After a busy previous week getting the final touches ready for our first guests, this week has been much quieter; partly because we don’t have any builders or trades on site anymore; and partly because our next set of jobs don’t have the same tight deadlines as the Farmhouse did. It’s much easier to do odd jobs here and there and feel like you’re not making tangible progress as a result though…
The big job this week has been the area next to our entrance gate where the new heat pumps and plant shed have been installed. It’s been neglected recently in favour of other jobs, but we’ve finally got round to tidying it up. The weeds and brambles have been cleared, and John’s filled the space with two big dumpy bags of slate chippings. Trying to force a shovel into slate chippings and then wheelbarrow them from the bags down a ramp into position wasn’t the easiest of tasks, but it’s made such a difference, and the area looks so much tidier. The eventual plan is to create a natural screen around this section (part of the planning conditions for the heat pumps and plant shed) with soil filling the boxed area in the ground next to the gate, and then some kind of agricultural trough used to grow plants out of the other section.
We’ve made progress getting our own house more organised and unpacked. Prioritising the Farmhouse to rent meant we paused on moving into our new home and had continued living out of boxes and without some furniture. We’re gradually getting things more organised – this week we’ve ordered a new wardrobe for the guest bedroom, and coat hooks so we’ll finally be able to hang our coats up properly instead of using the bolts in the beam steels. And every unpacked suitcase can now go into the newly-hoovered attic and out of the way. Every box cleared feels like a win!
We also started making improvements to the guest welcome folder – we added in more walks and reordered the key information based on feedback from our first visitors. We’ve built a new welcome page on our website so we can send upcoming guests a link to access rather than overwhelm them with lots of info in an email, and we’re starting to build a new ‘Places to visit’ section to provide our guests with ideas on what they can do whilst they are staying with us. And acting on a suggestion we’ve also created business cards – hopefully our guests to take these with them for future bookings and to share with their friends!
After a successful practice changeover last weekend, we’ve had a lot of washing and ironing to get through! Ironing super-king sized duvet covers isn’t easy on a standard ironing board but as with everything, practice makes perfect (at least that’s what I’m telling John!!). Having a full house for our first guests has been really helpful to get a sense of what works and what doesn’t – for example we’re going to redesign the laundry cupboard storage so it’s easier to store and grab items when not in packages (matching bath mats and pedestal mats look the same when folded up and without labels!).
Harvest time has definitely come around again, with the crabapples being one of the first trees ready (sadly our plums and greengages have been almost non-existent this year). We’ve already made two batches of jelly and are trying to squeeze in more between work and other commitments – now we just need to think about how we go about selling it. Our lovely friends at Daisy’s Dairy (a milk vending shed down the road) have kindly added our damson jam to their machine so we’re starting to think of ways to sell our other flavours, chutneys and jams.
We did have a break this weekend – as John had entered the Great North Run (yes that’s a long way from Devon!!) We had a minor panic on Friday night as we were lucky enough to secure another booking for the Farmhouse – our guests had asked to arrive on Saturday as their originally-booked cottage had a leak and couldn’t accommodate them – but we decided that we couldn’t get things ready in time to an appropriate standard and so arranged for them to come on Monday. After a round trip of over 700 miles in 3 days, plus a stop to see friends and my brother and nephews, and a pretty impressive half marathon in 1h38m with an injured foot in the pouring rain, we got back in time for John to add the finishing touches to the house before our guests arrived. Not quite helped by the cows being herded down the A30 but we’ve learnt to expect nothing less in the country…
Ley Farm Cottages 