‘G’ is for getting there

OR “G” could be for ‘gawd blimey’ last time we managed to publish anything was 10 months ago….but given that it is New Year and as is du jour on these occasions we will take this opportunity to combine ‘getting there’ with an end of year retrospective on our Rickerby Grange adventure.

We will not take the Channel 5, D list celeb approach but more of a highlights and lowlights. Starting with the good stuff. The best news of all is that we did it (just). We opened the doors of Rickerby Grange, a 10 bedroomed guest house in be-a-u-tiful Portinscale, Keswick, and welcomed, met and hosted hundreds of warm, friendly and engaging visitors all of whom came to see and enjoy the wonder of the English Lake District. We got three boys to school, football, rugby, Beavers, Cubs, tae-kwondo, swimming… (exhausting). We retained some of our sanity (just) a sense of humour (mostly) and remain married. Our four year-old had a canine obsession fuelled on a regular basis (it’s a huge fixation). We fought off the Beast from the East by installing a whole new central heating system, water pumps and power showers. We managed a small army  of plumbers, tilers, electricians, plasterers, joiners, builders…. plus butchers, bakers and candlestick makers. All of this means that Rickerby Grange now has 4 spanking new bathrooms and by the end of January’s decor-athon it will have 7 new bathrooms and 4 re-vamped bedrooms.

Busy doesn’t even cut it. Cooking and serving 20 breakfasts give or take during most days between April and October, ensuring rooms are spotless and welcoming and running everything Rickerby has meant that some of the renovations are going to take longer (don’t they always). Slowly and surely we are making Rickerby Grange, not just a cosy, comfortable, Lake District getaway but – just as importantly – our home.

The ups and downs over the last 11 months have been as undulating as the terrain which we now inhabit. Swimming in Derwent Water on summer’s evenings throughout 2018’s balmy summer, kayaking out to St Herberts Island making actual real life Swallows and Amazons memories and learning to paddle board are up there with the best of them. So too is sharing our beautiful home with both guests and the friends that have been to visit. Taking the tandem bike out on a hot summer’s night with visitors from Sydney and running down the fells shouting at the top of our voices are particular moments of tonic to the soul. BUT of course it would be a massive fat lie to say it has all been an Instagram dream of lakes, fells and sunsets. Early mornings every morning, making sure the kitchen is ready, banana bread baked, dining room set, 22 people are 100% happy with their stay, perfect egg poaching and tomato roasting… all of this is standard. Helping other people make the most of the Lake District whilst you focus on the work, managing the kids during the school holidays (which is off course our busiest time). All of this is hard and exhausting. Eleven months in the general consensus is that …it is worth it and to be quite honest one look at the boys as they hurtle up and down their beloved Wainwrights (current counts are 8 year old – 21 peaks, 6 year old 16 peaks and 4 year old 13 peaks) it has to be worth it.

We have been bowled over by the volume of visitors to Rickerby Grange. We knew there would be a certain amount of footfall but hugely underestimated how far people travel to visit the area. As well as all our visitors from every corner of the United Kingdom we have hosted folk from all over the globe and when the boys do ‘help out’ and interact with the guests they get to chat to people from Australia to America. Some examples that stand out; an Australian family who came armed with several guitars and taught our 8 year-old ‘Let it Be’ has helped inspire him to play the instrument more and more; a lovely couple from Liverpool who have been a few times and always remember to leave a copy of the Liverpool Echo (football news obvs) for our football-mad. boys; and a delightful Indian family who had booked the wrong night and who we helped find alternative accommodation (no room at the inn). Only for them to drop in the next day with the most delicious homemade chapatis and lime pickle. All of our guests have been a joy to host  – well… almost all!

People have welcomed us, having moved from the ‘big city’ to a small village which comes with its own set of rules and learnings. Learning that everyone knows everyone and everyone knows someone that you know was something we had to pick up at speed. My favourite example of this (and believe me, there have been many) is finding myself upside down on a beauticians table in Cockermouth (not even Keswick you understand) and realising that lovely Louise and her expert beautician’s hands is in fact sister to my son’s teacher… still with me?! I feel like an alien when I say this but this simply wouldn’t have happened in south west London, because; (A). there were just too many people and (B) everyone comes from everywhere. It just takes a bit re-calibrating the psyche. Being part of a small community is a huge positive. As we wrapped up and watched the fabulous big Keswick light switch on I looked around and was struck by so many examples of this. The boys were watching the very talented band Watersedge rock the stage – which in short means they were watching a pretty cool rock band made up of their teachers, parents of friends and their headteacher . How’s that for role models? Attending a live music event, on a stage, in a town centre in the darkness isn’t always a happy recipe for looking after young children but they were safe, they were happy and frankly if they’d have got lost at least 10 people nearby would have known who they were and returned them. A similar situation in London would have brought out that old nervous twitch.

There are a number of people we could not have survived this year without. There are family members who have been huge rocks of support – emotionally and physically (those that have got stuck into the washing up – you know who you are!). A blog not an Oscar speech but special mention must go to PAT who basically came with Rickerby Grange and who was as unknown to us as we were to her. Once we’d passed her test of not being the “southern monkeys” she’d thought we might be Pat has quite literally saved and served our bacon and helped us make Rickerby Grange the place it is today – and always, always making it a fun place to be.

So what’s on the cards for 2019? Once January’s major renovations are out of the way we will be opening the bedroom doors to four of five completely refurbished rooms, seven new bathrooms, new windows and a whole lot of energy for next season. There may be the dog that was promised in 2018, there will be more Wainwrights and there should be a lot more jumping in the lake and paddleboarding. We will be hoping to welcome just as many guests for Bed & Breakfast but we are also planning to dip our toe into self catering and offering Rickerby Grange to large groups and families to rent at certain times of the year. (Give us a buzz). We genuinely don’t think our location could be better, 15 minutes walk into Keswick, five minutes down to Nichol End marina and the lake and  –  a 25 minute walk to the foot of Cat Bells and the Newlands Valley. Rickerby Grange sleeps up to 22 people, has two woodburners, two gorgeous lounges/family rooms and a huge dining room.

So to sum up the New Year retrospective  – we said we wanted an adventure and an adventure it has been. We couldn’t have done it without friends – old and new.  And – so 100% to more of the same next year – especially the ups, although as with mountains – you can’t go up unless there is a down. Wishing everyone  – all our guests both past, current and future, all our friends and family a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!

‘E’ is for exchange – leaving London for the Lake District

This is it. We’ve done it. After  6 years of property porn draining the iPhone batteries on the southbound carriage of the M6 we’ve just transferred an eye watering amount of money to secure contracts on a large, in need of some TLC house / guesthouse / bed and breakfast / small hotel in the Lake District. No I haven’t seen Three in a Bed? Should I have? No. I haven’t watched the Hotel Inspector either. But I have read Swallows and Amazons and I understand that there was a pretty good Cumbrian chef on Masterchef last month so the social and cultural references are not entirely lost on me.

So whilst the blog is entitled ‘The Rickerby Diaries’ (Rickerby Grange, I hope we will all come to know and love is the name of the establishment in question), I’m writing this first post, not from the snowy lanes of Cumbria but instead from my rather urban London kitchen. Last week we exchanged; this week is Christmas, New Year and a not unsubstantial amount of packing cardboard boxes. And on the 26th January we will pick up the Rickerby keys (at least a whopping 15 of them – any decent school caretaker would be envious) and move in.

I thought it better to start the written journey now. Because on so many levels it has already started. With it all the pitfalls of uprooting a family and moving them to the other end of the country. Not just to a new house, but new school, new lifestyle, new existence. The things about this that have so far been interesting are worth a mention. The huge sliding scale of public opinion on what we are doing (and by public, a mean ‘our public’). Ranging from abject horror (“the north” aghast), to manifest back thumping and ego massage (“you will be amazing. what an opportunity”), the rich and varied responses have not only taken me by surprise but been a learning curve in and of themselves. Some have been nothing less than hurtful (“well you won’t see much of me then” – really?) and then there are those that have re-enforced what I have always known to be the best of friendships; people who both know and love you and are truly cheerleading us from the sides.

It’s tricky to write this without a mention of the North / South divide. Yes it’s a thing. Quite probably born out of most school trips in the north heading to the Lakes and if you grew up in Sussex like I did, to the Isle of Wight.  As a born, bred and engrained southerner I have been shocked at the geographical lack of awareness amongst my fellow ‘countrymen’. Hilariously I write this as someone who has quite literally never lived north of anywhere other than Bethnal Green which most people know only too well is not north. So call to action; come to the Lake District. Visit. Travel. Walk up Hellvellyn, read Wainwright  – and then I challenge you to roll your eyes  about ‘the north’.  If I can have some aims for the Rickerby adventure – and there will be many –  then it’s to get some southern legs up those fells and give us some more informed views on the concept. Come on guys, book a train ticket, come and see us. And then decide.

We digress. ‘E’ is for exchange and exchange we have. We’ve traversed the choppy waters of the dreaded property chain. We’ve found out at the last minute that we “own a road”  – which apparently is a ‘worry’  – but is it just me who thinks it’s a great thing?! I mean no need to apply to the council to hold a street party right? We’ve explained to the boys (x3) that they are leaving their friends and class mates and going somewhere new where frankly, we don’t know anyone. And now we have a LOT of boxes. And explaining to a 3 year old that really he shouldn’t have packed all his coats and his favourite toys on a Wednesday in December when we don’t move until the end  January has proven challenging.

I’m hoping this blog will grow with us. Become the sophisticated digital footprint I have always been after. But for now this is a it – straightforward nuts and bolts approach to storytelling. And giving you the rough with the smooth because sure as eggs (“poached, boiled or fried ?”) are eggs there are going to be some bumps along the owned road.

But… we are off. When the clock strikes 12 on New Year’s Eve I cannot wait to toast Rickerby and all that it entails. Lots of hard work (yes , we know LOTS of hard work ad infinitum), a massive learning curve, undoubtedly with mistakes along the way, ten new bathrooms (at least) not to mention an interior design project of significant proportions. Numerous Virgin train journeys (hello train wi-fi my new bff), juggling a whole new life, new business, new friends ( I hope, please…) and all that comes with it. This is our 2018. Right now it’s daunting, exciting, exhilarating and horrifying in equal measures. But we know what we want to do and above all else we will give it a good go. A stylish, comfortable ‘home from home’ that gives people somewhere to relax and sleep before and after they have climbed the fells Keswick has to offer. For us it will be the beautiful village of Portinscale, access to the Coast to Coast bicycle route, an honesty bar with some local G&T, some free range eggs and good bed linen, some amazing views, breathtaking scenery, challenging rock climbing and tasty coffee. What more could anyone ask for? And that includes some southerners too btw.