Explore. Dream. Discover. Your
Natural Retreats
Newsletter
Issue 3 | September 2018
Illustation impression of completed site overview | Location: Llšn Peninsula
A MESSAGE FROM
our
CEO
Doing things differently and exceeding expectations Hard to believe we’re already more than
CairnGorm Mountain had an amazing
half way through 2018 – time flies when
Winter Season with snowsports
you’re having fun! It’s been an awesome
continuing well into early May. The team
six months with loads going on plus the
showed great team work and commitment
ideal weather for enjoying the Great
in getting the mountain up and running to
British Outdoors.
ensure as many guests as possible got to enjoy the best snow we’d seen in years.
We’re back to being pioneers of our
Let’s hope the Winter Season 2018/19
industry and also taking on the new
also brings tonnes of snow!
challenge of pioneering the estate agency
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business with our recent acquisition of
Across all our Natural Retreats locations
Humberts, a classic estate agency with
we need to continually look at everything
a 176 year old history. We have already
through our guest’s eyes and consider
made considerable changes to shake it
the small touches, continue to engage
up from the traditional approach, to how
with our guests, and generate innovative
Humberts will operate in the future. It’s
ideas to ensure we continue to be at the
key to keep pushing ourselves, to be
forefront of our industry.
relevant to the changing needs people have, whether that’s in purchasing a
And nothing’s more important than our
holiday, a home, or planning their leisure
teams in how we deliver this, and it’s up to
time. Humberts compliments what we do
you all out there to question what we are
perfectly. People have hopes and dreams
offering to ensure that it always exceeds
when they buy a house in the same way
our guest’s wants and needs. You’re all an
they do when going on holiday or planning
outstanding team and the enablers to our
their leisure time.
ongoing success.
Let’s keep exceeding expectations, breaking through the boundaries, and pushing forward to deliver the best experiences to our guests.
M AT T S P E N C E Matt with his Children, Dawson and Maddie
A FACE TO THE NA ME
AMANDA REVINS
DAVID NICHOLLS
Colin Maciver
LLŶN PENINSULA Retreat Manager
YORKSHIRE DALES General Manager
ROCK HOLIDAYS General Manager
LEWS CASTLE General Manager
Janette Jansson
MARCELL CILLIERS
ANDREW SCARR
CAIRNGORM MOUNTAIN General Manager
JOHN O’GROATS & CANALSIDE COTTAGES General Manager
TREWHIDDLE & FISTRAL BEACH General Manager
EWAN Kearney
ANTHONY WILD
ADAM GOUGH
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
HEAD of PROPERTY
LAURA DUBOIS
ANNE PASS
DAVID KEMP
HEAD of COMMERCIAL OPS
HEAD of HR
HEAD of COMMERCIAL FINANCE
SEP TEM BER 2 018
|3 Our SENIIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM
Matt SPENCE
Our RETREAT GENERAL MANAGERS
JULIE BUDDEN
TEA M NEWS
Congratulations!
Enjoying our amazing NR locations Over the last six months it’s great to have seen you all out exploring and enjoying our fantastic NR locations with your friends and families. We love to hear about what you discover when you’re staying at one of our sites so we can share ideas with our guests. A special mention to Jess Haney our Marketing Manager, who got engaged whilst staying up at Canalside Cottages in March. The very lucky boy Nick proposed to Jess when they were on a Jacobite cruise on Loch Ness – she said yes. What a perfectly romantic location for getting engaged – great choice Nick! Congratulations Jess & Nick!
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Here’s some photos of the team enjoying North Cornwall, Yorkshire Dales, Canalside Cottages, CairnGorm and Trewhiddle. Keep sending your recommendations & photos through!
Surf's up for the Kearney's!
Suze &Laura enjoying the Loch Ness cruise
kiddiesthe metYorkshire the Yorkshire Maria'sMaria's kids meeting Vet! Vet
Mason enjoying the sunset at Llšn with his Momma, Hannah!
Quick trip to the top of CairnGorm for Jess and Nick
Asa & Caleb enjoying front-row seats for sunrise in the Yorkshire Dales
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Jonas family loving life at Trewhiddle
Geoff enjoyed a lovely break at Canalside Cottages
Pepper & Aura enjoying Polzeath Beach
Saskia exploring what Cornwall has to offer
E XPLOR E. DR E A M . DISCOV ER .
Amanda conquers the Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge Amanda Revins, our Yorkshire Dales General
the Ribblehead Viaduct. Following this we began
Manager took at day out to enjoy her NR Trail
the walk up Whernside and this was a gradual climb
Day and took on the Yorkshire Three Peaks
up which was welcomed! On the way up, we passed
Challenge with her friend Aisling. No mean feat
Force Gill waterfall before reaching our second
at all – here Amanda gives us a run through of
trig point. The views from the top of this peak are
her day.
amazing! After a quick lunch break we made our way down this peak to head to the third and final
“This challenge is a 25 mile route taking on the
one; Ingleborough! I found this the most difficult
peaks of Pen-y-ghent (694m), Whernside (736m)
one to climb - after already completing 20 miles
and Ingleborough (723m), all to be completed
the scramble at the top of this one was a challenge
in under 12hours! These peaks form part of the
but you are rewarded once you get to the top, the
Pennine range, and encircle the head of the valley
views are just incredible and 100% worth the effort!
of the River Ribble, in the Yorkshire Dales National
From the top of this one you could see the other
Park.
two peaks! After a few minutes rest we started the
For someone who finds the hill from Lodge 19 to 6
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the Sanctuary a struggle I knew this was going to be a tough challenge but I was determined to do it! We started off in Horton-in-Ribblesdale and clocked in at the Pen-y-ghent café at 8am not knowing what lay ahead of us! The weather was incredible which made things a little bit easier. The first peak (Pen-y-ghent) you’re straight into that and it’s a steep climb, but we got up to the top in
walk back down to our starting point which is a 4 mile walk….in all honesty it felt like we were never going to get back to where we started! Definitely the longest 4 mile walk! We made it back to the Pen-y-ghent café to clock out at 18:17pm. Which meant we completed the challenge in 10hours and 17minutes! Such an incredible day and a challenging hike, but worth it in nice weather for the amazing views!!”
just over an hour. The walk from this to Whernside
Congratulations Amanda – that’s a great
was lovely, quite long but brings you right up to
achievement and great to see Yorkshire looking as stunning as ever!
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TEA M NEWS
Long Service Awards at Natural Retreats Congratulations to the NR family members who have reached their 5 year mark. It’s great to have you on board! Andrew Scarr Andrew first joined Natural Retreats as Team Leader for Trewhiddle and Fistral Beach. Since then he has worked at virtually every NR location there is – and possibly now has the best product knowledge of anyone in NR. Andrew has been a huge support at Lews Castle and
Andrew & Geoff Baker
John O’Groats and was instrumental when we took on Canalside Cottages, helping to set up all the properties. Andrew then moved back down to Cornwall and became General Manager at Trewhiddle in early 2018 and continues to do a brilliant job at NR. Amanda Revins Amanda joined us as Retreat Manager when we operated
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the self-catering cottages at Castlemartyr in Ireland. Originally from the area, Amanda quickly took on the reigns at Castlemartyr and made a fantastic start to her NR career. In May 2015 Amanda came across to England to become General Manager at our Yorkshire Dales
Amanda
location where she has done, and continues to do, an excellent job at Yorkshire ensuring our guests have a fabulous time. David Nicholls When David reached his '5 years at NR' anniversary in June he became the fifth member of the Cornwall NR team to celebrate 5 year’s service at Natural Retreats, joining Geoff, Julia, Michael and Andrew! David first joined Natural Retreats as a Graduate Team Leader at John O’Groats. Under the mentorship of Janette Jansson, David quickly showed his fantastic potential and became a hugely reliable member of the team. In October 2015 David was promoted to General Manager for Rock and North Cornwall and is doing an amazing job manging all the various properties and owners.
David, Lilly
(David's daughter)
& Geoff Baker
E XPLOR E. DR E A M . DISCOV ER .
NR - We Take Fun, Seriously... We all know that who you work with, make your jobs more enjoyable. We’re proud of the fantastic teams we have across Natural Retreats and the great team - work you show all the time. Here’s some pictures of the teams enjoying time together in, and out, of work.
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John O'Groats
CML
Cornwall
Yorkshire Dales
Cornwall
Trewhiddle
Yorkshire Dales
Wilmslow
NR SUPPORTING OUR COM MUNITIES A ND OTHER CH A R ITIES
WE AT NATURAL RETREATS ALWAYS LIKE TO SUPPORT our LOCAL Julie Budden, our Retreat Manager at LLŷn
Funding from the share scheme will hopefully
Peninsula in North Wales has been fully
be matched by some grant funding from
supporting the local community of Nefyn, near
organisations like the National Lottery.
our NR location. Nefyn was once a bustling
The society then hope to be in a position to
village, but over recent years the majority of the
purchase the building, and move forward with
small village shops in Nefyn have closed down
the next task of re-establishing The Sportsman
and now the community have pulled together to
as a successful Welsh community pub.
try to raise enough funds to reopen their local pub, The Sportsman. Popular with local sports
We are optimistic that their goal will be achieved
clubs and all age groups, it attracted people from
and they will then be seeking out volunteers
across the Llŷn Peninsula and was especially
to help in the refurbishment and reopening –
packed during the holidays. In 2009, the pub
any volunteers to help out will be gratefully
shut after the owner decided they no longer
welcomed. Please get in touch with Julie if you
wanted to run it. It has been for sale since 2016.
would like to help out. Keep us updated Julie – and a big thank you for demonstrating what
Julie went along to the meetings and spotted
Natural Retreats is all about getting involved
that this was a great opportunity for Natural
in our local communities. Diolch!
Retreats to get involved, following which we have now bought some shares in the pub. The local community has raised £80,000 so far through their Community Share Scheme – their aim is to get up to £110,000 which is what the site is currently on the market for. Further fundraising is planned for sourcing the final amounts which Julie is also supporting with.
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E XPLOR E. DR E A M . DISCOV ER .
The Lews Castle College Jewellery Awards Lews Castle by Natural Retreats are proud to support Lews Castle College in developing their range of creative industries courses and in June the winner of the jewellery competition was announced. The winning piece was then put on sale in the Outfitters store at the Castle. The presentation featured in the 'Events', local paper where they reported: “This year’s winner of the Natural Retreats Jewellery Award was Claire Redman, a student on the Lews Castle College UHI NC in Jewellery course. This is the second year of the award and Claire’s exceptional piece is now on sale in the gift shop at Lews Castle. The award, presented by Mr Colin Maciver from Natural 10
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Retreats, is another example of how Natural Retreats are committed to supporting Lews Castle College UHI as we continue to develop our range of Creative Industries courses and Summer Schools. “The huge interest in the Jewellery courses we have run over the last two years demonstrates that there is strong interest both from islanders and people visiting the islands in our local creative industries" added Dr Murray.
Colin Maciver presenting the award
WELCOME TO THE WORLD
NICO JONAS 10.08.2018 | 8lbs
Congratulations to Emma, Dom, Talia & Saskia on the birth of your new little man! We wish you a future filled with love, happiness, laughter and many wonderful Natural Retreats family holidays!
NATUR AL R ETR EATS
News from Lews Congratulations to Colin Maciver who is our new General Manager for Lews Castle. Colin joined NR back in March
Colin
as Assistant General Manager and has been covering the General Manager for the last few months prior to officially taking the reigns. Colin is doing a fantastic job at Lews with the great team there. Two more Lews team members who have also recently moved up to more senior roles include Ashleigh Adamson, Team Leader and Heather Macrae, Head Housekeeper. Ashleigh
Heather
Recently, the chefs at Lews have introduced waffles & pancakes to their menu and the response from visitors to the castle has been fantastic. The online community are also loving the new additions, where a video of the new pancakes offering generated over 1,000 views in just one day!
Popular Pancakes
NATURAL RECOGNITION AWARDS JULY 2018
AMAZING PRODUCT
AMAZING SERVICE
AMAZING CULTURE
IWONA SZKODA
JESS HANEY
ELIZABETH MCGREGOR
Retail Team
Marketing Manager
F&B Supervisor
CairnGorm Mountain
Natural Retreats
CairnGorm Mountain
Congratulations again to our winners and all nominees. Nominations are now being taken for the next Natural Recognition awards – with an added category next time – ‘Amazing Pioneer’. If you see anyone who is taking a pioneering approach, or implementing a pioneering idea to the benefit of Natural Retreats and CairnGorm Mountain guests and team members, be sure to nominate them!
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E XPLOR E. DR E A M . DISCOV ER .
Well, we did ask for more snow... The snow we wanted certainly came – what an
Unimog Lorry on which we could fit our own snow
awesome season we had at CairnGorm!
tyre chains and cutter/blower attachment. This
The Technical Operations team did an amazing
attachment cuts quickly through blocked roads and
job in getting the mountain open and roads
can shift up to 1,800 tonnes an hour. In fact, we
clear. Colin Matthew, Senior Duty Manager at
had no instances of guests not being able to access
CairnGorm shared with us all that was entailed.
the mountain on days the weather was suitable for snow sports.'
“With the season starting on the 30th November, the 2017/18 ski season proved to be one of the
What a fantastic team! The snowy scenes
best for snow cover for quite a few years. However,
didn’t stop at CairnGorm either and made an
it was not without its highs and lows. Although we
appearance at some of our other locations.
received large amounts of snow over the season, we
Thank you to Amanda and Stacey for sending
also experienced many storm cycles of high winds,
these images of Yorkshire Dales and Trewhiddle
drifting snow and blizzard conditions which resulted
in the snow. Looks like the team at Yorkshire
in 25 closed and 25 partial closed days.
could have done with the CairnGorm snow ploughs – great job everyone!
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Our experienced road crew spent long hours ensuring the road was kept open and cleared
The John O’Groats team took full advantage of
after the storms. Our own two modern plough /
being close to CairnGorm Mountain, with our
gritter lorries, were pretty much in constant use
managers Marcell and Hayley taking the JOG
throughout the season and the Highland Council
team out for a day on the slopes!
also provided for our use a brand new 4 x 4
Amanda snow clearning at YD
Nessie came to CairnGorm
Fencing in the Winter
Patrol training at CairnGorm
CairnGorm
Trewhiddle
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Maria's kiddies met the Yorkshire Vet
Snow School at CairnGorm
Shaping the Snow Park at CairnGorm
Yorkshire Dales
Trewhiddle Santa arrived at CairnGorm Moutain!
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Yorkshire Dales
Janie helping to clear the snow at YD
Snow pups!
JOG team visiting CairnGorm Mountain
NATUR AL R ETR EATS
CairnGorm’s Grand Inspection In June, the Technical Operations team were
In conjunction with these works and due to flaws
involved in the mammoth task of servicing the
picked up in our annual rope inspections, it was
funicular. Here Colin Matthew, our Senior Duty
necessary to replace both the haul cable and
Manager at CairnGorm explains what it was all
counter cables which pull the train up and down the
about! Thank you Colin.
mountain. This was also a major operation as the combined weight of the cables was 20 tonnes and
“The recent major shutdown on the Funicular mainly
combined length over 8,000m!
came about to encompass the Manufacturer’s requirements for what is called in the trade as a
During the shutdown, all our routine annual
“Grand Inspection” of critical components. On large
maintenance, inspection and repair work to the rest
cableways such as ours, these are required between
of the Funicular structure and systems was also
15–18 years of operation. This again is calculated by
completed.
the number of journeys carried out, and the number or revolutions of critical equipment.
The Mountain Railway is now in tip top condition for another long summer, and hopefully a long snowy
After over a year and a half in the planning, 4
winter of operation!”
specialist engineers from the company, Garaventa in 14
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Switzerland assisted our own Technical Maintenance
At the end of project, the CairnGorm Technical
team in completing this work safely and on schedule.
team took the Garaventa team from Switzerland
These works required lifting and suspending the 4
out to celebrate. Hanspeter Roth sent the
main drive wheels which weigh up to 7 tonnes each,
following message to the team:
and installing new bearings and drive components, lifting the main gearbox, (again weighing 7 tonnes) to allow for inspection and replacement of seals and other components. The main electrical drive motors were also given a thorough inspection.
“Thank YOU Adam and Tony, Brian, Rory, David, Mickey, Pman, Stevie, Chris, David, Colin... for all your support during the last weeks. You are a perfect team!!!! I had a good time with you guys! I am very sorry when I was sometimes impatient! Thank you, Hans”.
Drive Wheels
Lifting the drive wheels
with the Garaventa team
up to
OFF for FAMILY & FRIENDS
Better
TOGETHER
Don't forget that your family and friends can enjoy up to 20% OFF* our luxury, self-catering getaways, with out exclusive 'Better Together' benefit? Just ensure they mention your name when booking, and we will do the rest!
NATUR AL R ETR EATS
Hayley & Stacey’s job swap In June Hayley Bench, our AGM for John O’Groats and Stacey Lee, our Team Leader at Trewhiddle did a job swap for a week. Take a read through their adventures below...
Hayley Bench “After being offered a chance to do a job swap in Cornwall I could hardly pass up the opportunity to travel the famous End to End! After working in JOG for the last 9 months it was nice to stretch my legs and take the journey that I’ve heard so much about (all be it in a much more leisurely fashion). Even more luck was the fact I got to combine my NR Days with the trip, so my family and I spent
Eden Project
the first 5 days exploring Trewhiddle and the surrounding areas. We visited beaches, museums and the iconic Eden Project. We also got familiar with the local pubs and restaurants and spent a 16
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gorgeous sunny afternoon at the local cider farm… all in the name of research for work of course! Work life in Trewhiddle is very different to the North,
Pentewan Beach
with no Storehouse or Inn to run I started wondering how I was going to fill my time, but Cornwall comes with its own set of tasks. Day 1 was off to Fistral Beach to drop off a hamper, Day 2 was off to Rock to drop off a carpet cleaner and so on…….with everything being so spread out the day passes in the blink of an eye. The rest of the week was fairly steady with arrivals,
Cornish Cream Tea
so plenty of Hampers to organise and guests to look after. I even managed to sneak off for an afternoon walk down to Pentewan Beach which is about 5 miles away. Overall, I really enjoyed my time down in Cornwall and experiencing life on a different Natural Retreats site, I would highly recommend for as many people as possible to get a chance to work at a different site to get perspective on the business as a whole.” Hayley
E XPLOR E. DR E A M . DISCOV ER .
JOG Team with Stacey
Stacey Lee “After hearing stories about what goes on at John O’Groats, I was determined to get up there and enjoy every moment of it; which is exactly what I did! Two car journeys, three trains and a plane found me greeted by the ever-so smiley Marcell who made me feel right at home, even on the opposite side of the UK. As I knew the site quite well from working in head office and my previous visits, Marcell allowed me to jump straight into the Storehouse and learn all about the F&B side of Operations which I found a lot of fun as I had never done anything like this before. My days consisted of working closely with the team to smash out the busy days in the Storehouse and to ensure the days were set up and closed accordingly. The team were amazingly hardworking, nothing was ever too much of an issue (other than my pronunciation of the word “scone” which I still am adamant should rhyme with the word “cone” and not “con”!!) We also had a private wedding event for guests
John O'Groats
staying onsite that had travelled over from America and Canada which was great. Getting this all arranged whilst also operating the Storehouse throughout the day and then seeing the outcome of it over the course of the evening felt really rewarding as everyone was very complimentary – maybe it was all the glasses of wine we were pouring for them! The two weeks had flown by and Marcell and his wonderful staff had taught me a lot in the short space of time I was there, especially considering I didn’t even know how to work a till before I had visited! Hopefully I’ll find some time to get back up there on my NR days; I’ll have a large caramel
John O'Groats
frappuccino and a brownie please!"
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NATUR AL R ETR EATS
Summer walks & wildlife After the winter snow clears, CairnGorm Mountain attracts walkers and wildlife back to the slopes. Here are some images of the Summer walk guides in training in mid May – see the snow still at the top of the peaks. Wildlife spotted included Mountain Hare, Red Grouse, Ring Ouzel and Water Vole!
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WELCOME TO THE WORLD
ASHLEY SHAW 09.04.2018 | 8lbs 7oz
Congratulations to Lauren! We hope you're enjoying life as a family of 4! The baby boom continues at Wilmslow with Joe Benson and Jan Krzysoziak both looking forward to the arrival of their first borns in November.
E XPLOR E. DR E A M . DISCOV ER .
The Natural Retreats Sponsored Tri Club In July Ewan Kearney, NR and CML Chief Operating Officer, took part in a triathlon at Boundary Breeze, in Cheshire. This is a local Cheshire event organised by Man Tri Club where there are 300+ Male/Female participants in 5 categories. The team Ewan is part of, had participants in Open Men, Men 40-49, Men 50+, Women 40+. There is also one of their club members participating in Hamburg Ironman this year and a few took part in the Wilmslow Triathlon in early summer - all while sporting the Natural Retreats branded Tri Suits!
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CON TA CT DIS COVE RY
F U TU R E S U B M I S S IONS
For general enquiries,
If you’d like to contribute to the next issue, m.matthews@naturalretreats.co.uk | a.pass@naturalretreats.co.uk
j.haney@naturalretreats.co.uk | i.kelly@naturalretreats.co.uk
naturalretreats.co.uk | facebook/naturalretreatsuk | twitter/NaturalR_UK | Instagram/naturalretreatsuk