It's like painting the Forth Road Bridge

It's all change at Oak Tree Lodge this week. The carpets are out, the bath is out, even the toilets are out. And before you think that must leave plenty of room inside, think again. Last we looked it was hard to get in through the door for all the plumbers, joiners, electricians, decorators and carpet fitters who were all hard at work. Yes, it's time for a refurbishment at Oak Tree Lodge.

Everything out - ready for a fortnight of chaos

Keeping on top of things at Clachaig is a bit like painting the Fort Road Bridge. Just when you think you're finished, and everything is looking spick and span, it's time to start all over again.

 

Oak Tree Lodge has served us well. It looked slightly smaller and less well loved back in 1984 when we arrived at Clachaig. By 1988 it was in line for a bit of extending and alteration, although that could probably be better described as a near complete rebuild and a start again.

Preparing for a rebuild circa 1988

It then became a family home for a number of years, and quite possibly a family home with one of the most spectacular views in the country. As we became more established at Clachaig and the enormity of developing the business a little more became slightly less daunting, we were able to move out of the tiny flat in the hotel and take up residence in more salubrious surroundings.

Oak Tree Lodge Lounge (as was)

From 1998 things had changed again and Clachaig Holidays as a self catering business in it's own right came to the fore for the first time.  Oak Tree Lodge came into being as a lovely 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 4 star self catering holiday lodge. The rest, as they say, is history. 

The West Face of Aonach Dubh

The lodge is undergoing a complete makeover, and will be available for letting again as of next week. We'll be back with some photographs in due course. In the meantime, we'll be moving on with some new flooring and some less invasive works at Rowan Tree Lodge before moving on to another major overhaul at Riverbank Holiday Cottages in Glencoe village. Remember, it's like painting the Forth Road Bridge...!

For booking enquiries, please see Clachaig Holidays, with real time availability and ease of online booking for all our 4 star self catering chalets and cottages in Glencoe and Ballachulish.

Clachaig FebruaryFest "Yard Sale"

Over the years we seem to gather a fair few nick nacks. Quite often we'll carry out a refurbishment and give things a fresh look, but decide that the old look was perfectly good and far too good to throw away. But it comes to a point where the office door will no longer open because of the amount of accumulated goodies that we just don't have a home for.

The answer quite simply is that it's time for a clear out. And rather than add to landfill or have a big bonfire, we're passing on the opportunity to acquire a little bit of Clachaig (and Grog & Gruel) memorabilia. Welcome to the Clachaig Yard Sale. And whilst it would be quite nice to use the funds raised to pay for the next refurbishment, we're going to add the proceeds to this year's Big Winter Raffle, and donate to the South Lochaber Villages Defibrillator Fund.

Our local communities would like to initially install two public access defibrillators, with one in Glencoe village at the Ambulance Station and one in Ballachulish at the Medical Centre. If funds permit, a third defibrillator in Onich is also on the wish list.

Purchase and instalation of these life saving machines will cost in the region of £2000 each, plus spare batteries and pads. These units also require hard wiring as the boxes need to be kept at a constant temperature. The Glencoe Ambulance Station will monitor and check them on a regular basis.

To date enough money has been raised for two of the three machines being installed on the area. Clachaig has already donated just over £200 which we raised from Pub Quizes and Pool Competitions over Octoberfest.

Alongside this “Yard Sale” we will be running Raffles every week over Februaryfest with a really big one being held on Saturday 4th March and we will be having a Pub Quiz every Monday night throught FebruaryFest as well. All money raised will be donated to the Community Defibrillators.

How will it work?
Browse our gallery at our website. If you like what you see make us an offer – your best shot. We’ll collate all the offers and come the end of FebruaryFest the best offer wins. All work MUST be collected by 4th March. Failure to do so will result in us relisting the item, possibly for immediate sale.
Send your best offer to inn@clachaig.com with the subject ‘yard sale’. Please ask any questions before you submit your offer.
We reserve the right to sell any item before the conclusion of the sale in return for a ridulously attractive bid, or do with as we so please. C’est la vie.