The weeks have flown past since my last blog with friends and family visiting, builders, electricians and Plumbers working and probably the most important of all the arrival of our first Guests!
We had started receiving calls and enquiries regarding the B&B side of things in earnest several weeks back and as a result we ended up having our first guests at the latter part of July. I do not intend to talk or blog about our guests, this is not why the site exists and clearly would be totally unethical and improper. I will talk in general terms about the business and issues that may come up, if appropriate and unspecific, but not of events and people. As they say what happens in Norfolk stays in Norfolk!
I will say that we are really pleased with the initial reaction to our B&B from those that have stayed with us and that two sets of guests have decided to extend their stay with us by several days as they have enjoyed the service provided so much.
So whilst we are striving to come to terms with setting up routines and establishing resolutions to problems now that we are 'live' we still have the ongoing project of refurbishing the Annex.
This has involved a builder, electrical contractor, Plumbers and glazier, and a considerable amount of planning and organising. Tying all the contractors timetables in together has been the biggest challenge but it has so far gone well.
We have been very impressed at all the guys working for us on this project both with their commitment and with their 'can do' attitude. All local people, it is a pleasure to work with such amiable professionals, I think the youngsters are outstandingly courteous for their age and have a great work ethic which has been lacking in some of the more arrogant contractors that I have come across in my previous role (Not all of which should be tarred with this brush).
So what have we achieved?
The picture to the right shows the state of a wall behind the render and the varied mix of building methods and materials. As I have said before flints are a major obstacle to attaching anything to the walls and so I have used this photo to record exactly every pipe cable and flinted area is. By printing the photo and writing the measurements straight onto it I have recorded all the areas that I CAN screw or drill into. Today this was all rendered over and is now invisible and so I will rely on my record to ensure that I do not blow myself up when drilling into the wall.
This has not been without precedent as many years ago I blindly nailed a hardboard sheet to the floor of my bathroom in preparation for a new floor to be laid.
A swift bang on the nails head caused a whisper of a hiss of leaking water. Mmmmm, not good, I thought, or rather I didn't think as I elected to pluck out the nail as if this would bring an end to the problem.
Well Durrrrrrrrrr! It had quite the opposite effect,something happened that with hindsight is now quite obvious to me but at the time simply didn't even occur as the tiniest of thoughts. I pulled the nail out to stop said hissing, nail comes out easily closely followed by a mini geyser of water, which had no intention of stopping and any foolish attempt to replace the nail was greeted by a mocking spray of water all over my top.
LESSON No.1 ~ DO NOT BANG A NAIL INTO FLOORBOARDS UNDER WHICH PIPES MAY LAY.
LESSON No.2 ~ IF YOU HAMMER A NAIL INTO A WATER PIPE THEN DO NOT MAKE ANY ATTEMPT TO REMOVE IT AND ISOLATE THE WATER SUPPLY.
It has been a lon day to day and so tomorrow I shall attempt to give more of an indication of the status of the property so far, but in summary we are please with what has been achieved and we are driving forward to complete prior to October 1st as we are renting the place out for 3 months at that point.
FINGERS CROSSED, EVERYBODY!
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