I want the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage to be one of the best places to stay on the North Coast 500, so it’s been a delight to invest back into the Cottage this year. Looking back, I am amazed at how much we’ve done, so huge thanks to our local and eco suppliers, to Steve and Paul at Northcoast Property Maintenance, and especially to the guests who’ve stayed with us, for all the changes we’ve put in place.
It’s the details that make the difference! Big improvements include new outside lights so arriving in the dark is safer and easier, and small improvements include adding herbal tea and decaffeinated tea and coffee to our supplies – you are here to relax, after all!
The details can be really tiny – I am thrilled at how quickly our new cooking oils, herbs and spices get used. It’s made me feel quite guilty for not providing them before.
The new cutlery probably doesn’t make as much difference, but it was nice to move on from the 1980s, and I was was also happy to make more room in the living room when we replaced our sofa (vintage, but not in a good way) with a chair that’s both stylish and comfy. When I sat in it, I did not want to get up!
I just love walking into each room and seeing our newly framed pictures. When we opened in 2018, the walls were very sparce, and now they are full of works by local artists that all relate to the area. And another thing that relates to the area this year is our supply of Noss Head tumblers from Marks and Pencils. It can be hard to find souvenirs of Noss Head, so it was good to add this to our little “shop”.
We are officially welcoming cats too now! We have a few house rules for cats, but I was Tiger’s human for 17 years, and I am Tilly’s human now, so I understand why you might want to bring them.
I have also taken a good look at what we offered guests bringing children and dogs, and made some additions. For dogs, we now provide throws to protect the furniture, and doggy-towels (recycled cotton, and embroidered by our lovely local laundry); these are new additions to the calming plug-in, water bowl and treats, which we’ve always provided.
We can now welcome families with a high chair, a step for the toilet, a child gate for the kitchen which are great additions to the travel cot and child-friendly bowls and cutlery we’ve always had.
And of course, I keep spotting family games and thinking “that would be fun for the Cottage”!
The greenest option is always changing, and we want to keep our Gold Award for Green Tourism, so we have switched over to Naked Sprout for loo roll and tissues. They are brown because they’re green! Naked Sprout products are made of recycled paper, not bamboo, and are made in the UK, cutting out the air-miles and sea-miles of Who Gives a Crap, who were the innovators in green loo roll. We stopped buying biodegradable j-cloths, and now provide Naked Sprout kitchen roll and organic cotton dishcloths.
Another change in the kitchen is we ask you to save your cooking fat so we can add porridge and feed it to the birds. This is a double win for us, feeding the birds and reducing fatbergs which have previously blocked our old clay drain pipes. (Trust me, you do not want to know!) And of course, we provide a guide to recycling, and recycling bags you can take home with you.
Being wind-swept and storm-swept the cottage takes a real beating, and I have been excited all year about our new front door, which keeps out the water and wind and – a special feature of modern front doors – does not stick when it rains! And we’ve also replaced the bathroom window which was feeling its age.
I’ve improved how I keep in touch by making it easy to WhatsApp me, as well as writing a blog every month, and sending out a newsletter And the big improvement to the website was when we got updated photos and a new 3-D tour. I am kicking myself for having the 3D tour done before I got our lovely new living room chair, but with so many new things happening, it would be outdated whenever I had it done!
Repairs this year included the electric shower and the cooker, which only goes to show that sometimes things just break. That’s ok. No-one does deliberate damage, and they are there to be used. Our annual maintenance, includes safety checks like PAT tests for electrical items, and having the fire alarms and boiler serviced, as well as keeping the place spick and span by repainting the porch and hall (every year) and the bedrooms and living rooms (year and year about).
I always want you to feel the cottage is new, welcoming, and ready for you, and this is what goes into doing that.
Like every Short Term Let in Scotland, we applied for our STL licence last year, and I am deep down delighted that we were granted it this summer, with no issues or problems. Most of it is about your safety, so do make sure you book places with an STL licence. (It is illegal for a place to take bookings and not have one).
I don’t want to jinx anything by revealing our plans, but they include more improvements inside and out, as well as our annual round of maintenance, and trying to find room for any pictures I just cannot resist when I see them! I think that one is the hardest of all!
My name is Ben, and I fell in love with the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage at Noss Head when I first came here in 2017. Seven years on – I am really proud of the cottage. The team who keep it ready for you are amazing. And I love how welcoming we’ve made it for our guests, and the happy times people have while staying here. And as you can see, I am always looking for ways to make things better.
