So much optimism

It is amazing how much things can change within a matter of weeks, the feel good factor combined with the arrival of better weather has created so much optimism and enthusiasm around the marina and beyond and is totally infectious…… i don’t think any of us have ever looked forward to the boating season and Spring/Summer as much as we are this year. Happy! happy! happy!

Since reopening with restrictions on 15h April, the boathouse has been incredibly busy with some terrific feed back from new and old customers. It has been completely redecorated and looks terrific and now we are just finishing extending the kitchen so that Carrie and her team have more space to prepare their new and taste tickling menu. For those of you who haven’t been, you really should it is definitely worth a visit, and you are guaranteed a friendly and warm welcome. We are totally dog friendly too, with dog treats available within the boathouse! Oh yes another very exciting mention - we have introduced a new electronic system whereby when people order their meals they are given a buzzer which goes off when their meals are ready - How modern are we?!

Traffic on the river has certainly picked up and our dedicated visitors pontoons have been full for the past week, so people are definitely on the move and enjoying the fabulous countryside associated with the Nene Valley. Last weekend when we opened up the camping, all our caravanning pitches were fully booked too. Being a certificated Camping and Caravanning Club site means that we can only ever have five caravans and 12 tents at any one time - visitors will always be able to enjoy peace and quiet when they visit.

Jobs that we have ticked off in the past couple of weeks include the new steps up at the far end of the marina, new trolleys with wait for it …… pneumatic tyres; the arrival of our South African Stretch Tent, and sowing more grass seed.

Finally, the highlight of the past two weeks was definitely yesterday, when Tom Percival from Radio Northampton’s Annabel Amos breakfast show came down to the marina for a couple of hours to interview John, me, Carrie and Richard Harris one of our boaters. It is fair to say that being live did give us the jitters somewhat, but Tom made the whole process so enjoyable that it went better than expected- well except for the fact that I could not remember which year we opened ……. 2016 of course! It was fun and today we all feel very chuffed with how well it went. Once again, we have to say a hugely large thank you to Tom for being such a star and we look forward to welcoming him back again.

Got to dash now - there is loads to do.