All Roads Lead to Swatragh - Chapter 33

Sue broke the silence of their ride with the first question, “Did you ever think of having someone run the B&B for you, Grace?”

“How do you see that happening, Sue? I can't afford to pay someone if the B&B is not making money, and I'd still want to make some money off it, right?” Grace responded.

“Well, if you gave someone room and board and a small stipend that might work. If it was a couple, one of them could work and the other handle the B&B. They'd have no overhead, and one salary would be just for their own spending,” Sue was trying to think out of the box.

“You may have something there Sue. So now I would need to find someone to do this. And what about seeing to the bookings. I need some kind of marketing plan,” Grace was thinking out loud.

They arrived at a little cafe still discussing this when they noticed a pamphlet in a news stand. It was a listing of available B&B's. Here Grace would have a starting point for advertising. She had also been looking at various traveling websites that listed B&B's in Northern Ireland. If she could get Aine's Cottage listed on those also, she might have a chance to make a go at this. Now the question of who to run the B&B for her. She couldn't expect Peter to do this. He'd never be able to handle the cooking. And they needed a way to facilitate bookings. The conversation continued as Sue and Grace at their lunches and walked around the small town.

As they walked Grace thumbed through the pamphlet. More and more she noticed that the B&B's listed had websites. After picking up some snacks and a few supplies for dinner the girls headed back to the cottage and started checking out the websites.

“Sue, you know these are not that complicated. Most of the reservations are made though a booking agency link, but some are direct through emails to the owners. I don't even have to be in Swatragh to keep track of reservations. I could do all that from Dublin.” Grace was surprised at how simple this seemed.
“But I need a website first.”

“Grace, it's still early, we can get some great pictures of the front of the cottage with the sign and all the roses. And then we can take some of the rooms. Will that work?” Sue was thinking right along the same lines as Grace.

“I was just thinking that my Internet provider allows me a small website space for a few euro's a month. I could use that. Let's get those pictures and plan the pages. We can use this site as a guide,” Grace pointed out one online that she liked.

The girls spent on into early evening working on the plan for the website. They had not even noticed that Peter and Chloe had not returned as it was about dinner time. They took a break to make a simple dinner together that they could add to later when Peter and Chloe returned.

As the girls ate they continued their conversation about the website. Should the price be listed? What information did they need to include? And how did Grace go about getting listed in some other pamphlets, or other websites?

Grace paused, and said, “I guess I'm going to reopen Aine's Cottage. Now I just need someone to run the place for me.”

“Grace, you should hold off just until you get everything in place and have some kind of grand re-opening type of celebration,” Sue suggested.

“What if we did some kind of community thing? Something where local people could come by and know that we are here. Like an afternoon event,” Grace's marketing skills were spinning faster than she could keep up.

The two girls continued to work on ideas and when they decided to take a break, they realized it was already dark out and past ten. Where were Peter and Chloe?

All Roads Lead to Swatragh - Chapter 27

The end of the week and the next week flew by. Everyone in the office was scrambling trying to see if they could find a new job, or better job, or even a second job to supplement the cut in pay and time. Grace had done a good job of saving up some money that would tide her over for a while with less pay, but it would not last forever. Right now she had too much on her mind with the cottage to deal with also.

Thursday came and Grace made her plans to leave the next morning for Swatragh. She needed to leave early enough so that she could stop in Maghera for some groceries for the weekend. After finding out about the cottage from Keith, two other workmates asked if they could come up for the weekend to join Grace. Grace welcomed the company since the cottage was so big and she relished the thought of making some more of Aine's recipes which always would feed an army. Since there was so much local produce to source nearby, Grace wanted to make use of the local supplies rather than carting food up from Dublin.

The drive would take almost three hours and Grace did not look forward to it until she realized that she would be driving through Cookstown on market day. Traffic would be crazy, but the opportunity to pick up some of the fresh produce and cheeses would be more than she could ask for. She locked up her flat with her packed suitcase and headed out around six that Friday morning. The girls, Chloe and Susan, would not be arriving until close to dinner time.

The main street in Cookstown was jam packed with people and local farmers and merchants selling their goods. Grace found a place to park on a side street about a block away from the main street and grabbed her cloth shopping bags and headed off. She loved market days. When she was young and came to visit Aine, they would go to Coleraine on market day to shop.

Besides the produce there were scarves and trinkets, blankets and rugs, more than she had time to look at. The local creamery had some soft cheese that she sampled and bought, along with some eggs and fresh creamery butter. These would all keep in the car for the rest of the trip as she was only a little over half an hour from Swatragh. Adding to that some fresh greens and some berries Grace was loaded down and ready to finish her trip.

As she passed through Maghera she stopped at the local grocery to pick up milk and a few other necessary perishables. Then on to the cottage. As she drove down the road toward the cottage she could spot it before she got there. It did have a very inviting color and style now that it was painted, and as she drove up into the drive the garden had come to life in the two weeks she had been gone. Peter must have been taking good care of it.

As Grace worked on getting all the supplies and her luggage out of the car, she noticed Donovan coming out of his place across the road. She walked over the the stone wall to meet him.

“So I see you are back,” Donovan stated with a dry tone. “How long will you be here this time?”

“Hello to you too, Donovan,” Grace tried to keep it peaceful and non-antagonistic when dealing with Donovan. “I'm here for the weekend. I have some friends coming up to visit again.”

“So does that mean you are open for business?” Donovan queried.

“Not really. Just some friends spending a weekend together,” Grace wondered where this was going.

“Looks like the garden is doing well with Peter's care,” Donovan changed the subject.

“Yes, it looks beautiful. I'm so glad he's able to take care of it for me when I'm in Dublin,” Grace wanted to get inside and get started, but didn't want to be rude to Donovan.

“Looks like your groceries are going to get warm,” Donovan sensed her anxiousness and wanted to give Grace the opportunity to end the conversation.

“I'll see you before I leave on Sunday, Donovan,” Grace called as she headed to the porch with her groceries.