Latest News from The Welbeck

Here at the Welbeck Hotel & Restaurant, we still have vacancies for this weekend and indeed all dates up to and including Easter.

This weekend sees the return of the Irish Junior Racewalking Squad. The branch of athletics is on a high at the moment in Ireland following their excellent showing at the Olympics with Robbie Heffernan coming so close to bronze in the men's 50k. Many of their current stars including RH and also World Championship silver medallists, Gillian O'Sullivan & Olive Loughnane raced here in the not too distant past, so their coach, Michael Lane will be hoping that some of these young athletes will be the next crop of future Olympians.

www.manxharriers.com

They will also be hoping to remove some silverware from the Isle of Man at Saturday's Ascot Hotel sponsored Manx Open Walks.

There is a sporting occasion that begins the following Friday too but it couldn't be more different than this week's fare. The B.D.O. Isle of Man Darts Festival with some well known stars including 'The Count' Ted Hankey and a strong Dutch contingent comes to the Villa Marina. For a full preview, see:

http://www.bdodarts.com/1740/11-02-2012/27th_Isle_of_Man_Darts_Festival_March_9th_to_11th_Preview

On 23rd March, I went to Ramsey for my fourth weekend in a row, this time to watch our son Terence and his friend (Tom & Terry you heard it hear first ;)) play in aid of the Northern Lights Studio Project.

More Sunshine - Get Here Quick!

The chill from last week remains but fortunately, we saw the last of the Siberian wind on Friday and ever since, we've been blessed with some beautiful weather with pleasant breezes.

Indeed, Sunday was so sunny, it even induced Mrs. George to come out of hibernation and we set out for Douglas Head to walk the short Marine Drive loop.

There was this black swan in the harbour.

We decided to take the lighthouse route as I needed the toilet and the facility by Battery Pier is one of the few that you do not have to be prepared with a twenty pence piece to use these days.

As we climbed the steps it is now difficult to imagine that many years ago, this area would was a developed hive of tourist activity during the summer. There was once a funicular railway, leading to all kinds of amusements, including rides and even a tower of which they found the foundations whilst renovations were being carried out at Manx Radio.

Photograph by David Lloyd-Jones

There was the Douglas Head Hotel which has now been extended and converted to apartments and all that remains to give a clue to its former usage is the outdoor stage and the Great Union Camera Obscura which was restored a few years ago and is now run by volunteers and opened at weekends during the season.

Old photographs can be see on the http://www.imuseum.im/collections/RelatedPlaces.mth?entryid=2888646

Of further interest to historians and Manx railway enthusiasts is the entrance to Marine Drive where there was an electric tramline that ran to Port Soderick which must have been a truly spectacular journey.



There was a toll keeper's house on the left hand side.

It is one of my favourite walks and I was too busy enjoying it to take any more pictures and of course I had to work hard to keep up with the athlete. As Irene was making her comeback, we turned off at Keristal instead of carrying on towards Port Soderick and she was delighted to see some little black lambs.

We passed the Nunnery, back into Douglas ready for a coffee and luckily we noticed that Dave Dentith had re-opened and re-named MASH, the Quayside Coffee House & Bistro. It was fabulous to be able to sit in the sunshine sipping my latte.



Finally, before heading home, we visited Douglas Market. Originally, the site also included the area that is now the Manx Legion Club and the current building was designed for selling fish. Unfortunately, it has seen busier times, so they are presently inviting ideas for its future use whilst inviting different stallholders to see if they can generate interest.
Another stunning picture by David Lloyd-Jones
www.facebook.com/ManxArtisanMarket?group_id=0"



Irene bought a 'Supremes' vinyl album, brand new for only £1.99. I think her plan is to storm DJ's hutch at the 'Courthouse' nightclub (just discovered they're not called discos any more,) tie up the purveyors of the headache material they were playing the other night until they confess they have been converted and promise they WILL play at least one Motown set per hour without threatening to get their big big mates on her ;) OOps but that's a different story :)

Don't forget, The Welbeck Hotel Restaurant is open for breakfast,lunch and dinner. Pop over and stay or book in your friends from across. We have accommodation available from now until the end of May and still plenty of dates in the summer.

Sunday Morning Sunshine

Douglas Bay

I missed my usual Saturday morning walk with my friends and Parish Walk rivals this week as we had spent Friday night in Ramsey to celebrate our wedding anniversary but by the time dawn broke on Sunday, I was feeling very lucky.

The miserable drizzle and strong wind had given way to a truly beautiful morning and therefore, I even built in a couple of quick stops to take photographs and one of the major advantages of living in the Isle of Man is that you .

Looking towards Douglas from the middle of nowhere, you can make out Chibanagh Plantation in the background

Unfortunately, I am not technically adept enough to overlay my route onto a map, so a brief description will have to suffice. I headed off down Tromode Road, turned on to Ballafletcher, past the Hospital on to the Mount Rule Road all the way though into Crosby. I then went up past Ellerslie Depot and the Manx Language Centre on the climb up to the and over the crossroads with the Foxdale Road. At St. Marks, I followed the signs for Ballasalla but then took a left towards the Blackboards. After a brief flirt with the main route to the Airport, I then used the Old Castletown Road before taking the right towards Port Soderick Station, Marine Drive, Douglas Head and then back home. 35 kilometres or nearly 22 miles in old money.

A rare cloud (well rare for last Sunday morning anyway) floats on the summit of South Barrule

Welbeck Hotel & Restaurant

Isle of Man & The Welbeck Open for Business

Since the beginning of time, one of the problems facing the Isle of Man hospitality industry has been trying to extend the season beyond a few short summer months.

Although it has been longer in the last few years than in the tourism boom years, we have never been able to tap into the ready winter market of the likes of the Lake District in North West England where they seem to be busy in all seasons.

One reason is that all the Manx Heritage attractions and railways shut down at the beginning of November but heartening news is that almost everything is now open for business for 2013.

During a trip to Laxey yesterday to feed and attempt to tire out our Happy (one of our grandsons for my newer blog readers,) we stopped in the car park by the Lady Isabella and the lights were on at the turnstile and shop.

On our subsequent jaunt down to the promenade, it has to be said that it perhaps wasn't the most pleasant welcome the Manx weather has ever given its visitors but we did enjoy the experience.

By the way, the Welbeck Hotel, Apartments & Restaurant is also awaiting your patronage, so we'll hope to see you sooner rather than later.

Golden Girls

Back in 2007 when we first started opening for weekday lunch here at the Welbeck Hotel Restaurant, amongst our first customers was Sylvia Davies and her delightful group of friends.

And I'm pleased to report that they are still regular visitors, yesterday indeed being Sylvia's birthday.

You can be sure that during their visit, there will be plenty of laughter, not to mention lively banter and a liberal dollop of gossip.

Lets hope they continue to celebrate occasions like yesterday, for many years to come.

Survey Draw Winners

Oops! Quick on the draw we're not and once again we let a little too much time elapse, beyond the promised quarterly prize announcement.

The good news is that we've picked two winners instead of one, so congratulations to Mr M. Cummings and Mr & Mrs Bill & Joan O'Hara who have won two free nights at the Welbeck.

All they had to do was to fill in the survey form which we leave in all the rooms.

Sylvia Davies was kind enough to pull the lucky winners' forms out of the sack.

A Proper Twit

I'm not sure whether this is a good thing but I've finally succumbed to the final frontier of social media.

In the ten years ago since I relented and acquired my first mobile phone (of which I was never going to have one,) I now have a laptop, a Sony Xperia (Smart phone for those King Canutes amongst you bravely clinging to your Luddite ways) joined Facebook and finally, after swearing I wouldn't ever join the millions of people posting inane minutae, I have started using the 'Twitter' account I set up about a year ago.

Apparently, it's all about raising the profile of your website and maintaining presence on the 'Google', search rankings etc. blah, blah.

Anyway, now I'm a proper Twit, Twitterer Tweeter or whatever it is I am (no Dave not what you were thinking), I was wondering if you would be so good as to follow me and I'll promise to do my best not to stoop to such prattle as telling you I'm off to the loo or about to have a cup of coffee.

The aspect that I'm struggling with most is as many of my regular blog readers would probably attest to is that it's a real challenge for me to condense my thoughts into 140 characters and therefore, what you'd think should take me less than a couple of minutes, by the time I've edited, re-written and abbreviated, it has taken ages.

Watch this space. Sooner or later I may have to descend into another of my pet hates, the dreaded 'Text speak!'

CU L8ta

Chairlift to Heaven Doomed to Hell

Today's blog could be re-titled, 'Where am I?' and you start with 100 points and lose them as you scroll down the page but it would be a bit unfair on the occasional visitors to the Island.

The other morning, it was reported on Manx Radio that the Shoprite Group had received planning permission to demolish the derelict chairlift that ran from behind Little Switzerland to the Victoria Road Business Park which was once Cunninghams Camp.

For those of you that are unaware, the Isle of Man had holiday camps long before Billy & Fred developed Butlins or Pontins. Therefore, chum/rival Dave & I decided to go and take a look before it disappeared forever.

It certainly brought back memories for me because the last time I shinnied up the lamp post and over the wall must have been circa 1980 as a naughty schoolboy (not much changed I hear you say), only twelve years after it carried its last passengers and as you can see it really has deteriorated.

Looking at it now, it's really quite hard to imagine it it carrying passengers but here's an old photograph:

And finally, a photograph of the entrance. I had always assumed that the image above was the top of the lift but in fact it is about 75m away and the building was just a toilet block. (There are also conveniences concealed in the bottom building.

Credit Peter Killey www.manxscenes.com