South Tyneside Self Catering at it’s finest
It’s been a tough year for us all. And as many know the hospitality industry has been hit hard by lack of travel. So we’ve been busy keeping our heads above water. Improving our existing places and setting up 4 new ones since lockdown started! Quite a feat. And we’ve been busy telling you the […]
Property Wisdom – One in One Out
People say to me “I don’t know how you do it.” “You never stop” “You need to learn how to chill out” Well, I’ve finally found the solution. Wisdom teeth extraction! Last Friday I got mine taken out. Well my two left ones. By a current guest of ours. But he is a dentist! He […]
Survival, Separation and Soften up
Well we are out of the old year and into the new. The quasi respite of the festive period is gone and it is back to this new constantly changing norm. The restrictions are becoming tougher again. In Aberdeen, Scotland anyway where I now call home. Where I live, and where my 2 teenage kids […]
Aberdeen City Winter Woodland Walk
During the first lockdown, like many we slowed down. My kids decided to start spending half their time with me which we still do. We bonded more. And much of that was done in our family walks round our local area. The COVID rules were that we couldn’t leave the house apart from essential reasons […]
Necessary Evil Versus the Power of Social Media
Until the last year or so I have been busy building our small family business up. Literally almost brick by brick. But not quite! We’ve went from 2-3 places to 8-9, 250 miles apart in the last 2 years or so. Make that 258! South Shields to Aberdeen, a trip I’ve made a hundreds of […]
Aberdeen Birthday Adventures; North, South, East and West.
Hi everyone! Our last update post was way back on 27th July so I think we can officially say that I am the worlds worst spammer, haha! But I’ve been busy! After our little trip to Keswick, then South Shields, we explored our local patch to show how AMAZING Aberdeen and the Shire is and help our future guests […]
North East England Local Lockdown
There are new restrictions in place for South Tyneside as of today. South Shields earlier this summer on our family holidays This is what these restrictions mean for our self catering business and our great guests: – Residents and visitors to the area are only able to socialise with those from the same household or support […]
Sunday Afternoon Family Walk
This afternoon, well yesterday but you know what I mean, I managed to drag my teenage son and daughter out for a walk. I wanted to head into the highlands, or maybe along Deeside but the script from my daughter was to “walk into town.” So given that she accompanied me for a wee trip […]
Things to do in South Shields Part 1 – Sandhaven to Marsden Kinda Circularish Walk.
There are already loads of blogs out there on the best things to do in South Shields. And I will get round to writing a more complete one based on my extensive guide to the area which I send to all guests who book one of our South Shields self catering apartments. But most South Shields […]
A Victorian Townhouse Restoration
In early 2016 I bought a Victorian townhouse maisonette in my old hometown of South Shields. Black front door in a beautiful quiet residential street I landed in South Shields on the 9th February with my furniture and all my belongings from my Aberdeen house (I actually travelled down in the removal van!) and helped […]
Our 3rd (Mid July-ish) Update
I’ve modified this blog post from an update I have started writing for our VIP email subscribers And if you’d like to sign up or share with any friends, family or colleagues click into the above link and enter your name and email! Simple. Anyway! I’m sitting on our decking writing this on my laptop. The sun […]
Joe was a Bricklayer
My Granda’ was called Joe. And Joe was a bricklayer. Joseph Henderson Atkinson was brought up in Tyne Dock, South Shields in North East England. A hard working class area. And he was a hard working man. Loved by all of his family. The rock. In a quiet, unassuming way from my childhood memories. And […]
A Very Different Summer Holiday
So here we are at the end of our summer holiday! The last morning before we drive back up home. Sitting on the dock of the bay wasting time? Well, sitting in on of our self catering South Shields holiday home really writing this blog post! And its been a funny one to say the […]
Single Dad Smiling
So moving on from the place we set up last week to manage on behalf of the owner and run as self catering accommodation, we’re now going back to 2013, to just after my 40th (I feel a bit like Marty McFly here!) And to quell some of the concerns I’ve received since that blog, yes, I guess […]
A 40th to Remember
The remainder of summer 2013 included a lovely trip back to South Shields and a holiday in Keswick with Sonny, Lola, my mam, her partner, brother and his family. Summer 2013 at our beloved Marsden Beach It was great to get spend some quality time with my kids and family between the day to day […]