Welcome to the very first blog of 2025! 

 

I loved introducing the blogs towards the later half of 2024, but I definately underestimated how busy December 2024 would be, so I struggled a little to get to this! So apologies that there's been a bit of a gap between the last one and this one! I think I will decide to leave December out this year!  I've also decided to make this a monthy blog too.

 

What have we been up to?  Ah, so much! After getting to the end of our busiest festive yet, with a record number of pre Christmas meals served in 17 years, we took a little time off in January.  We headed off to Lanzarote, to one of our favourite places! The Sentido Aequora Lanzarote suites, and we had the most lovley time.  Temerature was a lovely 19 to 24 degrees most days, although when the sun set at 5pm sharp it did get quite chilly.  It was such a wonderful reset for us as a family.  The boys swam 99 % of the time, and lots of lovely food was consumed. So much so that I couldn't button my work trousers!  Worth it though! 

 

We enjoyed aqua zumba, not actually doing it, but we enjoyed watching it from the sun bed eating our 10 o'clock, water polo, again, from the safety of the sun bed, but boy does that game bring out the competitive spirit in all holiday makers! We witnessed an entertaining arguement betwen two players, all fun and games! 

 

You may have seen that we have already posted about our December 2025 events & dates, well, I did this line up, booking the acts, sorting the dates and making the posters, from a sun bed in Lanzarote! I absolutely love a break from the madness of the hotel, but my goodness do I get itchy feet when I'm not at work.  So being able to slip away, in the sunshine and sort our December 2025 was a really nice part of the holiday.  

 

We came back to -7 degrees, and driving home from the airport was scary! I'd still take that over the awful turbulance we had on the plane mind you! It worsened and then a huge what I can only describe as a flip to the side and everyone was screaming!  I'm a very nervous flyer as is, and this is by far the worst I've experienced!  I asked my Dad if he was scared and he said no, he was just trying to reach for his phone to phone my sister who was not on the plane with us, to tell her where his will was! He was laughing, I was not! 

 

We arrived home to frozen pipes, luckily not burst ones! We got through it, and opened up to such a busy weekend! I remember on the Saturday evening being at work, running between bars, a 30th in the Bottom Bar, a 40th in the function suite, a fully booked restaurant and a full house of residents, and I said out loud to myself, "how did this happen?" before remembering I'd done it to myself! 

 

Joking aside, it really was amazing to come back to such a busy weekeend, and let me tell you, much needed! We have had a bit of a shock recently with the price increases of pretty much everything, I know I've mentioned it before, but it's happening again! The big warning letters coming in from all of our suppliers explaining that they have no choice but to this, and no choice but to that! It's getting really scary, but it made me think of the turbulance on the plane, it was bumpy & scary, but we got through it, and landed safely! Being a very visual person, I like to use analogies all the time, and this one settled me, because just like the turbulance settling on the plane, this too should settle, and as long as we keep our offerings quality & consistant, as affordable as we possibly can (every item on our menu excluding steaks,  is under £16), if we keep passionate about what we do, if we keep our heating on and keep planning ahead, we can get through it.  It's easy to try cut corners, less heating, less staff, less quality, but in time we'd see less customers.  So if you are still coming in to see us, we promise to not cut any corners and not get ridiculous with our pricing for as long as we can!  What is after for as long as we can? We don't know, but we do hope that we never have to know! 

 

Our new Cocktail Trailer, Event Cocktails by the Market Inn, has gotten off to a brilliant start as we attended The Big Burn's Supper in Dumfries. A 3 day event which seen thousands turn out into Dumfries town centre, a wonderful sight to see! We had a slow Friday afaternoon, a great Friday night, an all round excellant Saturday and, as expected, a quiet Sunday.  We loved getting to grips with the workings of the new trailer, and felt really at home in it, serving what we do best, quality cocktails served quick! We had a really great recation to the pod and the cocktails/mocktails we were offering, and we were all round thrilled with our debut event! We can't wait to get stuck into the rest of the many events we have booked in this year! Hopefully, this will be a way we can grow the business and help with these rising costs at the hotel.  

 

It also is letting me live a childhood dream, serving stuff out of a van! I used to play this with Mum all the time, we even used to do it for a laugh in my teens! She would stand outside the kitchen window, I'd take her order and serve her a cuppa through the window! She spent a small fortune buying stuff from me, as she paid for things she's already bought made with utensils and appliances that cost her money, but she say's she enjoyed it as much as I did! I even once cut all her flowers in the garden, planted them in mini plastic pots I'd found in the greenhouse, and sold them all back to her! She let me! I'm laughing about this as I type, business must have been in my blood! 

 

January has proceeded to be a great one, minus the storm, and we are heading into a busy Febuary, with the farmers sales, lots of residents from all over come to attend, regular faces that we have come to know and be very fond of, so we are looking forward to that.

 

With this being our first 2025 blog, I will wish you all a very happy new year, and hope to welcome all of our lovely regulars and new faces throuout the remainder of the year.

 

Love & happiness for 2025, and I will be back with my next blog in February.  

 

Emma. xxx