October 2011
Well I think we did actually have some nice days this summer but no long periods of dry weather. Still it was good for some things, trees in particular seem to have flourished. After a hectic summer last year installing the new roof I have done virtually nothing outside this year. This is good as it does save money and anything I spend on the caravan etc is money not available for the rebuild. No chance of that happening in the near future but perhaps next year if the plot of land gets sold.
Sales of notebooks etc have been quiet but my market is only just starting about now. I am building up stocks and hope to get a table at the Achfary Fair this winter. The fair was cancelled las year due to poor weather, must have been bad as life generally goes on despite the conditions. My new calendars are already selling well which is promising for the xmas rush !.
I did manage to get a short trip away to Eisdale Island (Near Oban) a few months ago but had very poor weather. The island used to be a slate quarry and the tiles are on house roof's all over the world.
Eisdale Island is about 150m from the mainland but only a small boat service connects the two. This make life interesting when returning from a shopping spree in Oban. It can get a bit wet.
Disused slate quarry, with a bit of sun the water takes on a wonderful aquamarine colour.
Dry stone wall
Garden decorations.
Please visit my links section for more information.
May 2011
Beach at Durness
Ok, so who spotted that this site has not been updated for another year...just me then !.
In a nutshell... I think I spent every non-rainy day working on my roof and had it completed just in time for the winter which of course arrived early. It has so far proved to be very useful and I no longer have to worry about the caravan roofs peeling off. There are a few areas where water still get through but this just lands on the original roof and runs away. Another addition was to create a front porch and new front door. This acts as a buffer to any easterly wind and limits the amount of cold air getting into the "atrium" and wood burning stove area. So I am not losing so much heat and more ends up in the workshop.
Yet another feature is a wood store which also contains the hydraulic splitter. The bedroom/office also had a revamp and I now have an insulated and carpeted floor so no real problems with cold feet. All of this has had an impact on my energy consumption and although electricity has stayed the same I purchased £70 of logs and £50 coal in december, still have 50% of the logs left and one bag of coal so much less used compared with 2010. Workwise I had a good winter season with the tablemats and calendars but most sales dropped off after xmas as expected.
I am currently adding postcards to my repertoire and have about 25 standard and 25 panoramic format cards on sale. Once again I can turn any picture into a card so hopefully there will be some bespoke orders coming my way. Selling these items in Kinlochbervie is still a hassle as I have no outlet other than the Ceilidh House. However I may be opening up in the Gallery again on a saturday with a view to getting my products out to a wider audience ie tourists.
The big problem with selling low cost items through a third party, shop etc, is that everyone naturally needs to make a profit. The margin on some stuff is so low that I would end up working for pennies per hour !. Anyway who knows if our wonderful government may find money to invest in this part of the world and create some new retail units, we live in hope.