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Lonely
Planet Sweden 2009 " Our Pick " ... " The most fun place to
stay in town is this one .. run by .... Australian-Swedish couple
who go out of their way to make sure you enjoy the area .. Spotless rooms
with water views .. free use of bicycles canoes and wi-fi .. "
)
Lindy and I ( Matt ) welcome you to Tärnaby Lapland ! We're
looking forward to guests leaving their comments in our new guest book of
our new business! However at the time of writing this, We haven't opened
yet .... We plan to open in early February 2005. We hope your thoughts
will be the first to grace this page!
Well ... we opened a little
later than scheduled and had a very busy full season of happy guests from
all over the world ! ( All the Scandinavian countries of course... and
Poland, Africa, Portugal, France, Canada, Estonia, Belgium, Germany, Czech
Republic, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, England, USA ... to name a
few ! ) Unfortunately we were so busy, we forgot to put a guest book out
!
It is now the 16th June 2005 and finally we've just placed
the guest book on the coffee table this morning ... So here is the first
quote from a group consisting of 2 American couples ( Beth & Tom and
Jacque & John ) and their English/Swedish friend and guide, Birgitta (
and her cuddly toys ! ) ....
" Had a great stay here - Just
like home from home - Certainly made you feel welcome - will recommend you
to any one that will visit this part of the world. "
More
Happy guests .....
Matt & Lindy - A wonderful place you
have. We are sorry to have to move on but if we are ever back in this part
of the world again - we will definitely stop. Good luck on your B&B
enterprise. Charles Hollas, Los Alamos, New
Mexico."
We have just received a lovely follow-up email
from Birgitta and party, which I simply must add .... !
"You
obviously remember us - saw our quote in the guest book on the site. The
rest of our holiday went well and we had loads of fun - took the ferry you
recommended in Norway - beautiful. Also ended up on another ferry through
the Geiranger fjords as the road to Grotli was closed by avalanches so a
1/2 hour drive ended up as a 3 hour detour! Just to let you know that at
the end of it all we all said that the best night's stay of all the places
was at yours - a hotel is a hotel but you really made us feel welcome and
we certainly will recommend your place to anyone else heading off to that
part of the world. Hope you are keeping busy and stay fully booked!!
Best wishes to both of you Love Birgitta Beth, Tom, Jacque &
John"
Thank you for a very warm welcome ! We had a very
nice time and hope to come back soon. Good luck. Koyryna &
Ignas
Thank you for everything. We had a really good
time. We hope to come back again soon. Wilma & Hileni from
Namibia.
Thanks for an awsome stay ! We certainly got
more than we bargained for. Wishing you both & Tärnaby B&B the
best in it's future endeavours. And I'm sure all your guests will enjoy
their stay as much as we did. Andrew & Carmen.
I
go today. Go back to the reality. I left my body & soul in this place.
I'll be back soon. Paulo Basilio from Sesimbra Portugal.
The Longest day ( summer day light ) of 2006. We were so
pleased to find you and were very comfortable. The draw between Sweden
& England was fair - don't you think !!! Love Marie & Mervyn
Newell England
It was a pleasure to stay here. You made
our visit feel like home. We wish you all the best with business and life.
May God bless you ! Tack ska du ha ! Ilkka, Mikko, Annika &
Maija. Thanks for the warm welcome and the evening with the
locals. All the best for the future. Andy. Wales. P.S A great place
and a lovely breakfast.
We came here with motorcycle.
Thanks for the warm welcome and good service. We had a good sleep and
terrific breakfast. Marko ja Eliisa, Oalu Finland.
11 august 2006
Thank you Matt and Lindy! This is the best
B&B I´ve ever been in. Staying here is like staying with friends. Hope
to see you soon.
Quincey
www.sportfiskebutiken.se
13 august 2006
Staying with Lindy and Matt for almost a
week was an introduction to what a very well run business is all about.
They put their hearts and souls to this bed & breakfast they own and
it shows when you are able to feel right at home.
Congratulations Lindy and Matt and thank you
for your great hospitality.
Toúo, Perú & USA
3 january 2007
We stayed over newyears in Tärnaby B&B,
and can't think of a better place to start the new year! It gives you real
value for money and the view is priceless. Futher more the whole
experience was completed by Matt & Lindy and staff. Thanks a lot,
we'll be back.
Peter, Rianne & Robin, the
Netherlands (study in Umeå)
11 may 2007
A long way from home to here and some new
experiences and views. An iced lake, snow on the mountains in spring, a
few snow flakes and a lot of day light in a day. Thanks for finding us on
our first night and the hospitality afforded to us during our stay. A menu
in English with an Aussie flag. Yep, good oh, bonza, yew beaut. See you in
Aussie one day.
Thanks again
Sandy & Tony Loffler, Loxtow,
Australia
17 may 2007
What a charming place to stay!
I was supposed to hike, but the weather was
not good enough: Anyway, I still had a very restful time here, thanks to
the hosts who did their best to make me feel well here. The area is so
peaceful, and beautiful, I definetly would recommend this place to spend
some quiet time, in a wild area with nice people!
Thanks to you, Delphine Amoros from
France
Peace is not in the big cities!
It is there, were nature is.
For instance here! On a silent lake!
Genvig Presluer,
Austria
24.06.2007
When night turns into day we stood here. Thank you!!!!!!
Elke and Hermann from Germany
01.08.2007
Wir sind froh, euch auf der Durchfahrt von Bodø nach Östersund gefunden
zu haben. ES freut uns besonders, unseren Nationalfeiertag bei euch
verbringen zu dürfen! Es ist alles sehr nett und heimelig aufgemacht!
Vielen Dank für alles und liebe Grüße aus der Schweiz !
Karin, Chrisi Kaufmann; Zollikerberg, Schweiz
(We are happy to find you during our crossing from Bodø to Östersund.
It is also a pleasure for us to spend our national holiday with you!
Everything is very pretty and homely ! Thank you for everything and best
regards from Switzerland.
Karin, Chrisi Kaufmann; Zollikerberg, Switzerland
11.08.2007
What a beautiful place, rooms like home and nice people. We went here
by accident and we are happy about that! (Es war ein Zufall, de runs
hierher geführt hat: Wir sind froh drüber!)
Thank you, Danke , Gracias
Maria(Peru), Cecilia and Christoph Schulze
23.08.2007
Unfortunately I only spent one day in Tärnaby and at your B&B. But
it is a very lovely place in a beautiful location. I will remember you
when I will be back in Sweden; with more time than now. Thanks a lot!
Robin Fischer (Ehingen-Donauland-Germany)
24.08.2007
I was so glad the hotel was closed yesterday ! Thank you Matt and
Lindy and Good luck.
Louise from Nederland
30.08.2007
This is a very special and lovely place. After a couple of days I´ve
reconnected with my past, found inner peace and my soul has come alive
again!
Thanks and best wishes to everybody, Jens Staugaard (DK)
01.06.2008
My name is Cetlerine(Catherine?) and I come from France( Lyon). It´s a
very nice place here and all Sweden-many thanks-
01.07.2008
Thank you for a cozy room, a lovely view and the little touch of retro
style. Vi tackar och pochar =)
Emilia and Lauri from Finland
02.07.2008
Thank you for a nice sleep. See you again!
Sean and Tom
24.-29.07.2008
Dear Matt and Lindy! We loved to be at you B&B. It is just amazing
what job you are doing here. We felt at home. If ever we come back to
Lappland or friends of us will- we´ll be here or we say them to stay at
you house! Thank you so much!
Katja, Petra and Stefan from Switzerland
13.08.2008
Matt/Lindy! Thanks for a lovely peaceful time! You are a great generous
couple and it was nice to meet you. I will return ! The Fish need to be
conquered ! All the best.
Andy, Rachel, Daisy, Sorrel, Rufus
24.08.2008
Matt, Thank you for this unique atmosphere at your hostel here. From
the very first minute, it was like visiting an old friend. All the best
for your future.
"The great German canoeing experts" Christian, Michael, Mark
11-27/11 2008
Slowakia Ski Team
Hi Matt and Linda,
Thank You very much for
everything,
You and Linda are very polite people and we
are
very happy we could meet you.
Best regards for you, Thomas and my drugs
friend Michal
and all the girls.
30/11 2008
We all got drunk and Anders the monkey jumped
out the window.
Hans passed on some good goth-ass and Anders
was disappointed.
The Swedes gave us some white wine and we
have to give Matt som big-ups for the
bergerko-alko ! For the record, we also hit
the slopes a couple of times, which was awesome !
See you soon !?
Anders
30/11 2008
Fancy Skiers.
You are a cool adult matt !
Robin. T
Erik. A
Kricka !
Jonas
Emil. W
Jeppe. W
Winter 2008
Matt and Lindy,
Thanks for such a great place.
It was a real blessing for us to stay in such
a nice place.
After skiing, snowboarding and cross country
skiing it was nice being able to go to
a place so close to the slopes and
rest.
YWAM, Nordtun
ps. This was my first time in Sweden and you
guys live in such
a beautiful place. God bless.
Ricky Sablan
Winter 2008
Thanks for all, this is a sweet and cozy
place, enjoyed it very much !
Karolina,
Estonia
Other happy guests comments are in Swedish, so they will be on the
Swedish site.
Updates and developments
Saturday 26th January 08.
Hello once again,
Last night I started a Tärnaby Lapland Group on facebook which will be
a more ' live' update of events in our pub, and business in general , from
myself and also from past and current guests. I will probably stop the '
updates and developments' on this page , so all you FaceBook addictees ,
can check it out here : ( You naturally need to be logged in to
FaceBook.) Join the group to receive special discounts and promotions.
It is snowing heavily in Tärnaby as I'm typing this and we've had good
snow over the last two and half weeks. Lapland in general suffered poor
snowfall before the Chirstmas period and the warm weather in early
December melted most of the earlier November snowfall. However snow
started falling on Christmas day and the New Year's eve party-ski time was
saved.
We had about 60 guests staying with us for the 4-5 days over the New
Year's Eve period . We threw a New Year Eve pre party exclusively for all
of our guests and Lindy's special chicken curry dish was loved by all.
Student Ski Hemavan starts next week ( 30 Jan to 3rd Feb ) so Tärnaby
and Hemavan will be full with party-crazed students ! We have our free
accommodation deals for students and party busses will be taking guests
from Tärnaby to Hemavan.
Our café will soon be taking that long-anticpated step to a pub-café
soon, kick started by the arrival of new furniture for our pub. As our
regular guests and customers know, we are always changing the layout of
our café as the seasons change. For three or so months over the spring and
summer period, we had to take out our comfortable sofas to make more space
for dining due to queues forming for Lindy's equisite cooking ! The sofas
returned for Autumn, and then were removed again for the ski-teams in
November. Ok . I'm starting to get bored myself here ..... I'm just tyring
to say we have another exciting layout coming ourway to match the new pub
feel . We've already been enjoying big screen sports events and movie
nights for our lodging guests, and soon we'll be having these for
customers of our pub-café as well. I'll try to get around to puting some
before and after photos on here soon.
Thursday 13th December 07
November was , as usual, very very busy for us and we're still trying
to catch our breath.
It always seems like a bit of a family reunion when our Russian teams
arrive. This year we had Alex Nazarov's National Russian Mens and Women's
( head coaches Tony and Miriam Boris ) ... Michael and the infamous Team
47 from St Petersburg ( The Dream Team ! ) Icelandic, Italian, Belgium ,
Michaela Smutná from Czech Alpine Team A and Jan Fiedler , Slovak teams,
and many more. I will try to find the time to write more about November
another time...
But for now .... I'll just tell you quickly about the crazy
international guys from Pirate movie productions
who have been staying with us for the last 6 nights. ( French,
Austrian, American, Russian, Swedish and Norwegian ) There's no doubt you
snowboard enthusiasts have seen all their films , 'Walk the Plank' is
their latest and I believe 'Shoot your Friends' back in 2003 was their
first. Well they're at it again and have been filming here in Tärnaby and
Hemavan . They've just left heading to Lycksele for some more urban tricks
and then I believe they're off to Åre for a premier-promotion night for
their film. Some of the Swedish guys in the group write a blog on
www.Transition.se . Check it out !
We have some of their art-book DVD packs in our book shop/café for
sale. We played their movie on our new big screen ( Yes we now have a big
screen for movies and sports nights !) in our café earlier in the week and
I'm sure we'll be playing it again.
Well this weekend should be a fun with International students from Umeå
coming up , the Tjej ( Girl ) Jam Snowboarding Camp is being held
inTärnaby and on the music front, the sexy and talented Carolina Miskovsky
is back playing with her band.
Must fly... I'll be back soon ........
Sunday 28th October ( ... Especially for Malin )
Where's the snow ?! It's just past midnight early Sunday morning. We've
kept the guest house empty this weekend so I can continue with my new
building projects without disturbing guests. However I had to stop working
on our new bathrooms as Lindy wasn't happy with the noise I made drilling
holes for pipes !...Typical ! I've been turning one of our bedrooms on the
ground floor into two bathrooms. Despite losing rentable bed space, I
believe guest comfort and convience with these extra bathrooms is far more
important. Basically I'm dividing the bedroom into two rooms, making one
of the bathrooms an ensuite off the 6 bed dorm room / family room and the
other bathroom for general use for all guests . It will mean knocking a
hole in the 6 bed dorm room to put a door in. As usual with any project I
start doing, my plans change constantly ! ( * see below ) I'm running out
of time before our Russian Athletes arrive , so I'm ( also as usual )
improvising a little as I go on. I might have to postpone the dividing of
the room into two and just have it as one large bathroom for now. I'll
then finish the job over Christmas .. Oh wont Lindy be happy with me !
I’m also in the middle of enclosing the carport under our café. I have
the frame work and exterior panels on with the cut-outs for a large window
and door. I couldn’t get any builders in to concrete/cement the floor as
they were all just too busy building in Hemavan. So this project is also
'on hold' .. I know … you’re starting to sympathize with Lindy ! This
large extra space ( about 6 by 7 meters ) will , like most of our areas,
have multi purpose/functional uses. The intended uses are top secret for
the moment … in other words , I haven’t decided yet ! ( *see above ! )
Ok, So yes the snow hasn’t arrived and the ski slopes wont be open
until next weekend. That’s the latest season start since I’ve been here in
Tärnaby. On a positive note, the lack of snow is giving the engineers and
builders more time to finish off installing the new Linbanan on
Hassebacken ( chair lift ) . Completion and opening is still planned for
he 28th December for the Linbanan. Very exciting to have it back and
working after being closed for 3 and a half years.
Tärnaby is heading back up towards it’s former glory with new
businesses and new developments in the area. A Norwegian family bought the
former ‘Sunds’ building in the village centre and have exciting plans for
the area. The forever-happy-and-laughing , Hans from Statoil and Fjäll
Sports Tärnaby ( Fjallsporttarnaby.se ) has moved his very popular sports
and clothes outlet center ( from Statoil ) to the Sunds building and
opened it just this weekend. We have also started to manage four lovely
apartments on the top of the building. It’s always great to have more
‘warm beds’ in Tärnaby as Tärnaby in general still has too few beds to
let. These apartments are just being renovated and newly furnished and are
very conveniently situated . I was helping carry new beds and mattresses
in there on Friday night and the owners are working to get them ready and
available to rent from this Monday . We have booked them out from about
the 12th November to the 22nd to more international athletes for F.I.S
competitions. We’ll soon have some photos up on the website. Prices for
these Central Apartments are in our Tärnaby Apartment section….
Breaking News ! I did manage to paint the front of the guest house
early October just before it got too cold. I think it was the only two
days in a row it hadn't rained for months . So the ugly mustard colour has
gone from the front .. I just need to do the sides and the back now ! But
even though it is now a multi-colored house, it still presents a lot
nicer.
We also did manage to ‘close’ for two weeks in October . Well, we at
least closed the café-restaurant for two weeks. The first week was used to
catch up on paperwork, renovations, repairs and other tasks that we hadn’t
time to do whilst fully open. Lindy then went to spend time with her
family and left me behind again to look after our Vattenfall guests and
other workers. It meant more getting up at 5.30 to prepare breakfast for
them. Thanks guys, I loved making you breakfast on my supposed bloody
break! I did though still escape from the business for 3 nights ! I Took
the mini-bus to Ör-vik for it’s winter service and did some much needed
shopping for the business and had a fantastic 4 course meal prepared for
us by friends, Malin & Klas. Thank you so much guys, It made such a
lovely change for us to have someone cook for us ... and the 'road-kill'
marinated in vodka was especially tasty Klas - Cheers !
Well that will have to do for now. I'm sure I've left plenty of
important updates out, so who knows, I might come back and dribble on some
more soon ... or it might be another 4 months ...
Friday the 25th May. ( We now have Wi-Fi broadband ! Yes, finally. For
about a month now. )
Hello once again ! I missed a lot of details in my last update as well
as neglecting to mention some unforgettable guests. Namely French
Adventurer Christophe Castillon and his rather beautiful ( Ok very
stunning ! ) girlfriend Johanne Ilbert. Admittedly Christophe ( according
to Lindy ) was pretty good looking himself ( " a knee-trembling sexy
French man " I think she said ! ) Anyway .. Enough of that ! Let’s get
back to Johanne ! She joined Christophe in Tärnaby for a week , so he
could ' rest ' ( yeah right ! ) until he continued his epic solo journey
on cross country skis pulling his pulka behind him. To get an idea for
yourself, go to his fascinating website www.wildtrekker.com and check out
his ‘wild blog ‘. Follow his journey from the bottom of Sweden to Nordkapp
at the top of Norway. The website is in French, but you can still follow
his journey with maps and some wonderful photos. If you are French,
reading this, then it's a perfect if you're planning a holiday to Sweden
and Scandinavia in general.
Since then we’ve had some other ‘crazy’ adventurers ; A Danish couple
who are doing the same type of journey, but had to swap their ski’s here
in Tärnaby to continue their travel by bicycle. ( no more snow. Doh ! )
Apparently The Danes have very ‘special’ bikes there , so they ordered new
bikes from Denmark and had them sent to Sweden. Yeah - whatever guys ! You
can follow their journey on their website www.knoell.dk
Just last week a cyclist from Holland popped in , who is also doing the
3000 km’s or so by bicycle. Not a young man either… he even made me look
like a spring chicken ! Obviously very young at heart and very fit. ( I’m
just young at heart .. Or " infantile " says Lindy ! ).
Anyway, I always find these adventurers inspiring. Not inspiring enough
to make me want to do it .. But inspiring enough to make we want to do the
trip in summer on a motor bike ! .... On that subject, it’s approaching
that time of year when we get a lot of motorbike riders touring
Scandinavia. We always provide undercover parking for motorbikes to keep
them dry and safe. So if you’re planning a trip by motorcycle , than pop
on in ! We have undercover parking ( car port ) for about 12 motorbikes
and also our double garage ( in winter it's a ski waxing room ) which can
park another 5 or 6.
Back to the Easter wedding. Despite all the odds, it was a huge
success. All were very happy with the food and service. I say " despite
all the odds " , because gale-force winds and blizzards meant that the
wedding had to be postponed until the next day ! Most of the grooms family
made it the day before, after a very rough landing, but the bride’s family
were stranded at Stockholm Arlanda airport all the day, waiting to catch a
flight. So we were all on standby, at the mercy of Mother Nature.
I have to thank Jacob and Eva for their very professional organization
and standard of service. They put the bride and groom at ease .. and, yes
, me and Lindy at ease ! It pays to bring in people like Jacob. He runs
the restaurant conference centre at Arctura in Östersund Sweden. I
recommend stopping by there on your journey. It is an amazing concept ; A
restaurant on top of a water tower that supplies Östersund with hot water.
Have a look here at www.arctura.se If you're driving that way, have a
coffee break or lunch or dinner break ... Ask for Jacob, when you go in.
You can’t miss his Californian big white smile ! ( I still think he's gay
! )
Ok, A few more things :
Miriam and Ann have turned out to be truely wonderful assets to our
business and for our guests. Ann has been cooking mouth-watering Thai
meals and despite Miriam's tender age of only 18, she is also a whizz in
the kitchen. She has also been fantastic with marketing. But what else can
say about 'our Miriam ' ? Well, she has that whacky ( slightly deranged !
) Gothenburg sense of humour and a personality that just fills the air
with exuberance. Positive, inspiring and yes totally mad !
She and Ann have been running the café themselves this last week as
Lindy has managed to go and spend some time with Mary her grandmother. All
in all we have been blessed to have the girls helping us. Unfortunately
their time with us is about to expire, in about 3 weeks. I'm trying to
think of ways to keep them here ? Perhaps we could steal their passports,
legally adopt them ( Well they already call us " Daddy and Mummy ! " ) or
possibly kidnap their family ? If you have any suggestions, feel free to
email me !
Whoops I forgot to mention the celebrities that have graced our café !
Womens World Champion and gold history maker , Anja Pärsson (
www.anjapaerson.com) herself sat comfortably on our sofa giving interviews
to one of Sweden’s big newspapers, Expressen and enjoyed Lindy’s home
baked quiche. Like Ingemar Stenmark, she is also born and bred in Tärnaby.
Swedish Singer Tommy Nilsson also sat on our sofa with a latte and cake.
Tommy ( I chatted to him for a good hour … so I can call him ‘ Tommy ‘ ! )
has been recording hits for over 25 years and has produced countless
albums. Unfortunately I think I was about the only person living in Sweden
who didn’t know who he was .. So I had to apologize to him !
Oh yeah and also .. Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and even Kylie herself
turned up … Ok so I’m lying .. sue me !
I think it’s time for me to sign off again ! Until next time ….
P.s. In summer we always welcome drop in guests .. even if it is after
2 am ! Yes you know who you are ! ( two nights ago at 2.07 am , ( Yes I
remember the bloody time ! ) a Norwegian couple who I thought were
burglars and they thought , I was a ghost ! ) When they strolled in for a
coffee at 11.30 am, I pulled the Basil Faulty card , making them feel
suitable guilty after their good nine hours sleep .. and I about 2 hours !
" Sleep well did you ? Lovely ! .. Me ? No I don't need any sleep...
Mahogany, teak or ... what wood would you like your breakfast tray served
on .. ? ! "
They may be coming back later on in summer with their 4 kids ... and a
dog ... Oh wonderful ! ( Just kidding guys .. or am ! ?! )
However for our future guests, please remember it's not just us you
wake up with your bell ringing, phone calls and then carrying your bags in
... but our already comfortably sleeping other guests ! So please plan a
little better. I know with the 24 hour daylight during the summer months
it's easy to lose track of time, but please try and call ahead and I will
wait up for you... Lindy wont - but I will ! If you still manage to
forget, we usually have a note on our café restaurant / reception door
asking guests to call a mobile number, or a sign to say if we are full or
not ... So go ahead and wake me up, but if you do happen to wake Lindy up
.. be afraid .. be very bloody afraid !!
Safe traveling !
Monday the 02 April 2007
The Easter Rush is upon us .. Help !!!
It's been over 3 months since my last informal 'blog' and what a hectic
and hard season so far .. especially with our Winter Café in full swing.
We hadn't quite recovered from cooking every day for our November ski
athletes, before we threw ourselves into December Christmas dinners and
functions. Lindy did manage to go home to her family for a few days over
Christmas to recharge a little, leaving me to take care of our
international guests. When she came back we started to prepare opening our
Winter Café to the drop-in public.
It all started off very well with the help of our chef friend, who we
were really hoping would become part of the team. However unfortunately ,
he couldn't dedicate enough time to our business due to overbooking
himself to other hotels... a good chef is always in demand. .. so we had
to struggle on with out him. Lindy is an exceptional cook herself, but of
course it's very exhausting 7 days a week 13 hours a day in the kitchen.
So we both suffered, but we're pretty sure our guests didn't !
We were saved by a friend coming over from Australia who became our
'right-hand man' . We couldn't have made it this far with out Tim. Whilst
I was helping Lindy in the café, he took over a lot of the outdoor tasks ;
clearing snow, preparing saunas for guests, cleaning our apartments ..
sorting the snow scooter rentals, picking up guests .. sorting computing
problems .. and much much more ... you name it .. and he did it. Tim has
been invaluable in every way. He will be leaving us in 2 weeks ( sob !
).
Now as indicated above, we are getting ready for the busiest time of
the year. So what do I do at this crazy period ? Agree to organise a
wedding ! Yes tomorrow the Bride and Groom arrive with a few friends. On
Wednesday close family to the Bride & Groom arrive and on Thursday the
rest of the 40 or so guests fly in just a few hours before the wedding. I
have a friend, Jacob, arriving on Wednesday who has had much more
experience than me, as a wedding planner ( I'm pretty sure he's gay ! His
'girlfriend' Eva is just a smoke-screen ! ) so I'll hand most of the
responsibility over to him ! Lindy and I will still have to take care of
other guests ( who aren't party of the wedding group ) and customers in
the café during the day and then it'll be all hands on deck to make
Christian and Hannes Special Day , even more special and unforgettable ..
unforgettable in a good way , we hope !
So what's next for us ? Well another two or three weeks to the season
ends and then we'll start preparing for Tärnaby Bed & Breakfast Spring
Café . We will introduce/replace some menu items, taking advantage of
seasonal treats !
However the real great news for our business ( and guests ) is that we
will have two girls helping us for 10 weeks ( part of an international
exchange initiative ) Fantastic ! It means Lindy might be able to take a
few days off and spend some time with her grandmother and I might also be
able to 'escape' for few days !
One of the girls ( Miriam ) is Swedish and the other ( Ann ) is Thai.
So we might just be having Thai food nights as well .. LOvely !
So that's about it for now .. until next time ...
Matt, Lindy, Tim, and soon Ann and Miriam !
Sunday the 19th November
Hello again previous guests and
soon-to-be-guests ! I will have to keep this short as I must help Lindy
feed our hungry athletes. Yes it's that time of year again when Tärnaby
plays host to more Federation of International Skiing competitions. (
F.I.S ) The village is buzzing with International teams from Poland, Czech
Republic, Russia, Belgium , Japan and Norway to name a few. We have been
fully booked with Russian and Czech teams. Our friendly Federation of
Pakistan Team didn't join us this November , however they have booked for
the end of January and early February to train. It will be lovely to see
the guys back in Lapland and I believe Zahid their leader is bringing his
wife to meet us ! Ok Let me tell you about our changes quickly.... Our
new building which has been used as hostel-style accommodation as well as
for conferences and also a luxury apartment has now become our
Café-Restaurant ! It was built and designed with this in mind, so the
transition/ evolvement has been relatively simple. Now to compensate for
the loss of beds we have purchased our neighbours house and have already
furnished and redecorated . This is an exciting addition to the
accommodation we can offer our guests . It is elevated slightly higher
than our main house so it also has spectacular views . It Enables us to
have more separate bedrooms for our guests , more communal areas
internally and externally with a wonderful large decking area for BBQs. It
will serve as bed & breakfast rooms or as a large apartment ,
depending on seasonal demands.
So there you have it ! That was the
big news . A new café-restaurant .. and another building ! For the moment
we haven't opened our café to the 'public´. It has just been for our
lodging guests.. For the last two and half weeks we have been serving
breakfast, lunch and dinner for our skiing athletes and other guests. The
transition to a Winter café (open to non-guests ) will be happening very
very soon with the arrival of our chef to help us with Christmas plates
and a Scrumptious Winter Menu. I still haven't found the time to update
our main website.
Friday the 29th September
Well Hello there ! It's been
almost 6 weeks since my last update. The summer has gone by so quickly
with a very good season for our business and our guests. We've met a lot
of interesting people and have made many exciting changes to our business
with even more expansion going on at the moment in preparation for the ski
season . Yes, I know, "I really should finish off the painting of the old
house before I start with new projects ! " Lindy agrees with you ! We
have had a steady stream of guests which has made it difficult to finish
the exterior painting. Unfortunately we may have to wait until next year
now as the temperature has started to drop . It's actually snowing lightly
today , the first snowfall of the season . I think we may have to close
the business for a week or two next year so we can really concentrate on
the exterior decorating. I can't use the excuse of not getting the
painting done due to 'socializing too much with guests' as I suggested in
my last update, as Lindy instructed me " To behave ! ".
But back
to our changes and expansion .... I'll tell you about them soon ! One
thing I can tell you though, is that we are going to be so busy getting
everything ready over the next month ... and this expansion plan means
that the day is drawing closer to where we may have to start employing
people to help us for the ski-season . It will be a year earlier than I
had anticipated , however as I indicated in a previous update " When we
feel that the comfort and enjoyment of our guests may start to suffer , we
will obviously start to employ someone to help. " So there you go ! I'll
come back soon with the details and at the same time update / change the
website with new pictures and two new additions to Tärnaby Bed &
Breakfast and TarnabyLapland.com , in general .
Thursday 17th August 2006
It's been an interesting last two
weeks since my last update . Little has changed in the way of our painting
project of the old house, so I've been feeling a little guilty in that
respect. Lindy spent a much needed week relaxing at her Grandmothers
whilst I held the fort. Some very busy days and nights whilst she was away
and then there was one night with no guests, giving me time to catch up on
washing and drying the sheets and towels . Oh the joy ! All of the
accommodation businesses in the area send their laundry to Norway to be
washed and pressed, but we have always done our own washing ( well mainly
Lindy ! ) . We figured initially that the extra cost of sending our linen
and towels to Norway would be too high and would thus reflect the price we
charge for our guests . As we have been running for one and half years now
and have expanded creating more than triple our beds, ( and occupancy
levels ) it is becoming much too time consuming to do our own laundry .
Even though a lot of guests do bring their own linen, in the summer where
most guests are just here for one or two nights, the majority tend not to.
Our time can be much better spent focusing on improving other parts of our
business. ... Firstly our cafe side ; Lindy's home-baked cakes were a
real hit at the start of our business but unfortunately ( due to time and
energy restraints ) we haven't kept up that tradition as often as we would
have liked. Secondly our evening meals ; Again at the start of our
business we had more time ( and energy ) to prepare evening meals. That
has also suffered. Coming into Autumn now, time spent doing the laundry
could be spent picking Mushrooms and berries in the mountains. Relaxing
and enjoying nature whilst we work , passing on fresh produce and
ingredients to you . I should be fishing more , so we always have a fresh
supply of fish available ... Of course this is all idyllic in theory but
still difficult to put into practice as someone has to be here all the
time... until we can afford to start employing staff. We are still just a
two-man show. When we feel that the comfort and enjoyment of our guests
may start to suffer , we will obviously start to employ someone to help.
The time I could have spent painting the house, admittedly, I've been
socializing a little too much with some of our guests ... I wont mention
names .. but you know who you are ! 2 Motor cycling brothers who kindly
shared their single malt with me ... A Danish Joiner who liked his piped
tobacco and hip flasks of snaps .. Make mine a 'Single' sir ! ( Private
joke ) our fishing guru from stockholm ( www.sportefiskbutiken.se ) who
liked his wines and woman ! A man after my own heart ! ... and of course
not forgetting our world travelling Peruvian guest
( www.sixmonthsminimo.blogspot.com ) who just loved life . ( and his
beer ! ) ... But had a tendency to walk into the mountains to camp
forgetting to take with him the very basics .. such as a tent and sleeping
bag ! He's also famous for his BBQ's ( another private joke ! ). Yes our
Peruvian friend is sadly missed, however I'm sure he doesn't miss me ! I
played the Bazil ( John Cleese from Faulty Towers ) a little bit too much
calling him 'Manuel' ( ¿Que ? ! ) too often and just generally being an
annoying smart-ass ! I also got him helping moving furniture around,
moving wood pellets and anchoring our pier ! Will he dare to come back !?
Please come back ... Mr Faulty promises to be nice !
The furnuture
moving really helped us out as it's usually just Lindy helping me. We had
to prepare our new building for 15 kids to run havoc for 5 days ! So
'Manuel' ( " Si , mr Faulty !" ) helped to carry Bunk beds back in and
double beds back out .... Cheers mate, I couldn't have done it without you
!
Tues the 1st August 2006.
I forgot to mention above that whilst
we were building the pier, we had 7 Italian fly fisherman staying in our
new building for 6 days. So it went From Honeymoon Lodge to Fishing Lodge
. A Lovely bunch of gentleman ( I naturally wouldn't let Lindy meet them !
) and very keen fisherman. I might just add that luckily before they
arrived, I had forgiven the Italians for kicking Australia out of the
World Cup .. .. But only because they stopped France from winning it ! ( I
only mumbled a few insults about their diving tactics under my breath ...
I don't think they heard me ?! Well they're coming back in Autumn .. so
obviously not ... Or are they just coming back for Lindy ???????? )
Unfortunately the weather was pretty bad for them , until typically
the day they left. Beautiful day and it's been fantastic weather ever
since. ( No poetic-justice there guys?! ) Now, normally when you get 7 men
together especially for a fishing holiday, you would imagine our new
building after six days to smell of fish guts and B.O ! But we are talking
about Italian men here .... Do they like their perfumes ! oh yeah. Wow ..
two weeks later and it still smells like roses ! Thank guys. It's a
pleasure for our new guests . See you again soon for a stunning Lapland
Autumn .
Back to the pier-pontoon .... Göran Larsson saved the day
! Yes Mr Polaris himself came back from his little Norwegian trip to lend
a helping hand and finally take our beached pontoon-pier to the water. I
thought I'd have to wait for the flood of the century to get it to the
lake ! So it was Wednesday last week ´for 'Victoria's' maiden voyage.
Despite choosing a windy day to move it, it went very well without any
problems . We attached it to Göran's machine , with me hanging off the
side, Göran of course driving and Lindy driving the mini-bus ahead of us
flashing the hazard lights . We took it 500 meters up the road to the boat
ramp. Once dropped in the water , we then towed it behind our little
fishing boat against a strong head wind to Tärnaby Bed & Breakfast (
Adventure Centre Tärnaby ) Göran sat on ' Vicoria' Holding the ropes high
whilst Lindy and I steered the boat in front. So a very big thank you
to our super-hero MR POLARIS !
19th July 2006
Yes, I'm back again burning the midnight oil !
So our pier / pontoon parts arrived through customs toll house on the
rainy afternoon of Friday the 14th. I started to build it saturday
afternoon, with the help of Lindy's second cousin, Victor. He didn't know
he was going to help ! It was pure chance he turned up and with some
gentle persuasion I managed to make him stay for the weekend ! I couldn't
have done it without him. Only 17 years old, but strong as an ox and very
hard working. Not only did he help build the pier , but he also on Sunday
helped to finally take apart the old garage roof that has been sitting
very untidily next to our carpark. His Parents Oliver and Katinka have
done an exceptional job raising him ! Per from Nova Artic Dogsleds
will be using the old roof to build a new section to keep his dogs warm
and store dog food, so he was also part of the dismantling team .. and the
building-the-pier team. Well he was there , so why not rope him in to help
finish the pier ! We made it slightly longer and wider than the above
dimensions, so we ran out of wood decking. However most of the hard work
was done. The project was put on hold for a few days whilst Per and I
transported the iron and trusses from the old roof to his
property. Tonight I am pleased to announce that I finished it today ! I
dragged it on wooden crates from under our car port to the front of the
property by mini-bus and by hand. My back just about held out .. but where
was Victor when I needed him this time ?! The problem I face now, is
that the big market starts on Friday and I really wanted to have it in the
water and secured firmly by tomorrow ( Thursday ). What's stopping me ?
Well the original guy I was hoping would help out has gone to Norway for a
holiday ( How dare you Mr Polaris Man ! ) and my other choice was with the
builder of our new building, but his ingenious vehicle ( The incedible
Hulk ) is grounded with two punctures that need to be replaced with two
new tyres ... and they wont be arriving for two weeks ! Solution ? I'm
working on it !
Oh yes, one more thing .... We are naming the
Pontoon-pier " Victoria " as a BIG THANK YOU to Victor of course ! Let's
hope it will still be there in 40 years for his grand kids to see !
7th July 2006
Who was it who said May to mid June were supposed
to be " the slow months " ?! Ok, granted the large hotels are closed and
it seems to be only us that's open , so that helps... and of course our
reputation for our first year of business of providing friendly,
affordable, cosy accommodation with wonderful views also helps ! And let's
not forget the beautiful Lindy ! In between guest arrivals and
departures we did manage to gravel our gardens/driveway and make the area
look more presentable. We also have started some of the painting around
the windows and have oiled our new building. We will still endeavour to
paint as much as we can during the summer months, so long as it doesn't
disrupt guests enjoyment of staying here. Our boats have been setting a
calming view ( even if that's just for my sake ! ) gently rocking in the
waters and we have had some wonderful midnight trips in the light skies.
One very memorable one with a Canadian guest, Stuart. Last year we
intended to have our jetty/pier built but unfortunately delivery was
delayed. So delayed infact, that the lake was soon to freeze over again !
We subsequently cancelled the order, and this year have chosen to go with
a Norwegian company. A floating pier 8 metres long and 2.5 metres wide
with wooden decking. It is being delivered in pieces some time next week,
so yet another job on my never ending 'list of things to do'. I'm hoping
It wont take more than a couple of days to build, launch ( about 500
meters up the road and tow it up the lake to the front of our Guest House.
( fingers crossed ! ) Regardless it will be in place in time for the
Cross-border Markets here in two weeks. Exciting for us and our guests
to have much easier access to the lake to swim, fish and for just simpler
and quicker launching of the boats. So bring your fishing rods ( however
we do have some rods you can use ), your swimmers and your sunscreen !
Other exciting news is that we are very happy to be spreading some
romantic cheer to Tärnaby Bed & Breakfast. We turned our new building
into a wedding/honeymoon lodge for the lovely Kristina & Marcus ! They
are staying here as I'm typing this, getting ready for their big day
tomorrow. Love and Adventure in Tärnaby ! They arrived by motor-bike ( one
each and Marcus's is fitted with a camera to record the journey ! ) and on
Sunday they are riding to Scotland to continue their Honeymoon. Now that's
what I call a Honeymoon .... Makes this old Australian feel a little
romantic himself.. ( for his Honda VF750 Sabre back in Australia !)
So to cap this little epic update off, don't forget we have the
Annual Cross-border Markets July 21st to 23rd and the Multi-sports
Adventure Racing World Championships ( ARWC ) August 16 -23rd . We have
great specials with accommodation canoe and mountain bike rentals, so you
can feel part of the action ! Give us call or
16th May 2006.
Well what a season ! Busy, busy , busy ! Spring
came early and the snow melted quickly and even though the lake is still
mostly frozen , the ice is breaking away steadily and within a week the
boats and canoes will be gently rocking in the crystal clear waters !
After the building work of our new Hostel section in winter, our gardens
and driveway were destroyed. Quite a shock to see after the snow melted
away! We are now just waiting for the earth to thaw sufficiently so we can
start landscaping the gardens and driveway.... So please excuse the untidy
appearance from the outside.... We hope to start the beautifying process
next week...
1st November 2005.
Lindy and I have learnt from guest feedback to realise that the
Bed & Breakfast theme and the Backpacker theme has been equally as
popular in all seasons ... So we've started building a separate Backpacker
/ Hostel ! Due to open in Mid January 2006 ( but hopefully sooner )
the new Backpacker Complex will cater for our larger group bookings and/or
individual travellers. It will accommodate 14-22 guests ( depending on
specific group requests and/or seasons) and will have three bathrooms, a
kitchen , lounge, ski-room/laundy and a downstairs 'chill-room'. The
layout will be flexible and ever evolving so we can further learn from
continued guest feedback.
Come and check it out and tell us
what you think !
Tärnaby Bed & Breakfast Schweden. Ferien auf dem Bauernhof
Übernachtung in Pension, Hotel, Jugendherberge, Gasthaus. Zimmer mit
Frühstück, Zimmer Frei, privatzimmer bed&breakfast
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