It is a long while since my last post but I do have a good reason - I was on holiday!  We managed to have a good break over half term skiing and snowboarding in Switzerland, Val and I carried on with skiing but Rachael and Tom learnt to snowboard and after the usual frustrations of learning something new they really got going and went down a few black runs at the end of the week.  Engelberg is a fantastic wintersports location with almost guaranteed snow - we even had our own glacier at 3000 metres!

Once we got back home I had another week off to catch up on domestic things - all the washing and a few other bits around the house and garden but I was ready to come back to work once my time was up!

I’ve been back a couple of days now and managing to catch up with all the enquiries and letters, a few more to do yet but nearly there.  I must say that the team did a very good job looking after the hotel while I was away, especially as it was a very busy time for them.

Now we start the second planning phase for this year - we have a Christmas meeting tomorrow!

Last night I was invited to the re-opening party at Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant following its £2.5M redevelopment, the reason for my near guilt was that I was leaving a full hotel and a very busy restaurant behind.  I didn’t worry about the team here as I’d seen the planning and organisation they’d put in and they had a really good night.  Not as good as mine though! 

The new Seafood Restaurant is stunning and the work Rick, Jill and Rupert have done with the design team is fantastic.  I was expecting a glass of fizz and some canapes but found out during the week that we were being treated to dinner from the full menu, guinea pigs Rick Stein said when he welcomed us!  The new set up works really well and I would wholeheartedly recommend anyone go and have a look when in Padstow, I guess Rick would prefer it if you ate as well as just looking!

I am sure there will be some new photos on their web site soon but as the builders only finished yesterday afternoon it has been a bit too quick for them to get the pictures done yet - look out for the statue of Chalky!

Here’s a link to Rick’s website:

http://www.rickstein.com/

If your thinking of visiting Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant or visiting Padstow, why not stay at the Metropole Hotel.

http://the-metropole.co.uk/