AGE 70 plus ... Work
Why do I need a 'Work' section on the 70+ page? Surely I am retired...???
Well - Sue is not as old as me, and has every intention to continue her job until she reaches her state pension age in 2024, by which time I will be well into my '70s.
As for me - yes, I retired from teaching way back in 2008, but then I became a holiday cottage landlord, which, at the time of writing, is a role I continue to hold, though I have cut down my workload a little in the past few years. There is no doubt that as my age increases I will feel less and less inclined to spend bits of my winter dealing with bookings and cottage maintenance, and much of my summer cleaning the cottages and mowing their lawns.
Over the past few years, we have made a number of changes in our cottage business. In 2013, we sold Aird View - the modern bungalow a few miles from Portree - and bought a beautiful traditional croft house in Roag, just a mile from the Barn. It came as simply 7 Roag, but we have named it Summer Cottage. It is so much more convenient to have the cottages we let close to where we live!
Well - Sue is not as old as me, and has every intention to continue her job until she reaches her state pension age in 2024, by which time I will be well into my '70s.
As for me - yes, I retired from teaching way back in 2008, but then I became a holiday cottage landlord, which, at the time of writing, is a role I continue to hold, though I have cut down my workload a little in the past few years. There is no doubt that as my age increases I will feel less and less inclined to spend bits of my winter dealing with bookings and cottage maintenance, and much of my summer cleaning the cottages and mowing their lawns.
Over the past few years, we have made a number of changes in our cottage business. In 2013, we sold Aird View - the modern bungalow a few miles from Portree - and bought a beautiful traditional croft house in Roag, just a mile from the Barn. It came as simply 7 Roag, but we have named it Summer Cottage. It is so much more convenient to have the cottages we let close to where we live!
In 2014, we began the slow-down process by closing our Bed and Breakfast With a Difference at Roskhill, and converting the two flats that were here into one house (See Home> ). As Sue was heavily involved in running that particular venture, the closure took a lot of pressure off her time, and the larger home we now had made a big difference to the comfort of our lives.
In 2018 we finally sold Rowan Cottage. I had been pressing to do that for at least a couple of years prior to this, as the 32 miles each way to do the turn rounds was really becoming a chore, plus the cottage itself, although homely, was getting to the point where for holiday-letting, where visitor-expectations are always rising, it really needed refurbishment of the kitchen and bathroom, and some refurnishing.
We did not just leave the Rowan money in the bank though. The original plan had been to use the money buy a modern flat in Inverness which we would long-let through a letting agency. However, that would have meant we owned a property that we almost never visited, and certainly couldn't use for our own visits to the city. So instead, we bought a character property near Inverness as a holiday home for ourselves, and that we would occasionally let, just to cover the regular maintenance and running costs. I'll write more about this property in Play> .
In 2018 we finally sold Rowan Cottage. I had been pressing to do that for at least a couple of years prior to this, as the 32 miles each way to do the turn rounds was really becoming a chore, plus the cottage itself, although homely, was getting to the point where for holiday-letting, where visitor-expectations are always rising, it really needed refurbishment of the kitchen and bathroom, and some refurnishing.
We did not just leave the Rowan money in the bank though. The original plan had been to use the money buy a modern flat in Inverness which we would long-let through a letting agency. However, that would have meant we owned a property that we almost never visited, and certainly couldn't use for our own visits to the city. So instead, we bought a character property near Inverness as a holiday home for ourselves, and that we would occasionally let, just to cover the regular maintenance and running costs. I'll write more about this property in Play> .