Our week in review

I am asked a lot what we get up to here during an average week and what sort of work is involved etc. and so - a weekly NEWS FROM HH page for you.

This week has been glorious. The sun has shone and it has been a beautiful week of long sunny days - long warm nights, but I dare say it's been the same for most of you.

Running HH is a 7 day a week job and I do not get a day off - just an hour off here and there - and it does take constant attention. Even if just having to be here ready for a delivery or to greet guests.

We try, on those long hot sunny days, to get our work done as soon as we can so by midday - 1pm ish - we can get out in the garden for a few hours and actually enjoy some sunshine, as often it is easy to just work right through, especially doing the laundry and the gardening and the constant upkeep and of course - this Blog and searching - researching articles etc. I think you'll enjoy and that help the LGBT community ( er - what community - there is no such thing as a LGBT Community...)

The garden, is as always, a true delight and while not very big, is a real thing of wonder and I love it.

Today while walking the dog up at the church behind, a man ( kind of homeless looking ) was doing some gardening in the church yard and we got talking ( I'll talk to anyone ) and I asked if he needed some work as I could do with a gardener occasionally just to trim and tidy up and leave the easy stuff to us, and he was delighted. I told him I would pay well and it is good to have someone local to help when we need it.

I was going to employ a local gay gardener but after 4 months of being messed about month after month and who claimed to need the work, he was dismissed as I am not here to be messed with and when people WANT AND NEED THE WORK AND THEN MESS ME ABOUT, fuck'em, there is always someone else and it staggers me - absolutely staggers me - how many people are so amateurish when it comes to work and running / working for a business. It is not a game. It is not a hobby. It is a business - and if people cannot appreciate and value that, then they are dismissed and someone else sought and as I pay well, it really is there loss. Plus, as a gay man working here is a dream come true - you can work naked in a hotel full of naked men...

Now isn't that a fantasy - a wet dream maybe - a wank filled head trip of the imagination.

We have two garden areas.

1) The GUESTS GARDEN - which you already know - full of twinkling lights at night and guaranteed to have fairies not just at the bottom of the garden but throughout... and is an ideal place to chill during the day and get sun, or sit in the shade and just enjoy the peace and quiet, and in the evening with the candles lit - it makes a perfect location for that late night drink with other guests and share a laugh - and laugh we do.

2) The KITCHEN GARDEN - is behind the car park and outside the kitchen ( hence it's called The Kitchen Garden ) and it has a huge garage storage with freezers, tons of stock and all the BBQ stuff and my Armageddon Chest in case the end of the world comes - yes seriously - and enough tea lights / night lights - to last many months - er - well actually probably around a years worth as we can easily go through 100 tea lights in a few days and I do keep plenty of stock in. I think I keep Ikea going with the money I spend o tea lights ( Did you know Ikea is a charity and does not pay tax... )

The Kitchen Garden has some built in beds I had built during lockdown periods and while shovelling the ton of soil into the beds, I broke a rib and BOY that's sore... but since then I have grown tomatoes and other years just flowers, and this year I - er - Woody and I - have planted mostly bulbs and an assortment of flowers to help the insects, butterflies and birds - as with a shortage of front and back gardens in towns these days, being replaced with car parks, the wildlife suffers, so we try and offer a safe haven for nature.

Last weekend 11/06/23 was suppose to be a NAUGHTY SCHOOL BOY WEEKEND for which we had tons of interest and ' I want to come ' but with only two actual bookings, it was cancelled and - actually - we have enjoyed a hotel full of B&B guests and with the weather so hot, has been wonderful in the garden and relaxing... and not a naughty school boy in sight.

Check this out - 'He's a very naughty boy' CLICK HERE

I also discovered this week that my new dog Ella, a German Short Haired Pointer - - loves the water, so on these hot days I take her in the car to a local area where there and no people and the river - and she loves to get in the water and she is actually on the bird / swan hunt but being on a long lead - doesn't stand a chance, but having never had a dog who liked water before, and as it cools her down on these hot days, it is great fun watching her.

She was on heat when I got her in late February and I had plans to have her spayed - and on the vets suggestion, to wait 3 months after her last ' heat' - BUT - she has come back on heat again - very early - in fact - several months early and the only way we could tell was because the size of her lady parts IS HUGE - and we do giggle watching her walk in front of s and we tease how her ' lady parts' wobbles around when she walks and almost touches the floor.... ( oh how vulgar ) - so shall wait a further few months. Having a pet neutered is much better for them and much cleaner for us.

In the mornings after breakfast, Woody does the bedrooms and changes any that need doing for new guests arriving and as he brings the laundry down, I stick it in the machine and get it washed and he then hangs it in the basement which is our drying room, and eventually a mountain of clean folded bedding gathers into a huge pile waiting for me to iron - while watching Judge Judy. ( Love Judge Judy although I don't think she is always right...) and it is such a good feeling when you finish and look at the pile of neatly ironed bedding all ready for the next week. Naturally there is also the whole hotel to keep clean and crisp and stocked and between us, we get there - although Woody does most of the cleaning while I do office and kitchen work and just answering e mails in the morning can take 2 - 3 hours every single morning, and then again for an hour or two in the evening.

Naturally - I also spoend time researching and putting together this Blog Newsletter which takes time.

Usually around 4pm I start getting dinner ready and even if there are no guests in, there are still the 4 of us here - so dinner to get every night for 6pm - and I do like cooking. I like experimenting BEFORE trying it on guests... and there is something like 50 different main course menu's I can choose from - so it is never boring.

Having breakfast and dinner all sat around one table makes it so much more personal and fun. People chat and share and laugh and joke, and is the heart of the venue. It's where all the guests see each other as often they miss others and sometimes may assume they are the only people staying, simply because the miss being around when others are around. Dinner brings that all together and I love it. A dinner party almost every night with naked man... now what more could anyone ask.

After dinner Woody takes Ella for another long walk - usually down to the beach or along the cliff tops and through the park etc. and she SO looks forward to her various walks and gets SO excited when she knows it's time. ( The dog that is, not Woody ... )

I really do have the best job.

Evenings in the summer, we light all the candles in the garden and it does look a pretty picture and if we have people in, it can be fun to giggle the evening away in the garden, or invite to my private area to chat, watch a movie, and often counsel - as many have something they need help with, maybe spiritual, sexual, relationship problems, ( many are married and have kids and even grandkids ) and I often don my therapists hat and will spend an evening seeing what I can do to offer some guidance - as all too often, we are too close to our own problem and someone else unconnected can see a clearer picture and can see avenues of help that are lost to yourself, and even when I was a sex worker - the amount of just listening and helping I would do was a VERY large part of my job ( which usually came after fucking the ass off them... ha ha ) but was impossible to find elsewhere as many simply don't give a fuck about your problems and moist certainly will not take time out of their own time to help others as it does not financially reward them, while I DO - and it was all part of offering something special. Not just the same as everyone else, but something, more - personal - intimate - caring - and UNDERSTANDING where they are coming from and offering help and guidance if and where I can.

Woody tends to go to bed earlier than me in his suite, so I usually lock up around midnight and as everyone has keys - they can come and go as they please, just the venue is switched off for the night and at peace.

Last thing at night I spend 10 minutes doing some Interconnected Breathing at my south and north facing windows in my suite at the top of the house before going to bed. It clears my lungs, it clears my head and it helps me relax ready for bed. This is usually around 1am - and my alarm goes at 7am and it's all start again.

Nothing does itself, and a venue needs constant attention and 12 - 18 hour days, 7 days a week. It is NOT a holiday job. It is NOT easy and dealing with the public can make you want to pull your hair our as some, I tell you, REALLY expect Hamilton Hall to be the Burj Al Arab Jumeirak in Dubai - a mega star hotel with hundreds of staff and people forget, we just have 6 rooms and is just Woody and I and while we will bend over backwards for you ( and even forwards ... ) those who take advantage do get told... and then they never even leave a tip... Outstanding.

We do have a laugh in the kitchen, at your expense of course, as we do giggle and chat about you behind your back just as every venue in the world does... nothing nasty and nothing unkind, just fun stuff much of which we will share with you as well.

So that's it for this week.

John ---------------------------

HOME PAGE

BLOG HOME PAGE

DIARY OF EVENTS

Hamilton Hall Productions.

TO BE DELETED FROM OUR SYSTEM

Return this e mail with

PLEASE DELETE

Our mailing address is

Hamilton Hall Hotel

1 Carysfort Road