When people see the scale model of the inn for the first time they often exclaim, "I want to be the first person to stay!" If it is a group of people, there is also a conversation about which suite they like the best. (The Under Hill and the North Star are running neck and neck in this debate.)

Last weekend we displayed the model as part of the Yarrow Days celebration.  We suspected that many people would want to know when we would be open! We aren't taking reservations yet but we wanted a little something for people to take with them to remind them of us when the time comes.

With that in mind, we asked Lisa at Engravex to print us up some business cards. The cards look great and we handed out quite a few at Yarrow Days. All we have to do now is build the inn!

The inn is all laid out and we are just about ready to get started! If you look carefully at the picture below you can see the three suites laid out in pink with their private gardens painted orange. It is getting exciting!

Peter and I spent the afternoon laying out the Hazelnut Inn on the freshly packed gravel of the worksite. This morning our surveyors from Tunbridge and Tunbridge had pegged the corners of the buildings accurately, making the job much easier. We laid out each room and the walls surrounding the gardens. Sidewalks and pools were planned out as well. After supper Peter escorted Hailey and Juniper on the first official tour of the little inn. While the worksite is still very flat and level That is not what Peter and Hailey imagined. As they walked each path Peter described when they were climbing stairs or going up sloping walkways. They, like me, can vividly see every feature and detail clearly, as if it was all in place. They can smell the flowers and hear the tumbling water of the brooks and waterfalls. This is going to be an incredibly magic place when we are done. Tomorrow, the carpenters arrive to start banging together forms. This is going to be very exciting!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Yarrow Days! Our daughter thoroughly enjoyed waving to the crowd from the parade float. As it turns out, she has quite a good throwing arm when it comes to parade candy! Grandpa also had a blast pulling the dragon through town with his miniature Jeep and as a bonus we were awarded a first place ribbon.

As promised, we brought the scale model of the inn to Yarrow Pioneer Park. We really enjoyed chatting with everyone who stopped by! It was wonderful to meet so many people who have been following our progress online. Thank you all for the encouragement - we are more eager than ever to start construction on site!

This weekend the village of Yarrow is celebrating Yarrow Days complete with its annual parade!

Thanks to the Imagination Corporation, our float is all ready and we can't wait to see everyone out on Yarrow Central Road at 10 am!

We will also have a booth set up at Yarrow Pioneer Park so come on by and take a look at the scale model in person!

See you soon!

We've all heard the story of the fellow who built a giant ship in his workshop and then discovered there was no way to get it out of the door without some serious demolition. Today was the day we would see if the Avellana would actually fit out the door of our shop.We had, of course, carefully measured the door and the ship hull as we built it. However, the unique challenge was that our shop has a round door. It's widest point is at about five feet off the floor. To squeeze the ship hull through we would have to lift it to that height - no mean feat for something this large and heavy! 

The solution was to borrow our neighbour's forklift for the task. Our good friends at Extreme Boat Sports were gracious and lent their forklift for the task. I drove it into the shop to pick up one end of the ship. Matt picked up the other end with our forklift. Peter and Janessa watched each side as we slowly eased it out of the door. There was a half inch of clearance on each side - just as we planned! :) Now we begin the upper portions of the ship.