they will find our umbrellas and to check the weather forecasts in the hope they can head in a direction to ward off showers. Here today at Crosswoodhill the sun would come out. Briefly. I lost count of the number of times I would grab a bucket and head over the road to strip the redcurrant bushes gleaming with those wonderfully succulent strings of rich-red berries. Within moments the heavens would open. Ah well, there's always tomorrow, unless the birds get there first. Jars of redcurrant jelly make a great gift ( until the supply runs out ) for guests when things don't go quite smoothly. Like last week when we had an unexpected power cut just after four o'clock one afternoon. On such occasions it's so handy to have guests' mobile numbers printed off somewhere ( computers aren't much cop when it comes to power cuts.) I was able to catch 2 out of 3 sets of guests to forewarn them that it might be a good idea to eat out before they returned home. With so many restaurants in Edinburgh closing in the recession, I suppose every cloud has a silver lining... customers that would otherwise have eaten "at home" eating out instead. As we did. From a self-catering owner's perspective power cuts in summer aren't too drastic. No plummeting of temperatures in the houses or fires to traipse from cottage to cottage lighting and stoking, no candles to lay out as at this time of year the daylight lingers long into the evening.. And power was restored by the morning, so lots of smiling guests when I next saw them, appreciative of something we tend to take for granted. Electricity. We had a couple of Dutch wild-campers in one of our fields that night, too. A chance roadside meeting as I returned from one of the cottages. They at least had no expectations of power! All they needed was a field to park up their motorbikes and trailers and erect their tents. So self-sufficient that they even turned down my offer of washing facilities.

28th May 2009

It’s that time of year again. The 2009 Thistle Awards have been launched and with it comes a flurry of activity amongst would-be entrants. After our success last year I think it’s pretty much convention that you don’t enter the same category award again for at least a year or more. So when VisitScotland asked if, as a past winner, I would be willing to attend a workshop and pass on hints and tips to would-be participants on the benefits of entering I was happy to do this. Until… and by then it was too late to opt out… I remembered that the previous week I had embarrassingly nodded off, big style, in a muggy, overheated room during a fire lecture ( attended as part of my mandatory training as a nurse, my other job ) to the extent that my colleague had had to nudge me awake. Would the same thing happen in reverse and my audience doze off? Perhaps it’s easier to inject a bit more passion into a talk about entering Awards than into a fire lecture, but if anyone’s eyes drooped shut during my little Thistle discourse, I chose not to notice.

And for those of you reading this, keen to discover more about these prestigious Scottish Tourism Oscars, here’s the Thistle Awards link which details all the different awards, along with an Academy of past winners.

20th May 2009

Whilst waiting for creativity to flow with future entries, let me introduce myself. Getting your tongue round Geraldine can be tricky for some guests. But "G", that's easy, and it's a name I have answered to for longer than I care to remember.

Cripes, whatever possessed me to expose flab, what looks like 2 fleshy chins, wrinkles and receding eyes to a world-wide viewing? Especially bizarre that I'm revealing this image now, considering how hurriedly last November I squirrelled this same photo away before anyone could glimpse it! I did briefly wonder about posting up a photo of the more glamorous me before the ravages of middle age took hold, but a feeling of guilt dictated this less flattering up-to-date version appearing. I do smile a lot, with good cause. I have two jobs I love, nursing and the holiday cottages. My husband, known as Hew, holds the holiday cottage fort when I am not at home. We live in a lovely spot ( that we are keen to share with you.) We farm. Beef and sheep. Our two grown-up children, Angus and Caroline, both still live in Scotland and put up with their mum's foibles and her passion for Scottish Tourism. And I guess this is what this website is all about... trying to grab your attention, alert you to all the fantastic things Edinburgh and the “green belt” Lothians have to offer. And to entice you to Crosswoodhill for a great stay. A week will fly past.

We’ve been welcoming guests here since 1992, One property grew to 2 as we converted dereliction into des.res. Then to 3 and 4. Now back down to 3 but not for long. From lawyers to lapdancers, clerics to chiropodists, nuns to ninety–year olds, we’ve welcomed a rich diversity of people to Crosswoodhill, just like on the plastic and reconstructive surgery hospital ward where I nurse. But, thankfully, guests arrive here happy ( and leave even happier ) and with none of the aggression or depression we now see too often in the ward.

It’s early days yet and being new to the art of blogging I’m not quite sure how this blog will evolve. But please stay with it….and return.

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