Tourism is usually an inviting and energising place to be and work, you get to meet new guests each week, from all walks of life, you most certainly learn something new every day and its fast paced nature means you have to stay on your toes both physically and with the industry. 2020 was set to be our busiest year yet, with the calendar having more quick turn arounds than you could shake your stick at, but then Covid struck.

To begin with the uncertainly of something so unknown to man (or woman) occupied everyone’s mind, and we were obviously more concerned with staying safe, but as time passed and the luxury of being at home with the added bonus of absolutely glorious weather we were having at the time, reality - as it often tends to - struck, and the pressures that the business needed to get back on its feet set in. The support of furlough, whilst much appreciated was only really a small aid in keeping business in the black, evidently just because we are in a pandemic the bills don’t just stop. Swift action was taken to reduce outgoings as far as we could, without causing too much disruption to when we were finally able to re-open (did you know that you can’t just pause a sky subscription because there is a pandemic on – mind blowing).

Time went on, and as a property manager, i have to admit working from home, with my little one (who had been in full time child care since 9 months old) was a pleasure, it was certainly making up for lost time, and yes all those funny captions that started to appear on social media were true to the letter, that working from home with a little one (or several) was, shall we say the full spectrum of emotions and skills; it’s a moment in time i wouldn’t have changed (apart from the Covid of course).

Now, although we once again find ourselves in lockdown, we had a good run over the tail end of the summer and through the October half term, and while there is no denying that myself and the team were absolutely on our knees from the insane amount of additional cleaning required, PPE sweats and dishwasher malfunction fury; we were all pleased to be back in work and back to some kind of sense of "normality". That good run means that we had a little income, and every penny counts – no matter how big the business.

This time around we are staying positive and pro-active, we can’t tell you how much painting, deep cleaning, new flooring down, new lights put in we have ticked off our to do list - the properties are looking fab; and whilst its not the best position to be in financially (what businesses wants to be on pause!?) we have no choice - it does mean that all these jobs that we could never fit in because we were so busy are now being completed, and it will make it all the better when we can reopen and guests can enjoy our properties once again.

It’s onwards, and hopefully upwards to when we once again get that green light; for now our team remain safe and on furlough, with myself and our maintenance team donning the paint brushes to our favourite tunes, keeping our chins up and bracing for impact…