How we’re spending lockdown at Lanhydrock Hotel & Golf Club in Cornwall

We have always thought that we are a great place to stay in Cornwall – and now due to lockdown at Lanhydrock and beyond, we can really attest to that!
Due to the Coronavirus lockdown, Graham, myself and our two dogs have moved into the Hotel and have been living here since 21st March.

Towards the end of March it became clear that the pandemic was going to have a huge effect on our daily lives, especially our working life at Lanhydrock. Events were cancelling in their droves, people were cancelling their stays, the only ones who weren’t too affected were the golfers, but due to the dreadful weather we experienced in February they hadn’t really been able to make the most of the course like they usually do.

Gradually we made the decision to furlough all of our clubhouse staff and close the site completely, by this point Graham was already living in the hotel, and to help keep on top of the admin and ongoing enquiries, I moved in too – along with our black labs, Bruce & Basil.

Our roles at the Hotel altered, Graham has been out helping the Greenkeeping team with lots of Spring maintenance to ensure that we remain one of the top golf destinations and Golf Courses in Cornwall.
I very quickly became Office Manager, Head Receptionist, Chef, Barmaid, Cleaner and most importantly – chief dog walker! Both the dogs are used to spending some time at the hotel, but rarely overnight and so they have taken up residence in our main office. A huge dog bed now covers the office floor, along with a big cage for Basil that he is banished to when he has been naughty, which I must say is quite often recently. Visit our Facebook page for more Bruce & Basil news and pictures.

Life has been quite different, both of us working long days 7 days a week just to keep the site ticking over, but the one bonus is that the sun came out almost immediately. We have enjoyed private use of the grounds, except for a small team of Greenkeepers who are still hard at work under social distancing measures. This spell of weather has allowed them to work their magic on the course – the course is looking amazing so early in the year and the team have been able to undertake several projects which we hope our Member’s will enjoy when we reopen. Graham, at my request, has also begun a project to give our slate patio terrace a ‘facelift’ and has given it a beautiful border of Cornish granite, next is the planting scheme.

We have watched the amazing spring flowers and trees come out thanks to the sunshine and most days I have been lucky enough to take some of my office work outside.

Lockdown at Lanhydrock has taken some getting used to for us, but after 3 long walks every day and having the run of the whole site, we know we are going to have two very sad labs when we load them up to finally return home.

Clare Bond