If anyone had said to me on Jan 1st this year that New Zealand would be on lock down by 26th March, I would have laughed and then maybe thought very differently about buying a minibus for our tour company.

I’ll be the first to admit I have struggled massively with the enormous change of life that has happened over the past two months. The Big Foody Food Tours started to see it towards the end of February when guests started cancelling their tours but there was no way to realise by the beginning of March every single tour would be cancelled until October. After seven days of feeling increasingly sorry for myself (I celebrated my 40th with a glass of champagne and went to bed early in a right old huff) it was time to pull the big girl pants on and look to the future.

It’s hard to feel claustrophobic when we’re surrounded by glorious settings as we are here at VC. It’s a bit weird having the gate closed and suppliers beeping to get into the driveway. Our lovely postie Keith has taken to driving up the lane and depositing boxes over the fence knowing the dogs will bark to let me know he’s here

We’re trying to make the best of the situation getting the jobs done that we would normally do over the winter and keeping everyone who is here upbeat. There are 7 of us here at the moment. Team France is wood chopping, cottage sanding, wood shed building and generally being brilliant. Team USA and I are doing marketing and social media planning all while gazing into a very cloudy crystal ball. Team UK (aka my parents – now here for the foreseeable future while the UK is in shut down) have appointed themselves head gardener and chief dead-header and are keeping themselves well and truely occupied.

The nets came off the vines last week and the birds and bees are just loving all the sweet grapes. Autumn leaves are brightening the place up, filling it with rustic colours and without all the road noise the birdsong is just delightful. A couple of cottages have had their fires on already. We don’t usually say yes until May, but it’s all about comfort at the moment and I’ve put mine on in the office.

I’ve got time to bake, which I never usually do, so there won’t be any weight loss as we’re about to start testing some new cookie recipes for the cottages – pumpkin spiced oat and apple cookies anyone? In amongst our marketing Brittany is on cocktail duty creating some refreshing and warming beverages to see us through the autumn months. We’ll of course be posting the recipes after thorough research! ‘hic’

Stay well, stay safe and we look forward to seeing you soon

Elle