Congratulations to Peter Hodgson, who has won a free one week stay at Pearly Grey!

Mr. Hodgson filled in one of our questionnaire forms at the end of his last stay, and was randomly chosen from all of the questionnaires received during that 3 month period to win a free holiday!

Previous winners of this contest are:
Patrick & Agnes Walsh
Joyce Meakin
Kevin and Lynda Wendt
Brian De Moulpied and Jacqueline Wales

Make sure you fill in a questionnaire during your next trip, and you can have a chance at a free week at Pearly Grey!

Hi folks, I hope you are all fit and well!!
Once again I offer you a heart felt apology for not updating this diary. I have a good reason though!!! as you can see, I am looking after my pregnant wife!!! Ana Maria is 26 weeks pregnant with a baby BOY. The baby is due on June 20th. We are over the moon.

I was 39 last Monday and had a wonderful birthweek!! Who made the rule that a birthday should only be twenty four hours! Ana Maria and I had a fab weekend with friends and family. As my working week starts on a Monday, Justine thought it would be a fab idea to walk the famous Barranco del Infierno with all of the sales team.

We have a lot of new reps here at the moment, so it was a good team building exercise and also a good excuse for an aperitif or twenty! The walk is only a ten minute drive from Pearly Grey. The walk starts at the top end of Adeje village. The walk itself is truly AWESOME. The walk only takes about three hours to complete. The Othello 1 (chicken shack) restaurant is located at the exit. The views from the terrace are out of this world and the ice cold beer is very much appreciated. You must check this walk out the next time you are over.

After the walk I had arranged some birthday golf. No special occasion can go by without it being involved. Ernie “Bandido especial” won the day yet again. It was a close run affair this year. I am currently having golf lessons and I am slowly reeling him in. Next year Ernie!!!.

Just when I thought my day could not get any better, I found out that the mighty Hull City were playing Spurs on the TV. This is where the euphoria ends. Unfortunately we got beat 2-1. I hope we can stay in the premiership this year.

Pearly Grey is as busy as ever thankfully. Any talk of recession is totally banned. The weather in 2009 has been superb. The Saturday BBQ is still PINK or LOUD shirt night for the fella’s! Adrian the bar/restaurant Manager is doing some innovative food and beverage promotions. Anything from flipping coins to mystery envelopes containing 100% discount vouchers! We have so many good owners over at this time of the year. Our owners are the best in the world, fact! Thank you for your continuing support, it really means the world to us.
One last thing, are you on facebook yet? It is a great way to stay in touch with everyone all at once. Click on this and register it is fantastic. www.facebook.com

And one more last thing. SIMON GET YOURSELF BACK OUT TO WHERE YOU TRULY BELONG!

Well folks, I have finally got round to writing a diary. A lot has happened since my last entry. We have had new recruits, Donna and Kevin moved on, something about a credit crunch? But all is good down here at thee best resort in the entire world, the sun is still shining, the owners are having a ball. Heather is still as mad as a hatter, Tracy is still grafting her little socks off. The restaurant has introduced a fabulous new menu, happy hour is still called happy hour, although it starts at 5pm and finishes at 6.30pm! Our BBQ nights are still officially pink shirt night for the fellas, although Jeff has announced that if you do not own a pink shirt you can wear a LOUD as possible shirt (Just like Mucka’s!!). All the reps still love life to the full. We have a new rep that goes by the name of Simon Cartwright; the owners absolutely love this guy. The ladies want to Mother him, the fellas want to watch footie with him. He is going to be a massive hit with everybody.

Sandy, (Gemma’s Mum) has put together a cultural trip for PG guests only. We have had some fantastic feedback from our guests. The trip takes in Vilaflor, the highest village in Spain. Then it’s on to a wine farm, where Diego the owner gives you a personalized tour around the vineyard, it is amazing to see how they grow and cultivate and finally press the grape. And then no tour would be complete without a bit of wine tasting! You can sample four or five different bottles, the wine is amazing, fantastic tannins, a very vibrant bouquet with hints of …….. erm…you get the message!!! And to finish the day Sandy takes you to an authentic Tapas restaurant. A trip not to be missed.

I have been on my travels also. A couple of weeks ago, I checked out the all new plaza España in our gorgeous capital, Santa Cruz. They have spent millions redeveloping the city centre. Where there was once a big square, it is now a huge man-made sea water lake.

When the tide comes in the lake rises and it falls at low tide. Santa Cruz has a real capital city feel to it, it is very cosmopolitan. Lovely restaurants, fantastic shopping, a state of the art tram service that whisks you about from place to place. Make sure you check it out next time you visit.

Ana Maria and I also took in the delights of a Romeria in the beautiful town of Vilaflor. A Romeria is basically a traditional farmer’s festival. These are marvelous occasions where all the locals get dressed up in traditional Canarian dress. One of my highlights was seeing the majestic Oxon drawn carts parading through the streets.

The atmosphere at these occasions is helped on by all the free beer, Sangria and food given out to all the revelers by the locals. To round the evening off we headed to the main church square for some live music and some very bad dancing on my part!! Tenerife has so much to offer, with all its cultural delights and traditions, I love it.

So folks, that’s it for now, this is my second day trying to get this diary finished, slow at typing, you see. Please leave a message, even if it’s only your name! Only four people responded to my last diary.

All is well here at Pearly Grey, come and see us all soon, your home away from home!
One love
Dougie

Hi Folks, I hope all of you are fit and well.

I have just returned from the Christel House Charity Golf Day in Tewksbury. James, our Developer, very kindly entered a team from Pearly Grey. This was a thank you to all the owner/golfers who have been traveling to PG over the years.

I arrived at the hotel very early on the Monday morning, at 2am, in fact. I was expecting to be greeted by Martin and Carol Andrews, who had traveled up from Essex. Martin is usually the last to bed, and I had visualized him standing at the bar! But to my disappointment, the bar had been closed hours before!!

Not to worry, I needed a good sleep so I could hopefully win the top prize of a two week holiday to South Africa!!

I met up with the PG legends & wags for a good hearty breakfast. The team was made up of a fantastic cross section of old and new owners.

Our captain, Cliff Jones, has owned at PG for over fifteen years. He used to play on the Golf Del Sur course with James, Jonno, and the gang all those years ago. The rest of the team was made of relatively newer owners:

Dave Easterbrook (6 years)

Dave Robbins (1 year)

and Steve Hutt (two minutes thirty seconds! he was our wild card).

My good friends Martin and Carol had come to support not only PG, but also their good friend Dave Robbins. PG was well supported as the wags accompanied these fine fellows.

The Wags: Carol Andrews, Jo Hodson & Debbie Easterbrook

I had already broken the news to them that I was actually playing for the GE money team!! So of course there was a lot of banter of me being a turn coat, etc!

My team teed off on a beautiful sunny afternoon. The Hilton Puckrup Hall Golf Club is set on the edge of the Cotswolds in 140 acres of secluded parkland. The championship course offers superb views of the Malvern Hills. Beautiful.

I absolutely creamed my first drive! Chipped on and sunk a forty foot eagle putt. The crowd went wild!

And then I woke up!

I did hit a good drive though but ended up with a bogey!!

The boys teed off an hour later. We bumped into each other when I was looking for a wayward drive.

I finished with a reasonable 35 points. I knew this was not going to be enough to win the first prize. I thoroughly enjoyed my round, though. The course had three lakes and I found every one of them.

The PG team finally finished about ninety minutes after I did. They all had played well on the first nine holes, but fatigue kicked in on the last nine and the scoring took a bit of a dip. Steve Hutt had struggled with a rib injury he sustained while Sumo Wrestling a week prior to the golf!! He still managed to register a decent score. Dave Robbins had started spectacularly on the first nine! But, true to form, he had a horrendous back nine. Dave “the Bandido” Easterbrook registered a good score due to his 24 handicap. And finally our captain, Cliff, had a good round, and we were so proud as he won the Straightest Drive Competition. Well done, Cliff.

After all the golf in the beautiful Gloucester sunshine. We headed to the club house for some well deserved aperitifs. We had a great time recounting our golf stories of the day.

What a fantastic set of owners, it was great to be in their company. We had a great day.

The day was not over yet, as we had the evening Gala Dinner to attend. We had a great evening, the high point being when Cliff got presented with his trophy for the Straightest Drive. The food was amazing. The Christel House Charity is a very worthy cause, and it was very moving to hear what great work they are doing with underprivileged children in places such as India and South Africa. I was very proud that the PG family attended.

After the very moving speeches we headed to the hotel bar, for a nightcap or two. We retold our golfing stories, the banter got funnier by the second, and a good night was had by all.

I would like to say a big thanks to all who made the journey and made this such a memorable day for Pearly Grey.

Talk soon my friends!

Dougie
Ps. Please leave a quick note if you read this. I am also considering maybe doing some PG road shows. Any ideas?

Hi Folks!
Well, what can I say?!?! We are Ull, we are Ull, we are Ullull!! Who needs Mourinho? We´ve got Phil Brown-eeoh!!! We are going up, say we are going up!!!

Can you believe Hull City AFC have been promoted to join the big guns of the world famous Premiership?!? What a fantastic weekend I have just had. Hull City at Wembley stadium, there was no way I could miss such a momentous event. I got a very cheap return flight with Easy Jet to and from Gatwick; I landed on the Friday afternoon and headed off to my Good friends Malcolm and Ruth Samson´s house in Herts. I would like to thank them for their wonderfully kind hospitality.

I headed into London on the Saturday morning to meet up with our Mally, Murray and half of Hull that travelled down from East Yorkshire! We all met up at the St. James Park tube station, booked into our hotel and headed off to Wembley to savour the atmosphere. What an atmosphere down the Famous Wembley way!

The two contrasting colours of both sets of fans made this one of the most colourful finals to have taken place at the all new Wembley!

The Stadium itself must be thee best in the world. It is absolutely MASSIVE! It dwarfs the old Wembley. The facilities are world class and the arch is a wonderful piece of engineering.

Anyway, on to the game: The mighty Tigers had nothing to lose; Ull City have never been in the top flight of football, considering that Ull is the seventh largest City in the UK, and we were actually playing for the first time at Wembley! Just being there was enough for me.

And what a result!! It was so fitting that an Ull born and bred legend, by the name of Dean Windass scored the now historic volley that secured our top flight football for many, many days to come!! Notice I said days instead of years. I am already fed up with everybody commenting on how long we will last. Listen!! We are still celebrating our promotion, if we go straight back down again, then so be it. We will still be celebrating!! Eight years ago we were fighting for our lives to actually stay in the football league! We had the gates of the Boothferry Park chained up by the bailiffs! Very dark days indeed. So now we are going to enjoy every kick, every defeat and pinch ourselves when we see Hull City versus Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool!! Come on City Ull.
Talk soon my friends, please leave your name if you have read this article. I really appreciate it.

Dougie

Hi folks, sorry it has taken so long to update my diary. I will not post my usual tongue-in-cheek reasons why, as some people are actually believing my fictitious woes! (Mork and Mindy, Dusty bin, etc!!)

I have just returned from a fantastic week in the UK. I had a pretty hectic schedule starting in Wadebridge (Cornwall), and travelling on to Exeter, Bishops Stortford and Warwick. I landed at Gatwick and decided to travel by our world class rail network - Gatwick to Cornwall took over six hours! I did not realize just how far Cornwall actually is from civilization.

I have traveled extensively all over this gorgeous planet and I have to admit that this journey was probably the worst!! What happened, you ask? All the seats were full, and I had to listen to so many people on their mobile phones! Hang on Dave, a tunnel coming..Dave are you there? Dave Dave! You get the picture, I am sure!!

What a relief it was when I arrived at Bodmin Parkway! Jocelyn, Murray, Ryan, and Emma greeted me as I stepped off the train from Hell. All my Angst disappeared as I received lots of hugs from my lovely family. We had a fab weekend, full of Rugby, good food, great wine, proper Ale and lots of Wii games. No pun intended! Malcolm, Kaira and Eva had arrived with our newest member of the family, the beautiful Ruby.

On the Saturday, Murray, Emma and I traveled all the way to Tavistock to watch my godchild, Ryan, play Rugby. The rain and the wind on the western edge of Dartmoor nearly blew us off of our feet, never mind what the Tavistock under 14’s had to endure. From the sunshine of the Canary Islands to a gale force ten on Dartmoor!! We only lasted fifteen minutes before we headed off to the warm club house, sodden.

Ryan, who I was immensely proud of, lasted the full game. Watch the video, not only to check the weather out, but you will see Ryan as he catches the ball and runs fifteen meters!

The weather was not that great on the Sunday either, so we headed off to Bodmin Jail.

The history of the area was very impressive! You got hung for stealing a chicken in the ole days. I highly recommend a day there, though maybe not a night, as it was very spooky!! Unfortunately, the weekend passed so quickly. It was great to see my sister Jocelyn again, and the guys are very well settled in Cornwall.

On the Monday I headed off to Exeter, by train again! I decided to sit in the silent carriage bliss for about two seconds when I heard yet another annoying ring tone! Hi how you doin..yeah yeah, if that’s what it takes, just buy two beds is it students no problem, hi sorry a tunnel, you get the picture.

I had a quick walk around Exeter, and must admit it was a lovely town. I stayed at the Barcelona hotel on the edge of town. I had my meeting and left the following morning to head to Bishop’s Stortford Herts. This again was a massive rail journey. I had by now become oblivious to the ring tones, tunnels, unbelievably expensive coffee, etc. I had to travel across London from Paddington to Tottenham Hale. Incredibly, this was very easy. So a couple of stops later I arrived for one night at Bishop’s Stortford.

The next day I headed for the historic town of Warwick, home of the famous Warwick Castle.

I had two days in this lovely town. On the second day I decided to take in the delights of the Castle. It was amazing, the history again was so interesting. I must have checked out every nook and cranny including the eerie dungeons. Warwick itself has so much history and the buildings, mostly built in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, were truly a sight. So I thought I had better head off and treat myself to some fine ale in one of those Ole inns that were dotted about. So a few ales later I headed off back to my hotel to get some kip, as I was flying back to Tenerife at 7am!!!

Amazingly, I did not miss the flight. I love coming back here to Tenerife, apart from no leg room on cattle class airways!!

My gorgeous, warmhearted wife Ana and I checked out the new beach at Playa San Juan on Sunday. They have done a great job. If you like strolling along the seafront, eating at one of the many first class tapas bars, drinking an ice cold bottle of Dorada Especial, eating fresh fish in the sunshine, then check this place out on a Sunday.

Pearly Grey, much like my wife, is looking as beautiful as ever; we saw the mystical drawings of the proposed new beach last week. We are not getting too excited as of yet, due to past experiences. But it has made all the newspapers over here, so you never know!

That’s all for now folks, please leave me a message if you have read this article. Ana and I are planning a trip to watch the sun come up whilst sitting on the peak of Teide. I am sure this will be the topic of my next diary.

Cheers!

Hi folks.

I thought it was about time to finally do my diary from that wonderful, sunshine-filled day of December 10th 2007!

I have been a little busy since that day. Incredibly, after a total mix-up with my Christian name, I was invited out to the States to attend a bizarre stare out competition, featuring the cast of “Mork and Mindy” versus my team, consisting of the cast from “Doogie Howser M.D!!” If it was not for Mork with his “Na nu, na nu” making everybody lose their focus, we would have come away triumphant. Wanda and Mindi started having a right go at each other. And it was at this point I departed to jet off back to the good ole Pearly Grey and update my Diary!

I have tried so many times to get the photos onto the blog. I am, as most of you know, not too efficient when it comes to computers. So, finally my pal Dennis from I.T came to the rescue.

The wedding itself was absolutely magnificent. What a way to start the day: 18 holes of golf with Murray and my pals. We teed off at 7.30am, and were first on the course, so nobody was in front of us. Fantastic - pity about my golf though. At least I had a ready-made excuse that I was getting married that afternoon!

So, in good spirits, we left the golf course and headed down to PG to get dressed for the biggest day of my life. I got changed in my brother, Malcolm´s, room. As my best man, Jocelyn, that´s right, my sister Jocelyn was my best man. Her room was in total chaos, with bridesmaids Emma and Eva getting ready.

After trying to organize everybody some transport, we headed off to the church in La Caleta. Everybody looked incredible in their various new frocks and suits. My brother, Chris, looked a little unique, but that is another story. So, after handing out the button holes, I proceeded, in my last moments as a single man, down to the altar. I had had a very strange sense of calm over me all day. I did not get nervous; Ana-Maria and I had lived with the planning of this day for many a month. So, in some strange way, it was like having a deja-vu experience.

All this calmness was completely shattered when Ana-Maria started walking down the aisle. Little beknown to anybody apart from Ana-Maria, her gorgeous parents Miguel and Pepita and myself, we had flown in an opera singer who goes by the name of George Pena to surprise everybody. So, as Ana-Maria, Miguel, Father Keith and the gorgeous bridesmaids and a tramp (believe it or not!) started walking down the aisle, George walked out from behind the altar and started singing “Ave Maria” live. I promise you, anybody who was not moved by his incredible voice must be made of sterner stuff than half the Yorkshire contingent, who had their white hankies out in full force!

I, as of yet, had not seen my gorgeous Spanish/Cockney bride in her beautiful, Spanish designed wedding dress. So, when she popped up beside me looking absolutely amazingly beautiful with the biggest grin you have ever seen, I was so proud, so very proud. When George finished off his beautiful rendition of “Ave Maria,” Father Keith took over and did a fantastic service and married us!

After the service, we had a group photo with all the guests and Ana and I headed off to a nearby hotel to have some more pictures taken by no other than Xavier, our famous BBQ photographer (he gave me a good deal! I am a Yorkshireman remember!). All the other guests headed to PG for the champagne and canapés reception. Adrian had totally transformed our lower terrace. Everything looked out of this world, it was unrecognizable. The tables all had a centerpiece (too hard to describe), new glasses, plates etc. He had fenced in the entire BBQ area and had dangling fairy lights surrounding the whole area. Amazing.

Darryl, our head chef, had worked tirelessly to create the most awe inspiring dishes - monk fish kebabs, fillet steaks, lobster & king prawns to name a few. As you can see I did not get my own way with the food. I wanted crab sticks, fish fingers and pot noodles! All the guys and the girls from the restaurant served the champers and the vino well into the night.

The speeches were fantastic, and Jocelyn, after all her nervous build up, did a brilliant job of her best man speech. She had not eaten a morsel of the delicious food, and quaffed about a bottle of Champagne to try to ease her nerves. She one hundred percent nailed it. Mally, my brother, was introduced next by the master of ceremonies, no other than my brother-in-law, Murray Nichol. Mally had everybody in hysterics with his unique wit. Miguel, Ana-Maria´s dad, was up next, great job Papa! Then I had a few words, unbelievably, Ana-Maria pinched the microphone off me and did a great job.

The cutting of the cake pursued, followed by the first dance and then we partied until 11 o´clock and headed upstairs to finish up and join all the guests in the bar. We danced until about 1.30ish and decided enough is enough. As we headed out of PG, all the guests headed to reception, were they formed a human tunnel to the waiting taxi. It was a great moment to end an incredible day.

That´s basically all for now, my friends, please leave your name in the box below if you have read this. And click here to see the amazing photos!

See you all very soon I hope. Many, many thanks to all the generous gifts we received from all you gorgeous people.. Pearly Grey People!!!

Hi folks, what a busy month I have had! Firstly, I got married on the beautiful, sunny day of the 10th. I will be writing a diary about the wedding and be posting it on here early January. I am having some technical problems getting all the photographs onto the website. Dennis, our I.T. manager, is back from his holidays soon and he will be able to fix the problem.

Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Here at good ole Pearly Grey, the sales team did their very own “Panto” on Christmas Eve! The guys really put a lot of time into rehearsals. I was cast as Barron Hardup, (I wonder why?), and Kevin, along with the spectacular Heather, played the ugly sisters. Donna played the excitable Buttons, and Linda played Fairy Liquid. Karin was cast as Prince Charming and, low and behold, Disco Stu played the beautiful Cinderella!

I, unfortunately, could never get to rehearsal so on the night I still did not know my lines, and was told just to ad-lib. One thing you never let happen is to give me a microphone after the few bottles of Vino we had guzzled with the amazing food the restaurant had treated us to! They could not get me off the stage; I thought it was the welcome meeting!

All the gang did a fantastic job, especially our Compare, Heather, who is really starting to come into her own. I could not stop laughing at the outfits we all wore. Kevin had to be the funniest, as one of the ugly sisters. It was an absolutely unforgettable evening.

So folks, I will try to put some photos onto this entry.

Don´t forget to look out for the wedding diary in early January. It was an amazing, gorgeous day. My wife looked spectacular.
One last thing, if you read this, please leave a message directly below, this only takes a couple of seconds and it means the world to me.
Take great care of yourselves and have a fantastic prosperous New Year. Come and see us soon, and catch some beautiful winter sunshine, world class entertainment, amazing food, not forgetting the planet´s best sunsets. What more do you need?
Kindest regards,
Dougie

Well folks, did you ever see the movie “Four Weddings and a Funeral”? We didn’t quite manage four weddings; however we managed two weddings in three days and survived, so thankfully no funeral. When I say “we” I now mean my beautiful wife Ana-Maria and I. We finally got married on a glorious sunny day on September 4th in Gibraltar. We decided on doing the “paperwork” first, ceremony second. We are having our ceremonial Wedding on December 10th later this year. We did the deed with no family or friends present, as we are seeing the ceremony in December as our real Wedding! So all the people out there I have invited to the “do to end all do’s”, will you please e-mail me that you are coming a.s.a.p. so we can book you in? Dougie@pearlygrey.com
So, as soon as we touched back down in majestic Tenerife, we dusted ourselves down, donned the glad rags, and off we popped to Justine and Tony’s Wedding! As I was Best Man I picked up Tony and the rings and had a good hearty breakfast to set us up for the day. The day went off hassle free, with plenty of bubbly, laughter, tears and beers!
Father Keith did a fantastic job in La Caleta Church, which incidentally is the same church Ana-Maria and I are tying the knot in. Xavier, our barbecue photographer, took some excellent photos (to be posted on here soon). The setting is truly beautiful!
After the “I Do”s etc, we all headed off to “Chez Damien” restaurant in hotel Marazul, and what a feast awaited us on arrival, trays of champagne and delicious canapé’s. Then afterwards four courses of heavenly, delicious French food washed down with numerous bottles of excellent vino blanco and vino tinto. Bliss! Fantastic wedding, and what a fantastic couple, all the very best for the future Justine and Tony.
Right then, so what’s been happening here at good ole Pearly Grey? Well firstly and most importantly, Saturday nights’ BBQ is now officially Pink shirt night for the fellas, and Wednesdays’ International Buffet has become the loudest possible Hawaiian shirt night, also for the fellas. (For those who know Mucker, he is without doubt our reigning Champion, and running him a close second is Tony from the Wirral). So no excuses, get down to your local Poundstretcher and make a purchase!
Dom has unfortunately taken a break from Pearly Grey to spend more time looking after the gorgeous baby Ty. Tracy is still here and doing a magnificent job, looking after all our guests during the day and we would all like to thank her for the amazing energy she puts in day after day.
Our new compère, Roy England, is doing a great job entertaining Pearly Grey; he does some fantastic game shows and has a very good sense of humour. Roy has lots of good contacts and has really brought some fresh new shows to PG, so “best of luck” Roy and welcome to the Family!
Also, just to let all the golfers out there know we still play golf every single Monday afternoon. My handicap has gone down to twenty one. I am a tad relieved, as I was forever getting called a “bandido”. So get yourselves out here and lets hit a small ball around some very expensive real estate!
So my friends that’s all for now, I am off for my tenth “café cortado natural”, a chat with some of the fantastic Owners we have here with us this week and to watch the sun go down over La Gomera.
Many thanks to those who have read this far down!
See you all soon,
Dougie

Hello folks! Hope you are all well.
I know what you are all thinking: “About time, where has he been?”
Well funnily enough I have just returned from taking part in the pole vaulting the Great Wall of China in a Basil Brush costume challenge!! Sorry to report that I came second behind Dave from Papua New Guinea!!
Anyways, before we had actually set off on yet another world adventure, it was decided that the managers of certain departments of Pearly Grey should get together on a management training course in the beautiful rural setting of Los Realejos. Myself, Justine, Ryszard, Gemma, Ana, Serge, Andres, Pauline, Wendy and Adrian hopped on the El Mar bus to take us to the Casa Blanca rural hotel. The drive to Los Realejos was truly spectacular. We passed by the world famous Dragon tree that dates back well over Two thousand years, and the views of Teide were out of this world. I strongly believe Tenerife to be one the most beautiful Islands on the planet.
On arrival at the hotel we had a very warm welcome from Diego the Chef, Gardener, Barman, head receptionist, maintenance, General Manage…. the list goes on!
As we were checking in, two of the PG team realized they had forgotten to bring any form of I.D (Spanish law when you check into a hotel!!) If you had to place a bet on the two guilty parties for this unfortunate oversight I doubt any of you would have won any money! Well, of course I was one of the two!! But the other one will probably make you drop your custard cream into your well earned cup of char!! The other person, who has checked in well over ten thousand people to Pearly Grey?? That’s correct - Gemma our very own head receptionist!
Once everything had been sorted out and we had got our room keys we dropped our bags off and started to explore our new home for two nights. It had an amazing indoor heated pool and beautiful gardens where they grow all their own organic fruit and veg! We were so high up the mountain the views were spectacular! The main accommodation is located in a renovated Finca (farmhouse) that dates back to eighteenth century. The restaurant and bar is a new purpose built building, again with amazing views.
After our tour of the hotel we settled down for our Canarian evening meal with a couple of bottles of the locally grown wine. Fantastic food, great company and fantastic views. What more could you wish for?
We all settled down for a good night’s sleep, as we had all been given our unique projects to present to the group in the morning.
We all met up for breakfast and afterwards headed to our conference room to present our projects. It was all very uplifting and positive doing all the projects so the day came and went in a flash! The one overriding factor for me was how much I got to know my colleagues! We have some truly remarkable people here at PG and we all bonded so much as friends. It was without doubt a resounding success for all concerned.
So with all this goodwill in the air, we settled down again for some more Canarian food and wine in the gorgeous restaurant! Afterwards we played chess and I have to admit I was well beaten by Ryszard! Serge then challenged Ryszard to a game; again good ole Ryszard was victorious! Not everybody knew how to play chess so I taught the group how to play Texas holdem poker! We had such a laugh with Andres, Serge & Ana all trying to translate my by now broad Yorkshire accent into something that represented the English language!! We did not play for money, so nobody went away motherless or homeless…
So all in all it was a huge success, our two nights in the tranquil village of Los Realejos. We arrived back at PG on the Tuesday afternoon to be met by all our wonderful happy owners and colleagues. We all realized how lucky we are to work in the best resort in the world. I believe Pearly Grey has some truly remarkable owners and staff, lots of full of fun, honest, selfless, kind human beings. Pearly Grey is a magnet for extraordinary people, so get your flights booked and get yourselves out here pronto, rapido, quick smart!!
Kindest of regards
Dougie