El Roble Holidays Official Blog

Well we are back from our quick trip to the UK, we flew in on Friday lunchtime and rushed straight to the suit shop for Simon to buy himself a new dinner suit - dont know quite what has happened in the 3 years since leaving uni but the suit he had there no longer fits and when he got his bow tie out of the cupboard it fell to bits - it must have had a lot of use in York University!!

Then we quickly had time to sit by the canal at one of the canalside pubs, so that Graham and Simon can enjoy an English beer, then off to meet Keith who had travelled up from Bristol - off to the apartment with just 3/4 hour to spare before we had to go to the VCC Awards Dinner at the Race Course.

Once we arrived we soon relaxed in the fantastic warm evening sun sipping our glasses of bubbly, we caught up with friends Karen and Alan and enjoyed a lovely evening - we didnt win the Self Catering Holiday Award but as we were delighted to have been shortlisted, we just see it as a run up to next years entry - hopefully better luck next time!

Saturday saw a shopping day around Chester for the four of us then off to Grandparents house in Heswall for a family get together - thanks Mum and Dad it was a lovely roast dinner. After a full cooked breakfast it was back to the airport and to our guests in Spain.

Monday morning brought us right back to normal with a check out, clean, check in and two sets of laundry to do!

Look on our facebook page to see all our photos.

Hey .. it was all worthwhile Wharton Lock Apartment in Chester has been shortlisted for the Self Catering Holiday of the Year in Chester and Cheshire So all the work setting it up getting the four star grading and keeping it busy together with the DHL payment of 104 pounds for submitting the nomination has paid off.

The judges will visit the apartment next week on the same day as our annual grading by Quality in Tourism - so hopefully all will go well!

Then both Graham and I, together with our sons Simon and Keith, will be going to the Gala Award dinner in June at the Roodee Racecourse in Chester to have the winner announced.

So fingers and everything else crossed!!

Well that was a job that started off small and ended up going on and on ……….we decided when we first had our holiday apartment in Chester that, as soon as we could, we would put our Wharton Lock Apartment forward for the “Chester and Cheshire” Self Catering Holiday of the Year Tourism Award. There was also a category for Tourism Website of the Year and so it couldnt be much more work to put the website forward too and after all Simons (and our) hard work on the website, this could be a nice way of saying thanks to him.

 We had read the paperwork and it said it would take 2 hours to complete the form and yes, that wasnt a bad guide but the folder of supporting information took forever!! We had to analyse all the bookings, where all the guests came from, print out screen shots of the website (Simon had to show us how to make the screenshots look good) and basically blow our own trumpet!

The apartment has been so busy and successful and so many people including other owners and the Chester Tourist Board have complimented the website but it can sound so pushy to say “Hey I’m good!”

 Anyway on Wednesday we took the package containing both submissions and folders of supporting to DHL at Malaga Airport. They happily weighed it and assured us it would arrive in Chester before Friday 11th April (the deadline for submissions) but to our horror they gave us the price of 129 euros!!!!!

So we quickly retreated to the car park and rang Simon to ask him to search for a cheap flight to the UK, it would be cheaper to personally deliver it than to DHL it. Only to find out due to school holidays it was infact expensive to fly it there.

So back in to DHL and part with 129 euros and off it went winging its way to the UK - oh how I hope that at least one of the submissions gets to the short listing! Happily we received an email from Lucy at Chester Tourist Board to say it arrived on Thursday morning - in good time for the Friday deadline. So now we sit back and wait to see if we get short listed and get called to an interview.

How horrified we were to hear, today, that on Friday the deadline was extended for 6 days - this would have meant we could have posted it for just 10 euros! Lets hope we have some success to make it all worthwhile.  

I meant to come back to say how the meal went at Santiagos in Alhaurin el Grande - well it was good, a nice change. It was a Fijian meal, so very tasty but a bit light on portions and meat.

The men decided a meatier option was needed for this week so off to Zeng in Coin. Well from light on meat we went to plenty! The meal started with mini chop suey rolls, then salad, then on to a fantastic main course served in an unusual box type dish - one section had rice, one plum sauce, another had sliced duck and a chicken dish. Then all topped off with a dessert or irish coffee afterwards.

 All that for 13.50 euros a head!!

Anyway its nice to try to out a new restaurant and we are certainly spoilt here in the Alhaurin el Grande!!

The morning has started with both Simon, my son, and I sniffling and moaning!

Simon is suffering after visiting his friends new kitten - very sweet but its not helped his cat allergy.

Whereas I, despite enjoying the beautiful Spring Andalusian trees and flowers, am allergic to the pollen of the Cork and Encima Oak trees that cover the 15,500 sq metres of land that we own around our own house and the “El Roble Holidays” properties.

7 years ago when we sat on this bare piece of land, watched the butterflies playing and enjoyed the view of the Mijas Mountains, little did I think that each Spring would bring Asthma and sneezing with it!! The only plus point is that in the UK I had hay-fever from Spring to Autumn - here I only get it while the Oak trees are in pollen so hopefully in a month or so it will be over for another year and I can enjoy the Summer hay-fever free.

Tomorrow night we are off to Santiagos Restaurant in Alhaurin el Grande for a Fijian night, so I will let you know how it goes.

My mum and dad have been here at our home in Alhaurín El Grande, near Malága, for 2 weeks so that I could enjoy celebrating mothersday, my mum’s birthday and their wedding anniversary with them. As a birthday treat we went to stay in Pampaneira near Granada, to enjoy a nice walk through the three villages enjoying lunch and tapas along the way. Little would we know that the walk that was described as one of the easiest in the book we were reading would turn out to be 7Km of up hill climbs and aching bones, …
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Well, after living in Spain for 6 years I have finally been convinced that it would be “good” to write a blog, that is if anyone would be interested in reading it.