Today marks a very special day for us at the Oude Leeskamer Guest House - we are 1 years old! Cue fanfares and trumpet noises…
We can’t believe that a whole year has passed since we first opened the old wooden doors onto Dorp Street to welcome our first official guests! And what a nerve-racking wait it was… what had seemed such an easy thing to do from the comfort of our (tiled, 3 by 3m) garden in Twickenham, London now seemed really daunting and suddenly we were wracked by doubts … “What if the guests hate staying with us/what if we poison our guests with our breakfasts/what if we get sued by a guest slipping on our newly tiled bathroom floors etc).
Luckily we have had relatively few major disasters and granted, we’re only a year old and it is far too early to claim success, but the great news is that we haven’t just survived, we’re actually growing! We are proud to say that the start of renovations on the next stage of the Oude Leeskamer Guest House has begun, and within the next two months or so we shall have a new kitchen, dining room/function venue and a beautifully luxurious suite for those wishing to spoil themselves to make the experience of our guests even better! Look out for our next blog post to see how renovations are progressing and to find out what we found in the old ceiling when we opened it up…
Reflecting back on the last year, we have:
a) Welcomed guests from 39 different countries
b) Had 50 lovely reviews on Trip Advisor and we are now ranked 7 out of all 81 guest houses in Stellenbosch (we popped a bottle or two of Kaapse Vonkel the day we finally made it into the top 10)
c) Cooked, prepared and served more than 2000 breakfasts – and have even served a full cooked breakfast for 7 members of a Dutch classical band at 3:30am to ensure they would still get to Cape Town by 5am to appear on a national morning breakfast TV show!
d) Had lovely guests bring us gifts of wine and liqueur from Reunion, Australia, Scotland and Canada
d) Learnt that with a smile and great distraction tactics most crises can be controlled and managed …
e) Played host to two marriage proposals, - both of which were happily accepted and we are waiting for our wedding invites J
f) Been awarded 4 stars by the South African Tourism Grading Council (after a very nerve-racking morning when even the ‘sharpness’ of the corners on our beds were inspected)
g) Had a fantastic time
Paul and I agree that the best thing about running the Oude Leeskamer Guest House is all the awesome people we meet: guests, neighbours, suppliers, travel agents, tour operators, colleagues in the tourism industry and just interested people who pop in to see what the Oude Leeskamer is all about. To all those that have supported us over the past year – We thank you!
It’s quite amazing that this time two years ago the Oude Leeskamer building was still abuzz with architects and draughtsmen busily designing new golf estates and the like and Paul and I were still ensconced in the heart of London going about our lives with not even the breadcrumb of an idea about opening a guest house! How things have changed…
We’re looking forward to what the business will grow into in its second year of trading and to celebrate we are going to have our cake and eat it… so if you’re in the area, please pop in for a glass of bubbly and our special black bottom cupcakes to celebrate where we’ve come from, what we have achieved and what surprises the future holds or us!
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