When we moved to Blenheim Lodge . . .

Hearkening back

I wrote a post recently on our Bowness Bed and Breakfast blog. I had been going through some old photos which brought back memories of times past. If you would like to read this post, please do take a look here:

https://bownessbedandbreakfast.wordpress.com.

The post gives you a glimpse into our decision to pack up our life in Edinburgh and head to the Lake District to begin a new career adventure with our two boys and Monty, our rescue Pyrenean Mountain Dog.

Green as green can be

Looking back now, I can categorically say that we were so green when we first came to work at Blenheim Lodge, our Bed and Breakfast in Bowness on Windermere. We had had no experience in guest house hosting before, so it was a huge upward learning curve that we had to negotiate. On the day we arrived, we had not only to move in but also to get stuck into sorting out our accommodation in the Lodge as well as to prepare breakfasts for guests the following morning – the latter of which we had never done before. I remember wondering how I should set the tables!

We had also been expecting four new arrivals the following day, and since neither of us had ever worked in a B&B before, we weren’t sure about how to set up the rooms. As we had just arrived, we didn’t have our own beds to sleep in either, and were sleeping on an airbed with a light cover over us in our basement apartment in early September. Thankfully, it was one of those warm-weather late summer/early autumn days!

On that same day we arrived, we ended up working until after midnight trying to sort out the rooms for incoming guests the following day. We set up the dining room the way we thought it should look like, and prepped everything so that we would be ready to cook the next morning. Guests probably found us slow off the start, but were very kind and gracious when they found out that we were totally new to the job.

As time went on

The previous owners of Blenheim Lodge had left us with a young girl to help out who had been working at the guest house since she was 12. She knew the ropes inside out, and was a godsend in putting us right about how things should be done: from table settings to cleaning routines so that we were able to move faster and work more efficiently. I don’t think we could have managed without her. She only worked during weekends except for the Summer when she was also available for midweek shifts.

As our kids grew older – please read the previous linked post above if you wish to find out more about our move to the Lakes – there were other demands on our time in different ways: from ferrying them to rugby games to putting time aside to help them with increasingly difficult and important homework. It meant staying up into the early hours of the morning at times simply to get things done. And these did not include any of the paperwork associated with running a business.

Oh! We also had a dog, then two dogs together – all rescues – in those earlier years. Pyrenean Mountain Dogs are very much people dogs if they have been brought up kindly. Ours loved being close to us at all times, which, unfortunately, wasn’t always possible in our line of work. Monty, our first rescue dog, a Pyrenean Mountain Dog, used to climb up the stairs from our apartment and tuck himself as well as he could under the washhouse sink just so that he could be closer to us.

And now . . .

Now, we are at the other end of the spectrum of our life at Blenheim Lodge. Our kids have grown up and can fend for themselves. They have both set up their own businesses doing what they enjoy best and my hope and prayer is that they will succeed in their endeavours.

Meanwhile, things have changed yet again on the world stage. The whole wide world is suffering a Covid-19 crisis. This, in turn changes the parameters within which we can work and offer our B&B’s home from home experience to anyone wishing to get away for some peaceful relaxing downtime.

Booking accommodation at Blenheim Lodge

We are open for bookings at Blenheim Lodge to those who will be sensible about how they will conduct themselves when visiting and staying in our house. Of course, we can only re-open when the current lockdown for England is lifted, currently planned by the UK government to be 2nd December 2020. (For more information about our Covid-19 Precautions, please click here.) We want to keep all who come visit with us at Blenheim Lodge safe – and ourselves too – hence my statement in italics above.

At present, we have B&B accommodation available from December onwards, including New Year. If you would like to find out more about our Bowness Bed and Breakfast, please contact us either by email or telephone us on 015394 43440. It is also possible for you to book online by clicking the BOOK NOW button here and on the top right hand side of any page on our website.

For more details about our rooms at Blenheim Lodge, please visit our website. We have 11 rooms in total, with configurations for single, double, twin and triple accommodation. Ten room have their own shower en-suite, and one has a private bathroom with a clawfoot slipper bath and a handheld shower over it. All of our rooms have beautiful Lake Windermere and/or fell views.

We look forward to welcoming you!

Blenheim Lodge . . . panoramic Lake views, peace and tranquillity, nestled against acres of beautiful fields and woodlands, in the heart of the English Lake District National Park.’