At last! Work is due to start on refurbishing some of the ground floor, Monday 4th May, we’re starting by redecorating the restaurant and hallway. While we really would like to do more at this stage it’s not possible. In order to refurbish the bar, library and conservatory we will need to close for a couple of weeks at least and the way bookings are at the moment this is not going to be possible until much near the end of the year. We’ve waited a long time so the 4th is going to be a special day for us, the 14th May however will be even more special as this is the day the works should be completed and our new restaurant will re-open for business. We already have new cutlery on the tables and a new wine list so once the new carpet is down and decorations are complete it will be like a completely different place.
There’s been a bit of a change around in staff too recently. Gordon in the kitchen when we took over here at Blackaddie has left us and gone to work in a small bistro in Sanquhar, Rebecca who came to us from the Linen Room in Dumfries back in February (our only serious competition food wise which sadly closed down in January) has also gone, she was missing her family too much and decided that she would move back home. In her place we have Martin who brings with him a wealth of experience and who will I’m sure help to take us to the next level and gain us even more awards. He starts like the builders on the 4th so the excitement of the 4th is even greater still.
Lately we’ve been getting some great press, we got a lovely write up in the Dumfries Standard a couple of weeks ago and we’re in there again today. Then there’s a great article in the Dumfries & Galloway Life about us too this month.
Many of our rooms now boast flat screen TV’s, the picture and television quality was never good and it’s something we’ve been wanting to improve for sometime and we got the chance of some new flat screen TV’s so jumped at it. Picture quality therefore is vastly improved and it also means we are ready for the digital switch over when it eventually comes to this area. Also many of the TV’s have built in DVD players, we have a small selection of DVD’s in our library for you to use next time you visit.
Although the river levels are extremely low at the moment, we’ve had no rain but beautiful weather for almost three weeks now, salmon have been seen and more importantly caught.