The garden is swept, the kitchen is stocked, the towels are folded, and the bed is made.

Tomorrow we welcome our first guests.

Today was a good day — the weather has turned warm, the sky is clear, and it is beginning to feel like summer.

The change of season mirrors my hopeful mood as I take a little time to pause and reflect before refocussing and switching gears to start concentrating on our next suite — the Under Hill.

Wherever you are today, I hope you get the chance to stop for a moment and enjoy the sunshine warming your face.

This week is an exciting one as we will be hosting our very first guests!

We’re busy getting ready — making everything neat and tidy after our grand opening celebration. And I’ve had my favourite “cleaning song” (Alice In Wonderland’s Painting The Roses Red) running through my head for the last few days.

There are also a few final details we still need to finish up — and today I squeaked in some time to make the grate for our courtyard tree! Now if I can just finish those roses. 😂

This year Hailey and I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.

On our honeymoon, we were lucky enough to stay in a beautifully restored castle just outside Rome. We slept in a tiny tower room, explored the grounds, and drank tea on a rooftop balcony. It was an absolutely magical experience.

Over breakfast, Hailey broached the idea of building our own little castle hotel. I was intrigued and we spent the morning dreaming together; building imaginary castles.

My love and I are still dreaming together, but this weekend a little piece of that particularly crazy dream came true.

I’m looking forward to the next 10 years of dreaming.

Photo by @blushandflora featuring @thecasualceltic

Thank you to everyone who entered to win a one night stay for two at the Hazelnut Inn. There were some great entries and we enjoyed seeing all your photos and videos!

Princess Alana’s over the top entry is our winner.

We are looking forward to welcoming Alana’s parents, Amanda and Sam for their stay in the North Star Suite.

Thank you to everyone who visited our open house today. And a special thanks to those of you who travelled so far to see us.

The day was a little wet and the line to tour the North Star Suite was very long (with more that 1,300 visitors), but we had a wonderful day.

It was magical to watch your expressions as you stepped inside for the first time and we really appreciated all your kind words — thank you.

We hope to see you all again next year for the Under Hill Suite’s open house!