This week I've been looking for a new supplier for the tallow-free fabric conditioner that keeps our towels fluffy and absorbent.  (http://www.ecozone.com/products/fabric_conditioner/ for anyone interested.)

The Ecozone web site lists the companies who sell their products, so I spent time going through the list.  Finally found what I was looking for at Big Green Smile and put a case of 6 bottles into my basket.

To cut to the chase, the company charges £16 to deliver to my address!  For orders over £50, delivery is free to "United Kingdom Most Mainland" but this does not include the Scottish Highlands.  The company blames the charges on the courier service they use.

More than a bit miffed at the extortionate cost, I looked at how much they charge for delivery to other areas:
Ireland - £14
Netherlands - £14
Germany - £17
France £17

So delivery from Slough to Fort William costs more than Slough to Dublin and only a pound less than to Dusseldorf?

Of course I left the site and kept looking, then came to http://www.ethicalsuperstore.com/.  These guys offer a great range of products, a very friendly service and... free delivery for all orders over £20, including to Fort William!  If they can deliver free to me, why can't other companies?

Anyway, well done Ethical Superstore - you live up to your name, both for your products and your customer service.  Expect more orders from Mulroy, Fort William.

What brings people to the B&B?

Mulroy's first guests arrived at the front door thanks to our neighbour Sandra pointing them in our direction.  She owns and runs Constantia House B&B just across the road and has been a mine of information and advice.  If she is full, she tells visitors to try us or phones to check if we've got rooms available.  

Others find us by themselves.  German bikers said they parked in a small car park just down the hill from us and looked around to see what houses offered B&B.  They saw Mulroy, liked the style of the house and walked up to see if we had rooms.  We had, and they stayed for two nights.  

Others spot our parking sign first.  (When we have no rooms available the sign suffers the indignity of being covered by a black bin bag!)

That accounts for 50-60% of guests.  The others come from our link with a company that runs coach tours for Chinese people.  They are currently booking both rooms for 2/3 nights each week and are also trying to persuade us to carry on after the season ends.  Well, we'll see after October...

You will perhaps have noticed that I've not mentioned the local tourist information office sending us guests.  We don't use them, for a number of reasons that I'm not going to bore you with.  Suffice it to say that when our guests speak of them it is always in a negative way.  Several have told us that when they asked about accommodation, the answer was, "Walk along to the Royal Bank and turn right up the hill.  There are lots of B&Bs in that area, so perhaps you will find something."  It's embarrassing to find myself apologising for the actions of Scotland's official tourist company. (But they do sell lots of very nice, high quality souvenirs and Scottish goods.)

There is one other way that guests might come to us and that is by booking through this web site or from our Facebook page.  No-one has done so yet.  But it really is very easy; just use the "Check availability and book now" button here.

International.  That one word sums up Mulroy's visitors over the last seven weeks.  Our very first evening we had Chinese and German guests and since then we've hosted people from four continents.  (Still waiting for our first folk from Africa!)

Most are from Europe but others are from far, far away - China, USA and New Zealand.  

Few are from the UK; only two couples since we opened and they were both from England.  We've had enquiries from one or two English/Scottish folk but they were put off by the price. They were walkers and obviously on budgets that didn't stretch to £75 per night.  

We've had people touring by car and coach, bikers - one of whom was on a Harley :D - and even a Spanish couple who were walking/using public transport.  From the comments in the visitors' book, they all appreciate the comfy beds and Scottish breakfasts.  And the views, everyone raves about the views!