A day in the life of Emma, Longcroft Winchmore Hill (Amersham)
Emma is a busy mum to Ellie (6) and Martha (1) and the owner of Longcroft Winchmore Hill. This is what a typical day in her life looks like:
Monday morning
No alarms necessary in our house, the children wake us up at 6.30am. I need to start my day with a coffee, kindly delivered by husband Mark. Now I can function and my first job is to get the children washed, dressed and fed and watching TV whilst Daddy oversees from his office.
7.45am It’s time to feed the cats. They hear me coming with the tray of food and eagerly greet me with purrs. They each get a kiss and a cuddle before I carefully place their breakfast down. I put the radio on and make their rooms look nice for the day ahead. Once they have finished eating I collect the empty bowls, replenish water bowls with clean water and then have another quick cuddle promising I will be back shortly. What a great start to the day!
8.45am I get Ellie and Martha in the car and drop them off at school and nursery. On my way back home I stop at the bank and the local shops to get some flowers to brighten up my reception area, a few other groceries and fresh ingredients for Mordecai and Esther’s A La Cat™ meal tonight. I will spoil them with Simply King Prawns – their absolute favourite!
10.00am Back home, the fresh prawns are in the fridge and now it’s time to have a quick coffee and check my emails and messages and reply to any enquiries. Then I wash the breakfast bowls up and head back up to see everyone for their mid morning brush, playtime and Dreamies! The sun is shining, too. Pugsy first, she’s a Persian so she needs a lot of brushing which she loves even more than Dreamies!
Then it’s Mordecai and Esther’s turn, two beautiful Siamese cats who love to play. Mordecai lets me know he is ready for his pamper session by rolling over and insisting he goes first, while his sister has to wait. Luckily she is very patient. Their mum has kindly treated them each to a luxurious pamper session every day which includes a lovely massage alongside their grooming. Does this job get any better?!
Eva, Kristian and Maya politely let me know it’s their time for a brush and some Dreamies; they don’t want to play yet.
Back indoors it’s time for me to eat something whilst flicking through a magazine or checking my emails. I get an urgent call from someone moving house, can I accommodate Benji, Billy and Misty tomorrow? Looking at my bookings, yes, I can just squeeze them in! Phew, their mum is so relieved. It’s going to be a busy afternoon getting their suite ready for them.
I finish brunch, put the flowers in reception, put a load of washing on, tidy the kitchen, say bye to hubby who is working from home and drive to the yard to muck out Alfie’s stable, fill haynets, and prepare his dinner. It’s a nice day so I walk up to his field to say hello and give him a carrot and a pat.
Alfie (a big baby – he’s only 3 and still growing!)
12.30pm Back home in time for a Mordecai and Esther’s lunch and extra playtime with each of my guests followed, of course, by Dreamies 😉
Esther enjoying playtime
Litter trays get checked, then it’s time to get organised! Kristian is going home today and I have to deliver him home. He doesn’t travel well, so I constantly chat to him calmly as I pack up all his belongings and let him know what is happening. He is 16 years old and his eyesight isn’t great. Time for one last gentle cuddle and head rub before I carefully put him in his carrier.
Kristian travels in the front with me so I can talk to him the whole way home. Luckily he lives locally so it’s a short journey for him. We take it very slowly. He was brilliant and we made it to his home without any mishaps.
1.30pm Back home now and I have to clean and prepare the Autumn suite for Billy, Benji and Misty who are checking in tomorrow. Before I start, I need a few more kitty cuddles. Eva has decided she would quite like to play now!
Autumn is all clean so all that is left is to put the bedding onto wash and have a quick cup of tea and check emails before leaving at 2.45pm to collect Ellie from school and Martha from nursery.
3.30pm Back home to fix a snack for the girls and help Ellie with her homework in between hanging up the washing and preparing the children’s dinner, cooking two A La Cat™ meals and generally tidying up around everyone!
It’s 5pm, the children have eaten, it’s now time to feed our guests, top up water bowls and clean out litter trays and sweep up. I give the Autumn suite its finishing touches ready for tomorrow and then turn the radio off and go back round to each guest turning their heating up (it’s going to be cold tonight) and make sure they all get a nice brush or cuddle after supper.
7pm Martha goes to bed and I can finally take a few minutes to myself with a relaxing shower while Ellie plays with her Lego. Seeing as Mark was at home today he takes Ellie to bed at 7.30pm and reads to her whilst I check emails and return messages, put another load of washing on and wash the bowls from supper. It’s now 8pm and I am starving. What shall we have for dinner? I pour myself some wine and clear the kitchen while I contemplate what to cook. Dinner is usually on the table at 9pm. Afterwards I might watch some TV but more often than not it’s my only time to do catch-up with paperwork, check next day’s schedule and place an online food order.
Eva, Mordecai and Esther have all ordered our A La Cat™ Bedtime snacks and milk so I prepare and take this up at 10.30pm when I do my final check for the night.
Whilst there I do a final check on all our guests. Everybody gets a kiss and a cuddle and there are purrs all round as I tuck them into bed.
I turn all the lights off as I come in, give Charlie and Lola a kiss and cuddle and can’t help but get drawn in to a play…then slowly crawl up to bed and sleep soundly!!