TG Escapes Blog

Easter is coming, the house is getting full, make room in your garden!

by TG Escapes | Apr 11, 2014 | Blog, Residential

Easter is the second most popular time of year for relatives to travel long distances to spend time with their loved ones. Preparing for their visit, no matter how well loved and enjoyable their company, can be very stressful especially if you’re expecting a house full for the duration of the double ended Easter bank holiday weekend.

Who is intolerant to what and is it OK to suggest the in-laws forsake their macrobiotic, organic, paleolithic diet just for a few days? What to do that will keep most of them happy, most of the time (which is the most you should ever aim for) and give you a chance to join in and relax, in between the endless rounds of meal prep and clearing up? Will there be room and where will everyone sleep?

Whilst there are not any simple answers to these questions (apart from farming everyone out to a local B&B) there are means by which the stress can be eased. A relaxed and well prepared host, who is able to kick start proceedings with a genuine and heartfelt welcome, is by far the most important ingredient for a successful and fun weekend. Nobody is going to complain if you have cooked some simple, tasty food in advance ready to whip out of the freezer, requiring only simple veggie prep at each meal time. Casseroles or stews, fish or cottage pie, chilli or lasagne….all are delicious, easy to tweak to accommodate most allergies and preferences and guaranteed to free you up to really enjoy your guests.

The issue of space is perhaps less easily sorted than the food, particularly if your family is large or growing. A Garden Escape can provide you with an invaluable, temporary extension of your sleeping facilities. Our bespoke designs enable you to create a beautiful yet versatile space, which can be used as a simple recreation room, home office or teenage den for most of the year but can be simply transformed into guest accommodation when your house is bursting at the seams. Incorporating a small shower room and kitchenette is simple, as all of our buildings are connected to mains amenities as standard, which will help to relieve pressure on the main bathroom facilities or maybe provide a place where guests with very young children, that are not dining with everyone else, can prepare a simple meal without feeling like they are taking up busy kitchen space.

As for what to do when the in-laws start sniping about political preferences, parenting prowess or familial faux pas, I would suggest helping yourself to a nice big glass of whatever you fancy and gracefully escaping to a quiet corner (if you can find one) or failing that, bed. Maybe you could even allocate the Garden Escape to yourself!

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TG Escapes
Providing net-zero timber frame buildings since 2003. As a gold member of the Structural Timber Association we are fully compliant to design, manufacture and build giving us full control of the quality of all the timber components in our system.

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