It is with mixed feelings that we will close the Glengorm Bed and breakfast business from the 13th November this year. We have ran the business in the Castle for the last 22 years.
Over the years we have experienced a very interesting array of guests and staff!! Unfortunately though, Covid 19 happened and we, well I personally, got to experience a side of Glengorm that I had yet to experience.
The business was set up by my mother in law, Janet Nelson, a few years before we got married. The main Castle up until then, had been a family home offering self catering accommodation in 3 flats in the castle, and cottages on the estate.
Janet had decided to move out of the main house, and at the time no other family members lived in the Castle so it was set up as a bed and breakfast and quickly became a successful business.
When we married in 2000, we moved into the Castle and took over . At the time it offered accommodation in 3 bedrooms, and use of the main house. Over the years as our family has grown, so has the business. The business now has 5 letting rooms and an apartment in the castle, along with a self catering flat (the Terrace) and the flat where we live, the West Wing.
The business itself has become a bit of a beast, whilst it has been very successful and popular, it takes a lot of feeding!! Staffing has always been an issue for us here, from the first days when we took over, up until this very day! We have always been fortunate to be able to offer accommodation for staff, but the stretching seasons and the work involved doesn’t always attract a huge audience. Life has been juggled and a lot of sacrifices made over the years and we now feel it is the right time to close our doors to the public and enjoy this wonderful house ourselves.
The start of Covid 19 was a very scary time for us. Glengorm Castle is a big house and requires a lot of up keep, and the income generated from the bed and breakfast business has always kept the house in a good state. Whilst we started this period of lockdown off a bit worried, we soon learned to appreciate what we actually had and were able to enjoy having Glengorm all to ourselves.
We are very grateful for all the guests that have visited, couples that have got married and friendships made. The house has been admired and enjoyed by many, and we have also had our fair share of complaints!
2023 will bring some big changes. Adapting to this different life will take a bit of getting used to, for ourselves and a lot of people around us, but as a family, we are very much looking forward to this. We hope to be able to sustain this new life with the remainder of the business that we run, but we are not naive, and it may be in the future that this may change again. We will still have some accommodation available in the Castle, the Terrace flat which is a weekly self catering let, The Tower rooms which is a nightly self catering apartment(part of the main House ) and the West wing where we are living at the moment, which will also be a nightly self catering let. Unfortunately no breakfasts or catering will be offered and my 6am alarm clock will stop ringing.
So thank you to everyone that has come and stayed with us in the past, thank you so much for supporting us and keeping us pretty much watertight! Thankyou to all the lovely staff members we have employed over the last 22 years and helped us keep this ship a float. Thankyou to those who are left to help pick up the pieces and help us with these huge changes.
