Christmas finished officially here yesterday as the Christmas trees from the two cottages and our own home were taken down, the holly wreaths removed from the doors and everything stored away for another eleven months. Now it’s on to the new year, paint charts are out, Ring and Thimble bedroom is the first on the list – all quite exciting as we prepare the cottages for another season for our guests – some who will be coming back for the umpteenth time – one of our guests has been to Boscrowan to stay 19 times in the last 10 years – we think she likes it here!!!

The days are lengthening, birds are beginning to sing in the mornings again – a sudden dash yesterday to clean out the birdboxes and re-instate – out of 5 boxes last year 3 had inhabitants. Aren’t the nests just so wonderful?- the layers of moss at the bottom and bits of twig and at the top horse, cat and dog hair and even short lengths of brightly coloured cotton thread which will occasionaly be found on the ground outside the soft furnishing workroom here – the materials for these nests has definitely come from here!

My seed catalogues are out – what shall I grow that’s new and different for our guests and ourselves this year? My crimson flowered dwarf broad beams that I grew on Ring and Thimble front patio 2 years ago re-appeared in Wiltshire last year – some of our guests had gathered some of the seeds and grown them themselves – apparently they were the talk of their allotment!!! They then sent me some Jerusalem artichokes back in the post – the original tubers of which, a few generations back had actually come from Jerusalem!!

So lucky to have so many interesting guests who come to stay – we share our life and ideas with them and they so often share with us and return the compliment!!

Every day is a good day but particularly good days seem to be when as soon as you open the little chicken coop door – the one which is currently home to the 6 red hens who are the newest addtions to the flock and still aren’t allowed to integrate with the main bunch in the big house…pecking order oh yes it certainly does exist………anyway I digress…….and an egg rolls out before the 6 hens!

This was the case again two days ago on an egg before the chicken day when we learnt that we were in line for a gold, silver or bronze award at the South West Tourism Awards, which cover Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset for our self catering business here at Boscrowan! Hoorah!!! We will have to bide our time and curiousity until February 8th and another Awards dinner at the Eden Project this time.

So this morning, out came an egg before the chickens again…………I wonder what is in store today?

We were thrilled to scoop the Gold Award in the small self catering category in the Cornwall Tourism Awards on thursday 8th November at the Awards Gala dinner held at The Headland Hotel – so that’s official – the best self catering business (5 letting properties or less at one establishment) in Cornwall 2012/2013 – we couldn’t have asked for higher accolade!

A short explanation of how we achieved this – this year’s competition was announced in the late Spring and we had a few weeks to complete an online entry form with an option to submit supporting evidence online should we wish. It sounds simple and effectively it is but the great benefit of the whole excercise begins at this point in time when you analyse your business from all aspects – marketing, customer service, sustainability – and whilst we can pat ourselves on the back and think we are doing a pretty good job from our customere feedback there are always things that can be worked upon and perfected that little bit more!

We were then shortlisted and visited to assess us further. Following this stage we were one of a shorter list of just 3 finalists, all of whom were in line for an award. Winners were announced at the Awards Dinner at The Headland Hotel Newquay and our business is one of a number to go on to represent Cornwall in the South West Tourism Awards. The winners of these awards will ultimately go on to be on the shortlist for the Enjoy England for Excellence Awards next year. So watch this spot!!!