If you do UK cottage holidays, can I ask you...?

[VeryFoolishFay]

..If the offer of a hot meal on arrival day would be of interest?

I've just taken over the housekeeping/management of a rural family sized holiday cottage about half a mile from me. The owner lives in London, he is a very nice older man, always arranges a nice bottle of wine and flowers and a welcome card - likes to offer a personalised welcome via the manager.

We have day jobs but my DH and I are keen cooks, run an occasional pop up restaurant etc. We have food safety certs and a 5* hygiene certificate for our own kitchen. We have a Facebook page that could be checked out.

We were thinking that for those who have a long journey, there might be an appeal of a home cooked casserole in the fridge ready to be heated up etc. We are miles from any shops at all, although there is a decent, fairly pricey local pub.

A few months ago, we were asked to provide a 3 course special meal for a multi generational family group staying at a different local holiday let. We cooked it mostly at home, served it and cleared up again. It went well - great feedback. Would love to do it again.

Has anyone tried this at a holiday let? If you haven't, is it the sort of thing that you would be interested in? To me, it offers the ease of eating out but with no taxis, babysitters or expensive restaurant wine...but I'm probably biased!

Sounds amazing!

I also threw in an unexpected birthday cake because I'm a bit of a pleaser but a good baker! They were very touched, just going that little bit extra seems so appreciated. I find it very rewarding as well as a useful bit of extra income.

Definitely!

As long as the oven is easy to work out how to use, because who wants to be faffing about or looking through instruction booklets in frustration after a long drive?!

I would love to have a home cooked meal warming while I unpacked the car, settled the DCs and pets in, lit the fire and - eventually! - started to unwind with a glass of wine and the welcome book.

There would have to be everything needed to go with it, and perhaps ordered in advance with a few dietary options.

You can't and won't please everyone, but I think you'd please most people.

Fresh milk, sugar, teabags too, OP - basically everything to make a cup of tea in the morning if arriving later than expected and the shops are miles away.

One holiday let we have stayed at several times always leaves hot chocolate and Jammy Dodgers for the DCs, which is a lovely touch. If you're going to arrive late, they always make sure lights are on including outside, heating is on, and the fire is backed up - great to find the fire roaring or at least ready to light.

HTH

Best place I stayed at had a massive freezer full of 'Cook' meals (to take to your cottage and leave the money for). These are frozen meals for two that are generally way better quality than supermarket ready meals, cost about £7-8. Could.that be an idea? (Or similar)?

Bizarrely I've just helped a farmer get his place up and running as a holiday let which includes various meal options or none. Sure I saw something on TV not that long ago with a holiday let that included cookery classes from its hosts.

The idea of a hot, home-cooked meal sounds great and one I would definitely suggest you put as an option for guests welcoming individual preferences, needs or other arrangement to suit around meals i.e. you could offer is a B&B / half board let so guests can if they want have a decent breakfast and something good in the oven for when they return after a day of whatever.

Throw the option out there and include it on your site so anyone that is interested at least feels more likely to ask whether you can offer cooked meals.

On top of that don't forget a properly good welcome pack (bread, milk, eggs, bacon, tea and coffee stuff, cleaning stuff, fire lighters / coals or logs for burners and BBQ's etc)

Alternatively guests could pre-order any groceries to have when they arrive so they aren't having to worry about getting to the nearest stores and stock up straight away.

www.brosterfieldfarm.co.uk/cookery-courses

I’d love it - we come from abroad to stay in holiday cottages ever year and dinner is always a headache with three kids after a long flight.

But we would have to be able to choose and there would have to be an allergy-friendly option.

If not, a takeaway menu would be equally as useful!

Sounds a great idea, better than making the family sandwiches!

No. Children are fussy. DH and I not fussed at all. The children are unlikely to eat it. We are unlikely to appreciate it.

God, i am worried this makes me sound awful but no OP, i really wouldn't, for a few reasons tbh. It falls into the camp of homemade cakes for me, I really don't have any anxieties around food but i'd just be worried about how long it had potentially been there, especially if it were needing to be reheated.
That coupled with the fact i just want what i want, as an adult and if we've had a long journey we do tend to stop and eat on the way like a lot of people do, and we do always bring quite a bit of food with us as well/sat nav the nearest shop and buy fresh bits before we get there. If we got to the rental early, half the fun is picking somewhere to eat/order from, and if we got there late, none of us would eat it and it'd just be something i'd be worrying about how to dispose of and feeling guilty about food waste.

Happy to accept our family is weird though, I always feel guilty when we get to holiday lets, they always leave bottles of wine ( we don't drink), or milk in the fridge (none of us drink dairy milk)- it's just a shame when things go to waste.

With all that said and having made myself sound a right fusspot, there's nothing wrong with offering it? I'm sure some people would like it so love it so long as there's some sort of element of choice, and also a full , stringent allergy free set of options.

I’d love it.

Nope...usually eat on the way. And often after travelling I'm too tired to think of eating much.

Have it as an option when the balance is paid.

Yes, I'd be up for that.
When we go featherdown holidays we always pick one with home cooked meals that can be brought to the tent, I don't want to cook on holiday!
A nice selection of accompaniments is the key for me though, so if I'm having a lovely home cooked lasagne, I'd like there to be garlic bread and a nice green salad to go with it and a dessert and a bottle of wine, to make all my holiday meals feel special.

Not on arrival particularly, as we usually bring a frozen bol with us that acts as an extra ice block for other food in the cool box!

But later on in the week, when we are running low on the food we've bought with us and can't be arsed to go to the supermarket.... Yes

Some great ideas there, thanks, particularly love the idea of some extras just for the children and having the fire set in colder months.
Everything would be individually planned with each set of guests pre arrival so all dietary requirements and preferences could be catered for.

Re takeaways - I'd almost forgotten that it's possible to get food delivered in some parts of the country!!! No one delivers out anywhere remotely near us and if you went yourself, you'd be looking at nearly an hour's round trip. Nearest supermarket is about 12 miles away and any closer village shops are closed by 6pm. So the options are fairly limited on that front.

I wouldn't want to offer ready made frozen meals (even Cook!) as I'm thinking in terms of a business opportunity for me as well as a service for guests! I know some people are concerned about 'home made' cakes but as I mentioned, I have a 5* hygiene rating and I also bake for a local tea room where I know people make special trips for my cakes so I am conscious that not everyone shares that view.

It's all about personal preference at the end of the day. I also like the idea of clear oven instructions, anything to make the settling in period easier.

I am wanting a piece of your cake now, even at this time in the morning! Good luck, OP.

I'd make it optional, we wouldn't want it, we'd rather sort ourselves out. Tea, coffee and milk on artival are definitely useful, we do't drink wine though.

Thanks BB!

I know this an example from abroad rather than uk but last year we arrived at our holiday let really late due to various flight delays so it was around midnight and everything was shut. The apartment hotel place had left us a selected of sandwhiches - ham and cheese, in white or brown bread (triangles) , salad, some juice, crisps and some sliced cake etc all laid on the table. Wasn't a feast but for us with two small children it gave everyone a bite to eat before falling into bed and was such a relief. Perhaps give people an option of a hotmeal to reheat or a picnic?

Sorry meant to say the food was in the fridge but the table was laid!

We' d love this! Always have self catering and remember the ones who provide a welcome pack. Anything easy to warm up whilst unpacking, lasagne, casserole, chilli, big pot of homemade soup and crusty bread! A cold option in the summer as well would be good. Good luck 😁

Everything would definitely be optional! Apparently the cottage is quite often used for family / friends reunions as it's quite large. It has a lovely separate dining room and I would love to promote the idea of having a meal cooked to order, brought in to guests, served and the kitchen completely cleared afterwards. Having a meal out - in!

It's a nice idea, but we wouldn't eat it. No food anxieties, but nothing could be further removed from the food we prefer, so it would go to waste.

Maybe as an optional extra when booking , but personally not for me. We quite often bring a homemade frozen meal, or have pasta and some sauce for the first night or go to the pub. If I’d wanted a pre cooked meal I’d stay in a hotel.