Guides, Golf, Recipes and Raku

I woke up very early this morning a continued to work on the business plan. We are reading and digesting the contents of two interesting books I borrowed from the public library. The first is "Running a B&B. A Landlady's Guide" by Christabel Milner. It is full of very personal advice, with excellent practical tips, illustrations and examples. It is a very easy and comfortable read. The second book is "Starting & Running a B&B" by Stewart Whyte. This is very business oriented, with a very excellent section towards the end on writing business plans and a good review of the legal, financial, emotional and practical implications and necessities of running a bed and breakfast. I did some good work using this book.

Every day I seem to meet people who have been to Arran or who would like to go. Today was no exception. I walked back to my office with a fellow who plays golf on the mainland near Arran and who has been to the island at least once to play. I invited him to come and stay with us when he's next up there. This has been a familiar pattern during the last couple of weeks. People I talk to are really excited about our project. I received a call from someone who wanted to book 3 week enabled holidays in October. Unfortunately we are not in a position to supply that yet, but it was encouraging. I took her details and we will of course get back to her when we have bought our cottage are able to accomodate people.

This evening we shredded paper to try out the new pulp method for papier mache bowls. I bought the ingredients suggested by Helena this week. So I am planning to have a go a cooking the recipe up this weekend. Mark is working on his presentation for the professional development for enablers that we are hoping to offer when we get to Arran. We have thought-showered some good ideas and he is making an inroad into the idea with notes of all the possibilities. The plan is to then organise these into a coherant business plan for this aspect of the project.

My friend Hatti wrote to me on Facebook offering ceramics workshops of Raku (traditional Japanese pottery often used for tea ceremony bowls) and smoke firings or build a dragon kiln "mmm risk assesments...but I have workshop insurance which covers this type of activity" she says. Seems like a great idea to me. I'm going to call her this weekend and catch up. One of the best things about this project is that everyone we know has something wonderful they can contribute if they want to.