“Our Home and Garden”
As told by Sinclair Williamson
“We bought Lochinver Guest House in Ayr almost 5 years ago, and I’ve come full circle in my career, as I grew up in a small family-run B&B half a century ago!
I reached a stage where I wanted less stress than my career managing a National Trust historic property with 200 staff would allow, and I had the chance of voluntary redundancy, so we made the move! My partner has a full-time job and I run the guest house.
We wanted to stay in Ayrshire because it has so much history, lovely beaches, and a thriving racecourse and theatre in Ayr, so there are always things going on here. We loved the location of Lochinver Guest House on a quiet, leafy street yet just minutes from shops, bars, restaurants and the beach – and the fact that the house had beautiful Victorian features appealed to us. Lochinver was already a guest house but we needed to do a bit of work redecorating, sanding and varnishing floors, re-carpeting bedrooms and choosing nice fabrics for the different guest rooms to give them each an individual character. We also refreshed the small en-suite bathrooms to make best use of the limited space and bring them into the 21st Century. We furnished the house from antique shops and auctions, wanting it to be traditional and luxurious, but also with all the modern comforts anyone would want, like luxury cotton bed-linen, comfortable mattresses and armchairs. Guests often say ‘the place is elegant with a relaxed atmosphere’ – just how we wanted the place to feel.
People often return for a stay because of the ‘fantastic breakfast’ we offer - made with good quality, and where possible, Scottish or local ingredients, and also because of the friendly, personal service we offer too. I think this is why Bed and Breakfasts and Guest Houses are becoming more popular again with a wider range of age groups looking for somewhere more interesting and comfortable than a bland box in a corporate hotel.
As a boy in our family B&B, I was carrying through the toast racks to the breakfast room from the age of five, so I think the passion for offering good hospitality and the reward you feel when someone compliments you on the outstanding breakfast you offer, or when people enjoy the hidden gems you have recommended they see in the area, was instilled in me from a very young age. People’s expectations are much higher than they were back then, and Guest Houses and B&Bs have moved with the times too to reflect this.
When I left Inverness where I grew up, I trained, and developed a career in horticulture, studying at Auchincrive, Ayr. My first post-college job was in Elton John’s 35 acre garden in old Windsor where we grew a huge range of flowers, fruit and vegetables for the house. I later designed gardens in my own practice, and finally worked with the NTS as a Head Gardener then as a Gardens Adviser (before switching to visitor-attraction management in the NTS). I have always loved to be able to cook with things I have grown myself, but when we moved to Lochinver Guest House, there wasn’t really anything that could be described as a garden - all that was growing here was an old Bramley apple tree.
The rest of the back garden was entirely covered in tarmac and the front garden was chipped over, save for a couple of small shrubs. It has been a labour of love, but we now have beautiful flower borders and a small area of lawn at the front and a pretty cottage garden at the back where I grow a mix of flowers, fruits and vegetables which we use where we can, but it is still an ongoing project. Many guests love the garden, and we use the home-grown apples to make a compote for the breakfast table, or in cakes for afternoon tea service, and I make jam from the berries we grow. The garden also provides an abundance of flowers for the guest house.
The joy of running a small guest house is that we have full control over the standards and what we can offer our guests. I wouldn’t change what I do now for the world.”
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10 Ballifeary Road,Inverness,
IV3 5PJ
07920 404 163
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