She stood there looking around at the very beautiful lived-in sitting room with the three hefty sofas in pale cream covered in an array of quilts, cushions, and throws she’d spent the past twenty years gathering. She stroked a beautifully hand-blocked throw on the seat of the sofa and straightened a stack of pastel cushions all carefully chosen to compliment the creams and whites of the paint on the old shutters. Did she really want to invite strangers into her home? Because unless she took up Sallie’s offer she’d have to start it in the house.
Lottie started to think about the at-home restaurant idea further; if she followed her tried and tested philosophy of simple fresh produce, mostly from her garden, it couldn’t really go wrong on the food side of things. She knew from the feedback that her meals were always delicious.
Lottie moved over to the shutters and looked out to the front garden and thought about it all; the thing where she came unstuck was that Lottie didn’t like restaurants themselves that much, so the idea of putting one in her domain seemed all upside down. Lottie preferred beautiful home-cooked food prepared simply and lovingly, and as she stood there gazing out at the daffodils she couldn't even think of the last time she’d been to a restaurant she loved.
She cherished more the sharing of food around a table, the chatting over supper, the friendships and relationships formed around meals, not the sitting in a restaurant and examining it bit.
She looked over at the grey lamp on the little side table. She had zero qualifications in catering and had no experience of working in a restaurant. The only thing she’d really been in charge of was cooking dinners. Cooking dinners for many people for a very long time.
What if she could reproduce those dinners and the sharing of food around her whopping old kitchen table or any table for that matter? If she could take the recipes so loved by the families she delivered meals to and replicate it to a cosy little atmosphere of a pop-up dinner party, she could see that it could work.
But really why would I do this? she thought.
Because I love to cook, because I love to feed people, and because I need to keep my house.
Chapter 9
Lottie Cloudberry hauled open the double door at the front of her house, closed it behind her, and pulled on her jacket. She walked down the path, opened the black railing gate and double-checked the time of her surgery appointment. She had plenty of time and decided to stroll the long way through Pretty Beach, take a detour through the dunes and do some more thinking about Dimitri's idea and Sallie’s offer to host the first pop-up restaurant in the Boat House.
She closed the gate behind her and just as she was getting to the end of the lane a huge car indicated left, pulled into the lane and started to park. She went to tutt - it drove her doolally when the tourists ignored the lines and permit signs, when she saw a permit tucked right into the corner of the car’s windscreen. She peered in wondering who it was... she didn’t recognise the car and knew all the owners in Strawberry Hill Lane.
The car door opened and Lottie’s face broke into a smile when she saw Sallie hop out and start putting on her coat.
‘Hi, Lottie. How are you?’ Sallie said as she looked up and saw Lottie strolling down the pavement.
‘I’m good, thanks. On my way to the surgery, actually.’
‘Oh dear, all good I hope?’
‘Yep. Just getting my migraine prescription, although touch wood, I don’t need them as much these days.’
‘Never had one myself, thankfully.’
‘What are you up to, then?’ Lottie enquired.
‘I’m just popping in to meet the electrician for a quote. The wiring is not the best in this old place and so we’re thinking we should get it done now before we start on any of the rest of the stuff - you know the nicer bits like the painting and the decorating.’
‘My place needs the electricity doing too. Who’ve you got coming, Sam Millson?’
‘I have. How did you know that?’
‘Ha, Sallie, you should know by now - you’re married to Ben Chalmers, meaning you’ll only get the best in Pretty Beach to work for you, and if it’s anything to do with electricity Sam Millson is your man.’
Sallie laughed and nodded. ‘I’ve been here a good few years, but I have to tell you, I’m still getting used to some of the ways of Pretty Beach. Speaking of which, have you had any further thoughts on the dinner in the Boat House cottage?’
Lottie put her hand onto the railings and took the weight off her feet. ‘I have, but I keep going back and forth on it, to be honest.’
‘Oh, right, why? What’s stopping you?’ Sallie said as she closed the car door and put her handbag on her shoulder.
‘In all honesty, I don’t actually know.’
‘Your reputation goes before you from what I’ve heard,’ Sallie said with a smile.
‘What do you mean? Goes before me?’
‘I was out walking with Juliette at the lighthouse the other day and she was saying how when your children were all younger you had a waiting list to get onto your meal deliveries.’
Lottie laughed and looked embarrassed. ‘Actually yes, she’s right. There was. I had the affluent women of Waterlock School queuing up for my services. They still are, actually.’
‘So, you’ve no problem with the actual cooking part of it then?’
‘Oh god no, not at all. I’ve been cooking since I was a tiny girl. I love it. I don't know why I’m hesitating. I guess it’s just that I don’t think anyone would come, I suppose. I keep imagining I would be sitting there on the night looking like a right idiot.’
Sallie pressed her lips together and answered, ‘I really don’t see that as a problem, but I know what you mean. Before I put the Boat House cottage up for rent I thought no one would be interested in staying in it. Now it has a waiting list - you just never know.’
‘You don't see filling the tables as a problem?’
‘Nope. In this little town, word would go round like wildfire... an evening with Lottie’s infamous dinners. I reckon you’d fill those few tables in no time - you’d be surprised how many people don’t want to cook. I offered the meals in the Boat House as a little extra way to drum up a bit of cash flow in the early days. There was no way I thought people would order for every night of their stay, but some of them absolutely did. In fact, I’ve had more than one guest ask to take meals home with them.’
‘Hmm, possibly it would work then,’ Lottie replied, chewing on the side of her lip.
‘Then of course there’s social media. Juliette told me you share bits and bobs online already.’
‘I do. It’s tiny, though, I’ve only got a few hundred followers.’
‘A few hundred people who love your food and are following your stories. Beef that up a bit and pop it all on there and it would take off. Word-of-mouth social media marketing is immeasurable. It’s how my business took off - slowly and consistently. Well, you’d know that from Juliette’s Christmas shop too.’
‘Maybe. I guess I’d just have to suck it and see as they say.’
‘And then, of course, there is Holly and the Pretty Beach grapevine. Who needs social media if you get her involved?’ Sallie chuckled.
‘Very true, Sallie. It didn’t take you long to learn that one, then,’ Lottie replied laughing.
‘Not at all. Let me put it this way - I am very glad I have her on board. She was quietly instrumental in a lot of things in the early days of the Boat House and the early days of my new life in Pretty Beach.’
‘Yes, you need Holly on your side to succeed in Pretty Beach,’ Lottie agreed.
‘You’ll need a name too, I guess. It'll need to be something good to whet the appetite. Anyway, food for thought. I think it would definitely work and you could use the Boat House cottage as your test run - make some mistakes while it's small. I reckon you should go for your life Lottie. It could be just the income you’ve been looking for. Trust me, I worked the most dead-end jobs before I came to Pretty Beach, and if I hadn’t taken
a chance on the Boat House, I’d still be working for a man who spoke to my chest every morning when he asked me to serve his coffee.’
Lottie rolled her eyes and nodded. The person she’d worked for hadn’t looked at her chest but Stephanie Beady had near enough tied Lottie to a chair. And if opening a home restaurant was going to mean she could work for herself then maybe it was time to give it a go.
‘I think I’m going to go for it.’
‘Great idea. After I popped in the other day, I mentioned it to Connor when we went in. Hope you don’t mind? I suddenly thought afterwards that maybe you didn’t want anyone knowing. Anyway, I’ll keep my mouth shut about it to anyone else, but Connor said he thought it was a great idea and that he’d book in for dinner with you.’
Lottie Cloudberry felt a little bit of warmth touch the apples of her cheeks.
Connor Bally would like to come to one of my dinners? I don’t mind the sound of that at all.
Chapter 10
Lottie Cloudberry pushed her bike over the little bridge across the stream and looked up at the Boat House in front of her. A deep blue sky sat above it and the sea sparkled and glistened behind. As Lottie put the stand down on her bike and took her phone out of the basket she smiled to herself as she heard the Pretty Beach ferry horn sound in the distance. The joys of living in Pretty Beach.
She walked across the white pebbles of the Boat House driveway, glanced across at the beautiful marquee on the left and then to the little cottage on the right. She nodded to herself. Just as Juliette had told her Sallie was very good at what she did. The Boat House cottage screamed come in. Come in, kick your shoes off, put your feet up, grab a drink and relax. A small, white, cafe table and chairs sat to the right of the front door, a hammock was strung between two old fruit trees and an old ship’s bell swayed in the breeze by the front door.
Lottie opened her phone and read the text from Sallie and keyed the code number into a small pad next to the front door. She heard the lock click and pushed the door open. Wow. It was gorgeous.
She walked around the tiny cottage and a shiver went down her spine. Maybe it could actually work for her. In her house, her home, she’d only been able to see the things that could go wrong with a home restaurant, but looking at the cottage with its beautiful decor and cosy, coastal feel she could suddenly envisage delicious five-course meals on long sharing tables or tiny little tables for two with soft music in the background and happy people sitting around chatting.
‘Helloooooo,’ Lottie heard Sallie calling out from outside.
Lottie walked over to the door and pulled it open to see Sallie standing on the front porch.
‘Hi, Sallie. I just arrived. Impressive! It’s gorgeous in here. You’ve done a fabulous job.’
‘Thanks. It wasn’t when I first took ownership. What do you think then? Don’t you think it would work brilliantly for the idea?’
Lottie paused for a minute and then looked around at the tiny sitting room. ‘It was like a lightbulb went off actually. I think it could work for me and work very well. I can just envisage it right here, can you?’
‘Yep. I’m so with you, I think so too,’ Sallie replied nodding enthusiastically.
‘I couldn’t see it before when I was thinking about it at home and Dimitri was pushing the idea, but here, I don’t know, I think it could work. The setting is iconic. Well, I guess you already know that!’
Sallie gestured around to the sitting room and small alcove area. ‘It is. It’s a fabulous setting. It sells itself. About ten tables I reckon. Or you’d maybe get a couple of the trestles in. Depends on how you want to market it.’
‘Yep. Ten would be about right, I think. Not too tight but still cosy.’
‘So, twenty people at fifty-five pounds or more...’ Sallie said trailing off as if doing the sums in her head.
‘Yeah, I know. Not bad, eh? Not bad at all. Better than a dead-end job working for someone I can’t stand.’
‘Not to be sniffed at, no. Depending on how you can keep your costs down you’d get a nice profit from that.’
‘Yep. I’ve sort of learnt that pretty well over the years of doing the meals - the profit side of it, I mean.’
‘Of course, yes, you must have done.’
Sallie was looking out the window down over to the sea and turned back. ‘Do you know what? I reckon you pull it up more. Go really fancy. Like full-throttle high-end. People love this place and they love Pretty Beach. I think you could charge a premium. Go in from the beginning as up-market and boutique.’
‘Really?’
‘Yep. I did it with the Orangery and it worked straight away. Upping the price upped the exclusivity and that’s precisely what you want here. An exclusive little Pretty Beach experience not many people can have. It will go off. I know it will.’
‘Hmm, you do have a point,’ Lottie replied drumming her fingers on her lips in contemplation.
Just as they were talking it through further a voice called out and Sallie’s husband, Ben, came into the cottage, pilot uniform on, hat under his arm. Sallie jumped up from the sofa and kissed him on the cheek.
‘What are you two cooking up, then?’ Ben asked with a laugh as he saw Sallie’s notepad on the coffee table. ‘I know when my wife is scheming, Lottie. She’s dangerous and I’ve learnt now that I should run. And run very fast before she gets me doing all the muscle for one of her ideas.’
‘The idea I was telling you about for the home restaurant. Remember we went to that one in London, Ben? It was fantastic, wasn’t it?’ Sallie replied.
‘Oh yes. What are you planning, then?’ Ben asked.
‘Exclusive Pretty Beach dining experience - high end, boutique, you know similar to the Orangery thing,’ Sallie replied.
‘Nice,’ Ben said nodding in agreement.
‘Ten or so tables. Amazing food. The whole experience being really special for the customers.’
‘It would be all in here?’ Ben asked, looking around.
‘Yep.’
‘So how are you going to market it?’ Ben asked as he stood in the middle of the sitting room calculating how many small tables would fit in.
‘Social media and Holly but make it incredibly exclusive.’
‘Good idea. You could promote it as sort of hidden - my customers love all that clandestine stuff.’
Sallie frowned and looked at Ben. ‘Sorry, I’m confused. Hidden? What do you mean by that?’
Ben sat down on the arm of the sofa and put his pilot’s hat on the coffee table and explained further. ‘When I take people to the lunches on the plane they love that it’s all very exclusive, all a bit secret. They adore the idea that you can only get to Skiffs by boat or in my case, seaplane. It just adds to the aura of it all. They think it’s really special. As if they are getting something other people can’t.’
‘I see what you mean,’ Lottie replied, her hands on her hips, nodding in agreement.
‘It would be the same here and didn’t Sallie say you were going to do it in the outbuildings of your house too if this goes well?’
‘I did. Sallie suggested trying it out here before I did it at home. A bit of a head start.’
Ben looked up at the ceiling and nodded. ‘It’s all a bit underground, isn’t it? You could almost do it in different secret little locations in Pretty Beach. Don’t tell them the whereabouts until the day before or a few days before. People love all that. Secret Evenings in Pretty Beach.’
Lottie and Sallie both looked at Ben agape and he laughed. ‘What?’
‘Ben. Genius! And there we have it - the name,’ Sallie said with a huge smile.
Lottie nodded emphatically. ‘That’s it, that’s the name. And that was what was missing, the clandestine, hidden bit. Oh, I love it! Secret Evenings in Pretty Beach.’
‘So, you’re going to go for it?’
Lottie smiled. ‘Yes. Yes, I absolutely am.’
Chapter 11
The next day, Lottie walked over to one of the old ti
mber greenhouses at the bottom of the garden, pulling on her gardening gloves as she did. Dimitri, in his usual checked shirt, jeans, and working boots followed behind her with his laptop and a cup of tea.
‘Secret Evenings. Yes, I like that,’ Dimitri said in Greek, nodding as he closed the greenhouse door, pulled over an old timber chair, and dragged it down to a potting table at the end.
Lottie started to gather the last of the winter salad leaves, put them in a basket, and then lined up her potting trays and began to fill them with potting mix. Dimitri placed the laptop on the old potting table alongside her and opened it.
‘So, once we’d got some interest we would need a way for people to make a booking and a way for them to enquire,’ Dimitri said, typing notes into a list.
‘Sallie said it’s really easy - you just add it on via the website software.’
‘Right. I thought it would be. I had a quick look at the dinner round website host. And then we’d need to communicate with people once they’d enquired and paid the address of where the Secret Evening is actually going to take place.’
‘Yes, and they’d need to be able to pay online upfront first too.’
‘I’ll be able to add all that in online too, I guess? We’ll use the same payment gateway as the dinners...’
‘Yep. We’ll need one of your systems - stock answers and someone monitoring payments and emails.’
‘I’m at the ready. So, the location is going to be secret? Even for the events we eventually do here?’ Dimitri asked.
‘I think so, for now. At least while it’s in the Boat House cottage,’ Lottie replied.
Secret Evenings in Pretty Beach Page 4
