Good morning.  My name's McUgly and I help Trish & Mike with the cottages. This is me doing my bit in the office.

My other duties involve checking the cottages while Trish puts in the tea and biscuits, just to make sure that Catherine has got them up to scratch, keeping the log pile replenished ( I can usually manage two or three small logs a day), and welcoming visitors when they arrive.

I particularly like it when some of the visitors are dogs;  since my dear friend Ginny passed away I have been a wee bit lonely and it's terrific meeting new friends ( and of course my old friend Toby ,( a regular visitor). I show them where the best smells are, direct them to the forest walks, and if they are townie dogs I gently explain that when you're in the country you don't chase sheep, kill hens, or demand to go and see the vet just because you've been bitten by a tick.  Wimps!  One visitor's dog last summer (fortunately not staying with us) actually despatched four of Mike's lovely wee black bantams, so it does happen. And just so embarassing for everyone.

Sadly I really don't get on with alsations ( or German shepherd dogs which they now call them, but it doesn't fool me) so I'm afraid they're not allowed in.  Sorry chaps.

I have been slightly confused with the new pricing system although Trish has explained that they've made it much easier so I can take on more of the bookwork. Anyway it does seem to be very easy - a flat nightly rate with a couple of discounts.  Just phone me up if you're stuck.

Anyway, time to get on with tidying up the kitchen floor - have a nice day.

NEW PRICING REGIME!!!!!

Fed up with working out different weekly bands for all the cottages then getting them on to our various web sites, coupled with the fact that most of our bookings are now short stays, we have totally changed the pricing system to make it (hopefully) easier for everyone.  We just have one nightly charge throughout the year - £75 per night for Mhairi's, £60 for the studios - and then two basic discounts.  Book well ahead and you get 15% off, book at the very last minute and you get 20% off.  We'll see how it goes.

For those old stagers who come every year in high summer,  and book well ahead, you will find quite a reduction in your rate.  Book now!!!!  Be tempted!!!!   Or leave it to the very last minute and hope something is free.

As ever you can easily book on line and already the site is set up to accommodate the changes.

After a dismal summer, slightly compensated for by a stunning autumn, it is quite a thought to be gearing up for 2013.  In an effort to ensure it will be a mild winter, we have just put huge winter tyres onto the car - memories of an epic night when I spent an hour pushing our large Passat up Saddell brae while Mike leaned out of the window shouting 'push harder'  made me insist we take some sort of action. The ignomy that night  was that all the little cars with narrow wheels whizzed past us waving gaily.

Anyway, all we can hope for is a bit of dry weather, and no collapsing Rest and Be Thankful.

See you soon.

Well, at long last we have replaced the enormous three piece suite in Mhairi's  with something just a wee bit more suitable.  Transforms the room.

We are great fans of Sofa Choice in Glasgow who made us a brilliant bed settee for the new room in our house, and have now come up with a pair of dinky sofas for Mhairi's, with stools to match.

As there were people in the cottage when they arrived they were deposited in the shed at the bottom of the yard.  Next day was a monsoon and I gaily game back from my lunch time walk to report to Mike that the drains didn't seem to be working very well.  He was off like a rocket to discover the floor of the shed awash . Sandy off on paternity leave, me incapacitated as usual (no, the hip not the hip flask) ; so he heaved the sofas up on blocks and we prayed that they were O.K. - and they were.  Now nicely ensconced in the living room and you will just love them..

Well, despite the dreadful summer, Dougie has got the barley in and Mike has picked his apple crop.  All seven apples.  But it's only the second year and last year he only got one.  And they are huge and very appley tasting so he's pretty proud of them. The tomatoes are hopeless and while from afar the garden looks lush and healthy, close up we see that it's just all weeds. 

Not a busy summer for Carradale, but the cottages seem to be busier at beginning and end of the season so we are REVIEWING OUR PRICING STRUCTURE for next year.  Don't hold your breath but we will have some changes. When we started they were the same price all the year round and there is a lot to be said for that, with things like last minute booking etc giving discounts rather than complicated bands.  It's O.K. on our own site but when you have to put all the information onto the other sites we are on it becomes very tedious.

The famous Carradale duck race was held last week-end  - the Glasgow 'September week-end'.  Not quite as busy as previously but they made over £4,000 which will go towards re-roofing the church. 

Off to clean a cottage - the wonderful Catherine is on holiday, but I will introduce you to our new helper , Laura, next time.



 

Well, not much blogging has been going on recently. I could blame the Olympics, but in fact I've just had another session in the Southern General having my pelvis stuffed full of bone graft, and that makes climbing up into the office VERY difficult. So while I have been out of things Mike has been whizzing around running everything and trying not to get to muddled up with cottage bookings. No catastrophes so far and of course the wonderful Catherine is still here to keep them all immaculate for you. But if we're a bit slow on replying or muddled on bookings, please make allowances.

We have had a much better summer than most, but still pretty poor. BUT doesn't the rain make the garden grow? And all the weeds are well hidden. Also makes the grass grow but Dougie's geese give a helping hand in Colin's garden. Plus side is we've hardly seen a midge! Not warm enough maybe, but they really are scarce this year.

New sofas on order for Mhairi's; we've been meaning to do this for a while - yes, you might well ask why it's done in the middle of the season! Broken springs, that's why. So apologies to anyone who has to sit uncomfortably in Mhairi's, and new ones appearing very soon ( why does buying furniture take such an age?)

Village is suddenly delightfully busy and it's so nice to see everyone enjoying themselves; people are taking advantage of our last minute booking offer - 20% off - it just seems to be that sort of season.

Looking forward to seeing old and new faces in the next few weeks.

Well! What can one say about this summer? In that good week in May I assured everyone it was for the duration - how wrong can you be? But this delightful photo of the wild flowers down the lane , buttercups in the distance,bees on the parsley etc etc do at least show that someone benefits - it will be a great crop of silage!!

Carradale is filling up at last after a slow start. but we always find that events such as the Jubilee make people stay at home - as will the Olympics. The telly at home does have a bigger screen.

We were having a wee trip away at the Jubilee week-end - dare I say we were over the border-and boy, how much more they were celebrating! Union Jacks in every village, hog roasts in marquees, and we saw the Jubilee concert on a HUGE screen in a tiny Yorkshire village. But it was still great to be home and discover that Carradale , too, had a wonderful celebration night in the Village Hall - with a very good replica of the Olympic Torch hurtling round the car park.

So remember we do have flat screen - all be it fairly tiny - tellys in the cottages and a 20% discount on less than 7 day bookings. Come and watch the Olympics in Carradale!!! It's as good a place as any.

1. Sunday morning daunder this week was round the shore walk - easily accessible from behind the cottages.  Along the forest road towards Arran and then a fabulous view as you look north down to the shore - in the distance you can just make out the fish farm.

There was quite a fuss when the fish farm was  proposed, and we had to have a planning meeting in the Hall, but it has turned out to be a great success;  it provides jobs, and is really no hassle to anyone.  What's more, they are going to put down visitor moorings for us off the harbour - a huge expense that we would be hard put to meet.

The descent down to the shore comes out at the 'Chuckie Bay' full of delicious flat stones - ideal for skimming.  And a super spot for a picnic.

Sadly google seems to have changed the way it does blogging and as you can see I haven't quite got the hang of it!!!

A great night on Saturday in the Village Hall when Peninver and Carradale Drama Clubs presented a couple of one act plays - Carradale had collected a couple of trophies in the round of festivals and as we knocked back our red wine and waved to our friends,  we were expecting great things.

Peninver kicked off and were well into their stride when the power went off!  So there we were with nothing more than the hall emergency lights and a dark stage.  Being the true thespians that they are, they never missed a beat and just carried on while at the back of the hall the committee were running around in a panic, phoning the Hydro Board, and discovering that the whole of the west of Scotland - and the Isle of Man - had a massive blackout. So we enjoyed listening to the play - a bit like afternoon theatre on Radio 4 - and certainly got the gist of things, and they got a huge round of applause when they finished.

Power still not back, it was decided to carry on  - but with all the curtains drawn back we could now vaguely see the stage.  Admittedly the sun-drenched seaside set we were supposed to see looked as if a heavy sea mist had come in, but we could make out Tony's jolly shirt and shorts, and it was a good wee play, so full marks again to the actors.

On Sunday the cricket season started and as we came back from our Deer Hill walk we were impressed to see the team getting the pitch ready.  It is still hard to believe that Carradale actually has a cricket team.  However by lunch time it was raining hard, so we assume there was no play. 

Yes, this is Malcolm the plumber, and guess what - he's connecting us up to the mains supply!!!

After at least 3 years, and enormous hassle , it looks as if we will finally be connected. Having enjoyed the water from the burn above the house for nearly 40 years , the powers that be have decreed that we might all drop dead unless we take instant action.

So those of you who have put up with brown baths, pine needles in the washer, and gloriously cloudy G & T's will be breathing a sign of relief.

Sadly , we aren't. We love our beautifully pure tasting burn water, and if it wasn't for the rules and regulations of the E.U. who insist that self-catering accommodation must have white water - or else - we would not have gone through the enormous expense and aggro. of moving over. The alternative was all sorts of fancy filters, ultra violet and heaven knows what, which leave your water warm and sluggish. So we took the relatively easy way out.

And in all honesty, it does mean that there will be less brown sludge around the place - though interestingly enough this awful monsoon season that has gone on for the last year has washed all that away and our water as never been whiter - and we won't freeze up in winter, or run out in summer. And we can always pop across the road with a jug when we want a cup of tea.

Yes, over all probably a good thing, and we do hope all our visitors will appreciate our nice new mains water. And now you can even use fabric conditoner without your whites turning brown. Phew.....

Well, we are fast becoming an ornithological paradise here at the cottages. Phezza joins us every morning for his breakfast - though he's still very shy- and we have a raucaus collection of jays at the moment flitting around the trees , and sometimes coming on to the nuts. Along with the spotted wood pecker, they add a lovely splash of colour to a very grey landscape.
We have the usual collection of tits (we are inundated with coal tits having been told last year that they were practically extinct after the cold winter) and a wee blackcap was spotted the other day guzzling away - no doubt filling up before a trip south.
One of the less welcome visitors is the sparrowhawk who swoops in, and we just hope the little birds get out of his way in time.
But with eagles up the glen, a wonderful selection of sea-birds, and a magnificent hide - usually with the very helpful Eddie present - at Machrihanish , we really are the place to be for the twitchers.

Wow! Months since we have blogged, but winter isn't exactly the busiest time for the cottages. Usually we fill up at New Year, but this year we went up north for a break ourselves - and fortunately missed the worst gale of the three that hit Carradale this winter, so came back to no electricity for 3 days. Just as well we had no visitors! There's aye something - last year it was frozen water. Lots of trees down round and about, and the poor old hotel has suffered some roof damage, but could have been worse.

Anyway we're now raring to go for the coming season and already bookings are coming in; mostly , it has to be said, from our old faithfuls who are eager to get their favourite slots, but a few new people as well. Already we have loads of snowdrops out in Colin's garden, and it will be no time before we have the odd daffodil if the mild weather continues, so at last we can think of Spring just around the corner.

If youve been watching Brian Cox and Dara O'Brain stargazing this week you may have realised that Carradale is a superb spot for looking at the night skies. Virtually no light pollution, and here at the Mains you can stare out over a flat horizon and see all sorts of goodies to the south and east. We are beginning to master our telescope at last and hope we get some clear skies for a change in the next month or two.

Look forward to hearing from you.