Some of you might think I’m talking about the new “take that” album, you would however, be mistaken! I actually want to bring your attention to our newly refurbished bedrooms at the Beech Hill Hotel on Lake Windermere!

We’ve completed a number of rooms being done under the current refurbishment programme, all of which look amazing! These rooms all have fantastic lake views, now though, they have all that and more, much more! Designer wallpapers and fabrics, state of the art bathrooms, plasma screen televisions, all you need to bring is, well yourself!

We’ve managed to source a local building firm, “Vickerstown interiors” headed by owner, Russell Spencely. These guy’s are not only great tradesmen, but also have a real eye for detail. Nothing but perfection will do, not the usual builders then! The firm specialise in interior design, and I really think it shows in the finished rooms. Check out the rooms by following the link on our website, see the “Select room” images. You can also see a selection of pictures on our facebook page.

I’ve had the pleasure of showing the finished rooms to guests staying with us and the feedback is fantastic, in fact people are already booking them for next summer!

This is the first phase of work planned over the coming winter months, we will have completed twelve rooms by March 2012. The second stage is planned to commence next October with a further twelve bedrooms being completed the following March.

Now that really is progress!

Jonathan Allan

General Manager

I know it’s the Lake District, but believe it or not we can have beautiful summers! If you’ve read the last blog from our Chef, you’ll know we have launched a rather tasty “summer” terrace menu here at the Beech Hill Hotel. We are also thinking about an evening barbeque menu that we will run mainly on Friday and Saturday nights during the summer. I know we’ll need the weather on our side but honestly, we do have some great days (and nights!)

The terrace is the perfect place for this because it’s in full sun right through the afternoon and stays in the sun until it goes down, sometimes as late as 10 o’clock! Plenty of time then to kick back with a cocktail and something fresh off the Barbie!

Check us out on facebook where you’ll see that some of you have already told us about some of your favourite dishes of all time! Our chef has seen some really unusual ones and it’s great to see the different combinations people put together!

We’d love to hear what it is you enjoy most when its cooked on the BBQ, personally, I don’t think you can go to far wrong with line caught sea bass, cooked with fresh herbs, a wedge of lemon and just a little butter, put everything in a simple foil parcel and wait for perfection! I think I’ve just decided what’s for dinner this evening!

So follow us on facebook, leave us as many ideas as you like and give your idea of the “perfect” Barbeque! You never know, you could end up reading someone’s favourite dish and cooking it yourself, enjoy!

Jonathan Allan

General Manager

I’m thrilled to announce our luxury holiday home “High Biggin”  has just received a fantastic 5 star gold award from Visit Britain! This confirms the quality of this outstanding property, and allows me to relax in the knowledge that all the hard work was worth while!

I was proud to show the inspectors around the house and gardens, I obviously showed them the guest book, every comment left was wonderful. More importantly for me, they all finished with “10/10 – we can’t wait to come back”. It means a lot when guests feel as though they have found somewhere that’s perfect for their family holiday.

Visit Britain has a great reputation for assuring quality, there inspector’s certainly put the properties through there paces! That’s no bad thing and as a customer it gives peace of mind, I know as someone who takes the family away on self catering holidays occasionally, it’s a sure fire way of understanding what you get for your money. I’m pleased to say that obviously they loved the house, its position over looking Lake Windermere and of course the privacy of its gardens.

It’s been a great first few months of letting, and for me, being able to offer something different, something special, where guests can incorporate the hospitality of the hotel with the privacy and luxury of the house has really and truly worked. Guests are enjoying the flexibility on offer, dine in or book a table in our award winning restaurant, we can even cater for you at the house! Personally, I would recommend the barbeque and the hot tub be used at least once, where else can you cook and eat dinner and relax with such breathtaking views?!

If you’re thinking about booking a self catering holiday in the UK, don’t book anything before considering “High Biggin” believe me, you won’t be disappointed! Don’t just take my word for it, ask Visit Britain, 5 star gold say’s it all!!

I look forward to welcoming those of you who book with us for the coming year! Oh, and don’t forget to visit our facebook page for details of how to win a free holiday, that’s one week in this stunning house with four bedrooms and five bathrooms without spending a penny!!

Jonathan Allan

General Manager

Following up on my last blog, about entering the world that is Facebook. I thought I would up date you as to developments in this area. The Beech Hill Hotel page is up and fully operational, you can post a comment or a photo if you so choose but moreover you can even book a room, sign up for our newsletter, or even give us a review, all through our facebook page!

But what I really want to pass on to you and your friends is that we are running an amazing competition to win a weeks stay in our Luxury Holiday House in the Lake District. Which is worth c £2,000. What do you have to do I hear you say? Well not much really, all we ask is that you go to our: facebook page and “Like Us” and that’s it.  As soon as our likes reach “1000″ a winner will be selected at random from all the people who have liked us – Simples!

As at writing our likes stand at “382″ so we don’t have too far to go, but the more people who get to know about our competition the faster the winner can be announced! So do please pass this on to your friends so they can have a go too.

Want to know more about the prize then follow this link to our :Holiday House pages, it really is a stunning prize and we look forward to giving a week away (terms apply) sooner rather than later!

Thank you for reading.

Fraser Richardson

Managing Director

Here at the Beech Hill Hotel we are not quick to join bandwagons. However it seems that Facebook is here to stay and more importantly absolutely everyone I know is using it, including my wife.  I had resisted but the peer pressure was so great that I caved in but before setting up my page I thought I would get the hotel to set up its page first namely www.facebook.com/beechhillhotel so I could see what all the fuss was about.

Well after a few teething issues, such as understanding the differences between pages and profiles, I managed to upload photos, link to websites and create up and coming events, and yes I’m converted what a great way of staying in touch. So as you will see if you look at the hotels page I have now set up my own profile! Scary!

But that leads me nicely to what  I wanted to highlight, because its such a great way to communicate and keep in touch it clearly would be perfect for letting our guests know what’s going on in the hotel! Whether it be events such as our gourmet & wine tasting nights, mothers day lunches or our spring and summer balls or our great value offers you can get to find out if you log on to facebook and “Like us”! Simples!

Now I know I’m asking you to do something for me so in turn I’d like to do something for you, if you “Like” our facebook page then you could get exclusively 15% off your stay at the hotel if you book on-line (terms apply). The promotional code will be revealed once you have liked us on our face book page.

This offer is not available anywhere else and it means you can see more of the beautilful Lake District for less! Thank you for reading.

Fraser Richardson

Managing Director

Welcome to 2011! Interesting, I happened to stumble across the tail end of a rather dated episode of “Space 1999” the other day. Now I know that to some of you reading this your thinking “space what?!” but to those who know and love “old school” sci-fi you’ll know exactly what I talking about (I hope!)

The thing is, back in good old 1975 when the series was being put together, the theme seemed believable. We could easily imagine that a “Moon Base Alpha” as it was known, would be achievable and likely given the events of space exploration in the previous decade.  That’s how fast technology was moving (remember the triumph TR7!!) In reality, some 12 years after the year 1999, we’re no closer now than we were back then.

Now, I’ve been giving all this some thought recently, and I think I know what went wrong with the holiday home on the moon idea, social networks! That must be it, since the launch of the World Wide Web, all thought of design and build has moved in this direction. I guess it’s what we all really wanted after all! It’s almost impossible to think about going through a day, just 24 hours, without checking your mobile or i phone. Without “logging on” without checking out the best deals on line before splashing out on the latest i pad!! I guess we’re all happier with our feet firmly on the ground, and our eyes firmly glued to one type of screen or another!

All of this brings me neatly on to the Beech Hill Hotel’s new face book page. Only launched a few weeks ago, it’s already proving a useful and interesting place to be! We’ll be streaming loads of great pictures, stories and even the odd recipe or two, so go on, follow the link at the bottom of our home page and take a look!

Just to be clear on the “old school” sci-fi thing, unfortunately for my wife, I am a bit of a fan of anything sci-fi. Fortunately for my wife, we have two televisions!!

Until next time, best wishes

Jonathan.

General Manager