Great night in the Village Hall on Saturday when the Drama Club presented their hilarious award winning play, (they actually reached the area finals in Kilmarnock), followed by Jane of Mad Cow Productions doing one of her excellent monologues. Place was packed, and helped by a bar and enormous raffle, a good night was had by all.

Jane's secret is to learn her lines as she walks round the Bay, so if you meet a distracted looking lady muttering, don't fetch the police.

Nonnie - ex barman of The Glen - has moved to the Ashbank and is attracting the crowds with his inimitable presentation of the Thursday Quiz. We don't do pub quizzes ourselves (too difficult - who is Andy Murray?), but we're assured it's great fun. So if you're staying in Carradale do come along to these things because you would be made very welcome .

I know I go on about the lovely vegetation around here, but it is one of the real pleasures of Carradale. At the moment all the hills are purple with rhodendron flowers - almost makes up for the green leather hills the rest of the year. And I certainly didn't expect my tropeoleum (spelling?) to survive the winter, let alone be the best it's ever been.

Quite a lot of last minuters at the moment - don't forget you get a massive 25% discount if you book within 7 days of arriving. We always enjoy unexpected visitors - our local windfarm seems to generate a lot of interesting people. The sub-station in the village has undergone major upgrading and we get everyone from ecologists studying the damage to the environment to seriously brilliant boffins who are stitching the whole thing together.

Carradale harbour is looking a bit sad these days. Once the centre of a hectic fishing fleet it used to throng with activity, and those of you who have come for years will remember how it was the place to be . Now it has a tiny fleet of small fishing boats, is messy and run down.

But don't worry! We have plans. The Harbour Group (CHUG ) is working hard to make improvements. Not easy in these days of belt tightening and closing rural schools, but we are slowly arriving at a consensus of what should be done, and how to do it. Most importantly it is to be a community project. Everyone must be involved and have their say - fishermen, local pleasure boats, visiting yachts, visitors, and the local community.

To this end we had a great meeting in the Hall last week; Mike did a presentation with loads of slides - just look at what Tarbert has done in the last 2 years - there was plenty of chat, a cup of tea, and lots of questionnaires returned - all enthusiastic.

So we'll keep you up to date with progress.