We’re now up in the Lakes after a couple of days down in Birmingham. The cottage we’ve got is in the arse end of nowhere and is a beautiful little stone building. Was a bit cold when we first got there but now the heating is on it’s a mini sauna! Weather isn’t too great but just looking forward to a few days relaxing in our retreat.
Just found a handy way of embedding photos from Flickr into a website. On the Glendown Farm site I’m adding a photographs page, and rather than hosting the images on the Glendown Farm server I’ve added them to Flickr. By sticking in an iframe and pointing to a slideshow created in Flickr all the photos show with in the Glendown Farm site without having to redirect to the Flickr site.
Glendown Farm with Port Erin and Bradda in the background.
What I hope to do is create different slideshows for inside the self catering accommodation, outside The Stable and general farm and Isle of Man photographs. The only downside is there is a black background to the slideshows which at present doesn’t seem to be customisable but there are a number of comments in the Flickr forums about this so something may change.
As mentioned in the last post I’ve uploaded a number of photographs to The Stable at Glendown Farm Flickr account for Derek and Jane. These are mainly from the website at the minute but I’m sure more photos will be added over time. I’ve got a couple from last weekend when I took a walk up around the fields near to the farm and holiday accommodation where their sheep were lambing. We timed it just right to watch one sheep lamb and arrived just after another had given birth so Don and Kirst were made up. I’ll get these resized and added to the gallery.
I’ve been working on the Rowany Cottier Guest House website which has now gone live. John and Heather had loads of photographs of the Guest House and Port Erin area. I’ve known John for years and have seen a few of his slides of the Island before but it was really great to see some of the fantastic sunset shots from over Port Erin Bay and the shots down the coast towards the Calf of Man.Donna and I lived opposite Rowany Cottier for around 9 months before we went travelling and it really is a fantastic spot. The walks out around Bradda are a great way to chill out after a day in the office and give superb views over Port Erin Bay and in the summer months provide a great vantage point for watching the feeding Basking Sharks. Although all of John’s photographs of Port Erin and South of the Isle of Man haven’t made it to the website I’m sure we’ll be looking to add a gallery or set up a Flickr gallery for the remainder soon.
So much has been going on recently and the blog has been neglected a little. We’ve had our weekend in Ballaugh, bought a new car, bought a few other toys, finished a website for Rowany Cottier Guest House, created a flickr gallery for The Stable Self Catering Accommodation and been doing some work with Island Seafare on their marketing plans.Lots coming up in the near future too but hopefully I’ll keep chewing the cud up to speed. Even Twitter has gone a bit quiet at the mo.
It’s been a fairly hectic few weeks with plenty on so we decided, with it being Easter, we’d get away for the weekend. So were better than Ballaugh! We found a self catering cottage in the middle of the Curraghs that had been recommended to us and booked three nights.So no long travels (we’ll save that for next months trip to Vennice!) a weekend away with no mobiles or computers, (Thinking that could be a tough one… Have considered sticking the laptop in the car just in case…) and just enjoying a bit of fresh air. Weather isn’t looking too great but I’m sure that won’t stop us getting out for a wander. Really looking forward to it, and going up North for the weekend does feel a bit like a long haul holiday anyway. Unexplored territory for us up there. Will be joining up with the family for the annual Easter Egg hunt at a venue to be decided and will make our annual pilgrimage to Mouragh Park for a row out to the Island and back.
Took a trip down to The Stable Self Catering Accommodation in Port St Mary to see Derek and Jane at Glendown Farm last night. I’ve been working on their new website and wanted to talk through the final changes before the Farm website goes officially live. The Stable is a beautifully converted barn next to the farmhouse. When I had a walk round the conversion for the first time just over a year ago I was amazed at what they have done with what, when I lived there, had been a potato store. It’s roomy, light and has a fantastic open kitchen/dining room and plenty of space for families. It’s also ideally located between Port Erin and Port St Mary which I think has been one of the reason it fills up each year so quickly. Only two fields away from the Isle of Man Steam Railway too which always proves a popular attraction with visitors to the Island. It’s great to be working on the website and really looking forward to its official launch. Hopefully it will be a good help in spreading the word.
