What’s in your rainy day kit for guests?

Jenny
Community Manager
Community Manager
Galashiels, United Kingdom

What’s in your rainy day kit for guests?

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Hello everyone!

 

As we head into Autumn, the rain and wind are an almost daily occurrence here in Scotland, with the days becoming shorter and nights longer.  

 

There’s nothing more enjoyable for me than curling up with a good book, or a good movie, when the weather is cold and wet.  Sometimes I’ll even get bundled up and head out for a bracing walk in the heaviest rain, just so that I can come home and get cosy later on with a cup of tea or cocoa.

 

When guests are away from home, they don’t have access to the things they’d normally turn to on a rainy day.

 

Tell me, what’s in your rainy day for guests?

 

Perhaps you might have some interesting board games or a small library of books, or maybe you’ve got a couple of spare pairs of waterproof boots that guests can borrow.

 

I’d love to hear all about what you provide in your listing for rainy days, so please let me know in the comments!

Jenny

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24 Replies 24
Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Jenny 

 

I don't have any board games, but I do have a lot of books and magazines, which I am happy for guests to browse through. In fact, there are books and magazines everywhere, including in a couple of the guest rooms.

 

I also have a reasonably large collection of DVDs, but guests very rarely use these unless we have a 'movie night' together, as they usually just watch stuff on their devices rather than the TV. Also, I think the DVD player might have died the other day. It was making a really weird noise! Debating about whether to get a new one or just accept that it's obsolete.

 

By the front door, there is a container with several umbrellas. These are mine, but guests do borrow them from time to time. That was more frequent when I hosted short stays. Long term guests usually have their own umbrella. I have put 'emergency' ponchos in the guest room supplies, but no one uses those ever 🙂

 

There are plenty of hot beverages to choose from, such as different types of coffee, hot chocolate and a huge selection of teas.

Jenny
Community Manager
Community Manager
Galashiels, United Kingdom

I love this @Huma0 - anywhere with loads of books is heaven to me!

 

Great idea about the ponchos too, though I'm curious why people don't use them!

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@Jenny I have an answer: Vanity pure and simple....ego, vanity. Hahaha 

Jenny
Community Manager
Community Manager
Galashiels, United Kingdom

Hahahaha that's a point @Clara116 - maybe people are self conscious!  I'm certainly not, I once bought ponchos for myself and a friend that were designed to look like the ghosts from the video game pacman 🤣

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@Jenny  I love ponchos and grew up in the days of Woodstock and so a poncho was a staple....to wear, sleep on, sleep in, stay warm in,  cover from rain, hid from people.. window covers, wall tapestry, hanging ceiling piece with Indian fabrics.  It was a part of our lives and daily world. 

Sudsrung0
Level 10
Rawai, Thailand

@Jenny 

 

We used to have board games they all get trashed so I threw them out, in my villas I have a small collection of books people do read them, My husband bought them from the second hand shops,

Most people these days use their phones or ipads, @Huma0 I dont know how many DVD's we have gone through I haven't bought any more. we just have smart TV's,

Right now we are going through our Monsoon season the good thing here the temperatures stay the same, little cooler in the night thats it.

We do get people coming here for the rain especially from the middle east.

Umbrellas just go missing I dont have any now.

Jenny
Community Manager
Community Manager
Galashiels, United Kingdom

That's a good point, @Sudsrung0 - people often have their own entertainment now!  

 

I've just watched a video about Monsoon season, it looks incredible!  I'd love to go out and walk in the knee deep water if it was safe to do so!

 

What kind of books do you keep in your villas - do you ever reuse books left by previous guests?

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@Jenny 

 

We have a assortment of books we have a couple of used book shops near by, in this are alot of expats live and they come on go maybe stay one year then move on then sell all their stuff, We have a few tourist books we live on an island and we are surrounded by many island even deserted ones the only way to get there is by speed boat.

I can only remember one guest give us a book, it was a Chinese guest he said to my husband you dont have any in Chinese so I give you this one,

When the rain comes down within 10 minutes certain areas are flooded our house is quite high up so we dont get flooded but when it comes down in the night you dont sleep like the other night then the electric goes off.

Living in Asia there are things you have to think about where you live, is the area prone to flooding the run off from the mountains and all that,

We have just installed Starlink wifi to improve speed. I agree people visit with their devices so use the smart tv to go on Netflix or Amazon. I do have books and board games which seem to get used.

Laurelle3
Level 10
Huskisson, Australia

@Jenny wet weather has become our norm this year. We have had 279 days of rain this year so far.

I always say when I go out for a walk it is "just think if we were in the uk and I don't go out I will be wasting my day." Because it always rain in the UK when we are there anx lived there in the 70's.

We supply umbrellas and offer our own  rain jackets if they don't bring their own if they want to go out walking.

We offer them the use of the electric clothes dryer if they have little ones and they are staying more than 2 days.

We supply a clothes hoist in the cottage for their use. 

This winter I got my husband to make me a pulley clothes line for the carport. Based on the UK model that some people have in their homes. Of a night I put the clothes horse by the fuel fire which I call my Chinese laundry. By morning clothes are dry (trying to be environmentaly and economical). 

Activities in the local area is indoor swimming pool, rock wall climbing gym, marine museum and picture theatre(half the price of city theatres.)  and the library.

We offer board games, current magazines, books (age suitable) I put in for children. Jig saw puzzles both for adults and kids (age suitable). I make up a colouring book for kids on arrival with pencils, teenagers I copy puzzles for them and adults crosswords, suduko and puzzles.

We don't offer Netfix as we found that most people have their own account and we have smart TV with free view.

I believe we offer more than enough for our guests with a full kitchen so they can have a cook up or go out for meals. 

Jenny
Community Manager
Community Manager
Galashiels, United Kingdom

Amazing @Laurelle3 - you've got all bases covered!

 

 

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ha, I was going to say "point of order @Jenny it's not autumn everywhere" but then I thought about la nina and the dreadful wet weather we've had for the past 12 months on the east coast. Qlders are curiously not as robust as the Brits when it comes to rain, we usually cancel weekend sport and don't leave the house! 

I need to look into a clever indoor laundry line we can set up somehow. 👍🏼 great idea. @Laurelle3 

even SA has had a good amount of rain heading into spring, hoping the la nina effect spills over even a tiny bit and puts a dampner on bushfire season 🙏🏻

Jenny
Community Manager
Community Manager
Galashiels, United Kingdom

You're absolutely right @Gillian166 - I was in my own reverie about the lovely Scottish Autumn... but it does sound like you've had a lot of rainy weather!  I second @Laurelle3 's pulley clothes line idea, they're brilliant!

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Gillian166
Level 10
Hay Valley, Australia

We've just come through our winter which in Sth Australia is quite Scottish, in fact I coined a new word: Scotstralia to describe the   foggy rainy winter mornings which can be gloomy but can also be marvellous in a Bronte kind of vibe...
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Fun fact, the area I lived in was founded by a Scot. He was gifted a huge parcel of land and he built the house that is next door to us, and then set up the local village (Nairne, named after his wife's maiden name). I wager he still found the summers to be unbearably hot, a stark contrast to the cold and gloomy winters that must have been more familiar. Also a funny thing: our house was built with the front door facing South and a south/west facing, the concept of "it's all opposite in the southern hemisphere" clearly wasn't considered back then by the British settlers (the "north east" is the aspect we  all aim for here) 

We have a large collection of board games, I have over 50 now. I pick them up used in op shops, so it's not a huge expense.  @Sudsrung0  we no longer leave the games in the suites, as they did indeed get mistreated. All my 3 listings are on our farm with the main house so guests can walk up and view all the games or msg us via the list in the guest manual. The only people who trash the games are the kids, and the careless parents who don't supervise the packing up of the game. Since we've changed to our "borrow from the main house library" system we've had no damage done to any games. Granted that's not something you can do if you have staff doing turnover, you can't expect the cleaners to also open the games, check all the pieces are back, nothing is damaged, and put everything tidily back into the ziplock baggies I use.  

We also supply wellies and brollies if guests want to go for a wander.

I haven't bothered with books much, because our average stay is 1.7 days, it's not really long enough, but I have large coffee table books, wine books and a few local magazines.