Family feedback and Earnest water-skiing

Once again, the past few weeks have been extremely varied for me. A meeting with our tax advisers followed by a show-round the various building works going on in the hotel and estate brought home to me that capital allowances and tax computations are extremely complicated, despite Government propaganda.

Indeed, self-assessment goes one step beyond this.

For example, when considering our water tanks, we need to decide whether this is a renewal, a replacement, an improvement or a repair. The onerous task of working this out is in the capable hands of John Mauchline, our recently recruited group financial controller. Rather him than me.

This week, following the spring bank holiday, has seen an influx of families, and for this very reason we host a guest reception each Monday evening to welcome both new and familiar faces.

We ask various heads of department along to represent the company, and this gives us a classic opportunity for direct feedback, which we consider to be fundamental to our long-term prospects.

The topic for discussion, as it has been for the past two or three years, is whether to develop further our farm steading for self-catering or time-share purposes.

We have a number of stakeholders to satisfy in this respect, including the planners and the local residents, as well as the existing guests.

We would like to provide our own water supply, but this comes at a cost, and there is a risk if the diviner can only give an approximate area of where the water might be. We already have one fruitless hole on the estate to prove it.

One of the more pleasurable tasks which I occasionally perform is taking guests water-skiing on Loch Earn, where we are fortunate enough to have 50 acres of loch frontage, of which we make full use.

I have just returned from one such trip with a dozen or so people. The water temperature is 12º and rising, but the wind made the loch look like the North Sea.

Once again, direct feedback is important, and an occasion such as this gives me a chance to give a few people uninterrupted time. In addition, getting alongside our guests is always rewarding.

As they say, nice work if you can get it.

Stephen Leckie is managing director of the Crieff Hydro leisure hotel in Crieff, Perthshire

Next diary from Stephen Leckie: 19 July