‘Ruth Carruthers, 24, is originally from the highlands of Scotland but currently lives in Glasgow, where she is doing a pretty good job of combining her love of nature, art, fashion and telling stories with words and pictures. As a kid, she spent most of her days outside, and she was always a bit of a water baby, but it wasn’t until she took a trip to the Caribbean in 2005 and saw first hand the destructive presence that humans are having on coral reefs that she knew what her mission was – that was the point of no return for her. Since then, she’s developed a passion for explaining green issues in a creative way and published her own environmental magazine last year. She has also been writing environmentally based articles for a variety of publications and websites, illustrating her work with her own pictures when possible, and has recently been appointed Environmental Correspondent for Huck magazine’s website. Ruth is passionate about marine conservation in particular, and works closely with NGOs and conservation charities to promote their work within the media. Ruth loves the eco friendly women’s range of Quiksilver and would love to see more people wearing it!’

If you read this blog on a regular basis, you will know Ruth is a Carreg friend, so the fact that she is now a Women’s Ambassador for Quiksilver clothing is a fantastic achievement! Ruth is a supporter of our new ‘Carreg Organic Holidays’ project and our ‘eco-eco philisophy’.

You can support, view and purchase Quiksilver’s new range at Wendy’s surf shop, Idos, across the road from The Carreg.

Next Friday, September 10th, we are holding our End of Summer Party. We will be barbequing, dancing to live music, playing games and just generally enjoing ourselves before the season changes. Please ring 01834862990 for further details.

Happily we are dog friendly in The Courtyard!

Last night we had a really fun time. Long time Carregular, Erin celebrated her 18th Birthday by taking over the entire restaurant, Courtyard and Tranquillity Garden and wearing her favourite Spiderman dress! She looked fantastic, the food was fantastic, the marquee was fantastic, the place was fantastic. Fantastic four times? Maybe a Fantastic Four dress would have worked too!

There is no party like a Carreg party! If you want to know more about events at The carreg, please ring us on 01834 862990 or e-mail us on info@thecarregrestaurant.co.uk.

Have a fantastic Bank holiday weekend! We will be open mostly all of it!

Ian

Summer is almost over and the nights are already drawing in.

In order to keep everyone happy and smiley throughout the cold winter months, we will sometimes have parties, theme nights, music, special offers and exclusive promotions at The Carreg. If you are thinking of visiting us over the winter, please leave your details in the comment box below and we can make sure you are invited.

If you break The Carreg like you would a stick of rock, it would have Excellence running through it. If, for any reason, you think this hasn’t been achieved, please tell us so. Either by completing a critique card, telephoning and asking for me or by sending an e-mail. Our aim is to have 100% of our clientele 100% each and every experience.

Take Care

Ian

Gofynoedd Kayleigh i fi neithiwr ‘Beth yw’r sefydla siarad Gymraeg yn y Garreg?’ I dweud y gwir does dim sefydla yn Y Garreg. Os ma rhyw un yn siarad Cymraeg, wel siaradwch Gymraeg. Os nadyn nhw, siaradwch Saesneg! Ond ma sein bach ar y bar nawr yn dweud y slogan fwrdd yr iaith pan mae Kayleigh yn gweithio!

Kayleigh asked me last night what is the situation about speaking Welsh in The Carreg. To be honest there isn’t one in The Carreg. If someone is speaking Welsh, well speak Welsh. If they don’t, speak English. But there is a little sign on the bar stating the Welsh Language Board slogan when Kayleigh is working!

When I was 15 my best friend’s Dad turned round to me and my friend as we sat in the back of his car one day and said, “If you have a jar and you fill it with lots of little rocks there will be no room for the big rocks, but if you put the big rocks in first and then pour in the little rocks the little rocks will fit round the big rocks.” Simple.

A big rock might be your family, friends, bike, health, e-mail, work or religion, the little ones might be shopping, going to the pub, Facebook, saving up for a new bike, but it totally depends on the person; everyone’s jar’s different, that’s the beauty of it.

At the time it was the best metaphor for life I had ever heard. It still is, only now I find I can apply this way of thinking to any situation, whether it’s life in general, work, an event or an idea I want to get off the ground etc…

However, even when you apply this rule it’s still not always easy to fit all the rocks in, and sometimes you need to jiggle things around a bit or take a rock out and put another one in its place from time to time. I’m still trying to squeeze everything into my life jar, but I’m getting there.

What does your jar of rocks look like?

Ruth Carruthers

Ruth Carruthers is a friend I met on the ‘Do’ Lectures a couple of years ago. She is an accomplished journalist and environmentalist and has agreed to write a piece on our new eco cottages when they are ready.

The Magic Weather Log!

Our ‘Organic’ Menu Holder!

One of our beautiful new planters

New Sign

Wendy falling asleep after doing all the changes!

This is me and my friend Kyle, earlier today. We are both smiling as it was nice to see each other because we are good friends, have the same interests and generally enjoy each others company. The reason we met earlier today was to attend a joyous, celebration service and funeral for her younger sister Cerys. Cerys suffered leukaemia and died last week when she was just 19 years old.

I felt privileged to be included in this celebration of Cerys’ life. I was constantly aware of what a lucky person I am. My thoughts and prayers go out to Cerys’ family.

Our Pink Ribbon Fundraiser was set up to raise funds to combat cancer, and we will continue with this scheme until this dark shadow over society is no more. Please watch this space about our next efforts and make every effort to help and support in this cause.

Ian

I know recently that there have been a couple of remarks left on Trip Advisor which have stated that service is not as good as it was at The Carreg. I would state that we have made a few staff changes of late and people have been put in to roles without the relevant training. We have acted, and all of our front of house staff are currently undergoing a vigorous training program to ensure that this doesn’t fall short of the mark again. Anyone who feels that the service has been less than expected, I apologise and please e-mail me on info@thecarregrestaurant.co.uk and I will deal with the query. I would ask that if anyone wishes to see anyone about their experience, we will always try to deal with the issue there and then, rather than finding out a few days later on a web browser.

I, and the rest of the Carreg Crew, really believe in building relationships and satisfying the needs of our loyal supporters, along with welcoming new faces to The Carreg Experience. After all, without satisfied customers coming back time and time again, we simply could not operate.

As always I really appreciate your custom, and thank you for taking the time to read this.

Ian