So days 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 all go swimmingly: Tom cleaned and painted whilst I walked the dogs, entertained my baby brother and cooked for us all (which means cooking for 5!). Days 6, 7 and 8 go in a similar fashion except that I have lost my baby brother (back to normal life) and in between walking hounds and cooking, I got to do some toilet scrubbing (great!!) and some painting, and then some more cleaning but we are definitely making progress. By the evening of Day 9, all the rooms are clean and repainted. For Days 10 and 11, we had planned putting the lodge back together. I must also add as it is fairly relevant and ironic: From Day 1, all the way to day 9 we had been waiting for rain! Our

We are offering 20% off - yes 20%!! Until the beginning of the Easter holidays! So come on over and enjoy the cool air, the amazing views, the super green hikes and of course some delicious food! Or you could come and do absolutely nothing, enjoy the hammock and the gardens, read a book, listen to the silence… although the birds can cause quite a racket sometimes :) And we will still feed you some delicious food because whether you have been hiking or doing nothing, relaxation is serious business and the food is just one part of it :)

So we have shut the Iodge for 2 weeks. Nope, we are not going away. We are certainly not doing anything exciting either (Tom might dispute that)! We are perfecting the art of the working staycation, meaning that we will be working, or more specifically, we (meaning he) will be painting. I would much rather be doing something else, I would rather in fact be doing nothing but in fairness my job requires me to walk the dogs and feed the beast (Tom), interspersed with a bit of painting. Tom will be painting, painting and painting - he loves it!

This year we have decided to plant in February! Previously we had planted at the beginning of the rains but we have noticed a couple of issues: - the planted area needs to be cleared every month as everything grows at a ridiculous speed - the surrounding shrubs and bush that is. The trees grow relatively slowly in comparison which means the bush is always in danger of swamping the new seedlings and indeed did swamp a lot of them. The rainy season is erratic: the seedlings  could be washed out and die with too much rain or they could shrivel up and die with too little. Seedlings  are sensitive little things! TREEZ can't afford to have the planted areas cleared so often So, for the reasons cit

2018 was celebrated at midnight this year! This might sound strange to most of you: of course The New Year is celebrated at midnight.... but it had never happened here in the 4 years we have been open. 10pm has generally been the accepted time when guests have paid their last respects to the year before, and why not: at 10, it is not only the Malawian midnight, it is midnight somewhere in the world :) Since then, we have enjoyed a gentle easing in to the New Year. The guest's trickled out and we are currently enjoying a well deserved break! Although having guests is good for business (obviously) it is also really nice for us to be able to have the lodge and the gardens to ourselves :) The Fl