It’s been a while

Steve and Tobi have rightly dominated the social feed (particularly Facebook) recently with the amazing progress they have made with the tents, fire pits etc.  It’s looking so glamorous!

But the rest of the world continues at pace too.  We’ve pretty much finished the lodge and it looks amazing.  Lee, Darren and team (along with Dan the artist of a plasterer) have transformed the building from something tired and a bit awkward to a real masterpiece.  Stef the fencer has framed the whole property brilliantly too.

I will post the marketing pics here when I get them.  Adam and I spent the day installing the entrance gate and burning some of the wooden rubbish from the refurbishment.  That’s after adding a new security camera…

Beyond the lodge our relationship with the brewery is evolving, they’ve had a rough ride over the last few weeks and our accidental breakage of their electric supply didn’t help.  All now fixed and we’re now on a great path to win together.  I’m really looking forward to the brewery and taproom overflowing with visitors through the summer.  We spent some time preparing the pond for reshaping and regeneration.  Think we’re going to seal it with puddling clay, if anyone has tips on using it it’s appreciated!

The building development progresses too with lawyers now fully engaged evaluating the next phase including sang, tree boundaries and allotments.

We finished our first year of the LLP.  Not the greatest result (likely about a £5k profit) and the results still need to go though the full accounting practice.  We can now however see the future and I’m relieved that the amount of “red” in my cashflow forecast is much reduced.  I’m really grateful to our suppliers in showing us so much trust and I’m truly sorry for the delays in paying.  We have a clear plan now and expect to be debt clear before harvest.  As part of the work with the accounts we have a review milestone planned in the summer to explain both our past and the opportunities into the future to all stakeholders.  Something that will mark the end of the farms remediation and enables us to look forward.

I think the last part is the secret project… We have an envisioning session in late August to put some flesh on the bones and also an investor ready to fund the first few steps.  I’ll drip feed news but this could be a real legacy for the Stanbridge family.