Once I get you up there.......

Whilst on holiday recently I had the chance to do a tandem paraglide from the highest paraglide venue in Europe. It was an amazing experience throwing yourself off the top off 6550ft Mount Babadag and being able to see directly to the coastline and sea below.

So when do I pull the cord?

We took off in the clouds and had a bit of a bumpy ride as we soared along just below them. I must admit to finding it terrifying/exhilarating and beautiful in equal parts. Of course Graham is our resident pilot and this gave me a glimpse into the attraction of flight with no engines – as they said in the sales blurb, ‘Come and find out why the birds sing!’

Turkish Delight

John recently went on holiday and came across an unusual demonstration of customer service which really impressed him;

The whole family recently travelled to a lovely resort, Lykia World in the south west corner of Turkey. Beth and Noah both loved the beach and swimming pools and Maggie and I loved the great food and childcare!

Every afternoon two local women would sit under a canopy and bake Turkish pancakes on top of a traditional charcoal oven. The resort didn’t promote this, it was something you eventually discovered as part of the experience. It was a delight to watch them working, one preparing the dough and rolling it to a unbelievable size and thiness before passing it (rolled on a long baton) to the other who carefully unfurled in on top of the hot oven. As soon as they started cooking a small queue of enlightened guests began to form watching this elegant performance.

Noah waits ...... and waits!

Eventually the pancakes (heavenly, melt in your mouth crispiness) were ready to serve and inevitably each guest would ask ‘How much?’ - to be told that they were free, a gift. It was somehow the combination of the authenticity and the performance that made this gift seems so valuable and unexpected and the customer service message so powerful. It left me thinking, ‘What can we do which is the property equivalent? What is the Marchday Pancake?’

What indeed? We’re thinking about it – Watch this space.

Sophie climbs.

Is it just us or is cycling everywhere you look these days? With the Tour de France kicking off tomorrow (and England out of the World Cup) it seems that pedal power is on everybody’s minds.

The Marchday teams at Lingfield Point, Darlington and New Lodge, Windsor have recently taken advantage of the Government’s ‘Cycle to Work’ scheme and have really caught the cycling bug in the process. So far Marchday have bought 8 bikes through the scheme with more in the pipeline. At Lingfield Point the Marchday Peloton can feature up to 7 riders on their regular Tuesday night rides out into Teesdale and Weardale and new ‘rouleurs’ are always welcome.

New Lodge manager Paul Buckley began riding in March and has already taken part in some grueling sportifs including the recent Chilterns 100, a hilly 100 mile course which he completed in 6:26 only four weeks after breaking his wrist in a cycling spill. He’s hard! Speaking of which, the Marchday cycling guru at Lingfield Point is (Hard) Colin who has inspired the boys and Sophie to amazing feats of endurance. Of course Sophie was a professional mountain bike rider so this is all a bit too easy for her.

So, do we cycle to work? Well…. sometimes…. but we all cycle lots, are enjoying every minute of it and feeling (and maybe even looking) better as a result –  and that must be the result the Government is after – isn’t it?

Lingfield Point Honey - Liquid Gold.

After much talk our bees at Lingfield Point Darlington have done what they do best and despite a bitter winter have produced their first crop of honey. Having tasted it we can honestly say it’s some of the best honey we’ve ever tried. Our bees forage over a wide area and the silky, soft set consistency suggests that they are feeding on a wide range of wild flowers, including our own wild flower meadows.

We’re really enjoying our first experience of beekeeping and thanks to Willie, Chris, Colin and Graham hope our bees will produce around 40-50lbs of honey from the two hives this summer. It’s also thanks to Christian Barnes, one of the artists behind the ‘Futurescope’ art project as his thinking has been inspirational to us.

It’s really exciting to hold our first jar of honey after so much anticipation – let’s hope it’s the first of many.

Our first honey harvest.

The latest iconic Futurescope image by artists John Kennedy and Christian Barnes was revealed this week at Lingfield Point, Darlington. ‘Lingfield Lamb’ is a lovely reference to Lingfield Point’s heritage as a wool factory whilst looking to the future plans for organic food production on site as part of our sustainable mixed community. You can read all about the thinking behind the image by clicking on Christian’s blog site, http://futurescopedarlington.blogspot.com/

We’re all interested in where our food comes from and how it’s produced. At Lingfield Point we already have allotments and an organic garden producing fruit and veg for local residents. Last year we installed beehives and hope to sell our own honey to customers in our café this summer. Who knows, some time in the future Lingfield Point might be home to a flock of its very own but for now we’ll have to make do with this little fella!

Just another day in the office...

Last Saturday, artists Christian Barnes and John Kennedy spent many happy hours chasing lambs around one of our customer’s office spaces – and photographing the results! The fruit of the labours is the fantastic image which will appear on Futurescope from the end of May.

Christian became excited about the link between the heritage of the site as a wool factory and the future plans for a sustainable mixed community some time ago;

Although this image started with an city/urban farming idea.. the idea that it really might be practical to ‘farm’ the soft estate at Lingfield… we both felt that the image really touches on the heritage of the site as a wool factory in a way we had not expected. It really stuck us as we noticed for the first time on the Friday that the meeting rooms in the SLC are named after wool manufacturing processes.

More photos of the shoot can be viewed by clicking on the link below;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vistaprojects/sets/72157624060537842/show/

We’ll be previewing the chosen ‘Lingfield Lamb’ Futurescope image here next week so watch this space!

OK, so now I’ve progressed from owning not one new bike but two – one for the North East where I spend two days a week and the other for home in Kent.

I’ve already blogged on my first bike, a reckless purchase of a Giant Defy3 back in January. Having made sure the cycling bug is here to stay I’ve taken the plunge and bought an Orbea Onix TTG for home. Described by the bloke in the shop as ‘an eyeful of a bike’ this carbon fibre beauty is a peach. As I write this I still haven’t ridden it as it arrived from Epic Cycles, Tetbury yesterday morning. Epic gave me fantastic advice and service, delivering on all their promises.

In the meantime Colin continues to inspire us; he even allowed me to ride with the Darlington Cycle Club on their 38 mile training ride this week. This new bike is built for hills – now to make my legs that way!

At Marchday we try to be creative in our approach to providing people with the business space they need. We like to come up with ideas which make us stand out from the crowd. At Lingfield Point, Darlington we’ve created the ‘Magnificent Seven’ – seven good reasons for choosing Lingfield Point as the home for your business. Here they are; 

1. Great location, Access & Parking

Excellent location and access from the surrounding road network. Great for trains and buses; fantastic for bike routes. An unrivalled parking ratio is one of our knockout features.

2. Customer Service & Security

We do ‘customer service’ like no other property company. From Ed and the team to Ted. Our on site Security team are a critical part of our customer service and offer unrivalled levels of peace of mind.

3. Value, Flexibility, Business Support and sense of Community.

We are more cost competitive (and certainly better) than our competition. We offer flexible terms, tailored to suit the customer’s needs and have access to unrivalled business support networks. By basing your business at Lingfield Point you join a thriving business community with all the benefits that brings.

4. Fantastic Space of all sizes available right away.

From 250sqft to 100,000sqft we can offer fantastic space which is ready to go. None of our competitors can offer such a range of fantastic award winning spaces .

5. Hotdesking, meeting rooms and on-site facilities

Uniquely, Lingfield Point offers a great range of on site facilities. Café, Nursery and Creche, fitness classes, communal meeting rooms and breakout areas. The newly launched Hotdesking facility ‘Alaska’ gives potential customers the chance to feel the ‘Lingfied Point Experience’

6. Sustainability

This is at the heart of Lingfield Point’s future. We soon hope to have on site Combined Heat and Power and District Heating giving customers the benefit of low carbon energy. Customers will be part of one of the UK’s most visionary Sustainable Mixed Communities.

7. Design, Art & Futurescope

Design excellence and Art are all around at Lingfield Point from the award winning Memphis building to Futurescope and Tickle Me. They combine to give LP the truly unique, trendy, arty feel businesses often like to be associated with.

So that’s it, the Magnificent Seven! Come to Lingfield Point, say ‘How d’you do’ and feel the Lingfield Point Experience for yourself.

Is it really that easy for starbucks? Great example of customer service this morning from a global brand – Starbucks;

Quite simple really Kate had an undercooked muffin and took it back expecting a straight swap. I think it is fair to say that nearly everyone would be happy with that. However, the polite member of staff took it step further by not only explaining the reason for the issue and removing the rest of the muffins that had come from the same packet, from the display, but furnished Kate with a voucher entitling her to a free beverage the next time she goes into a Starbucks.

Importantly the staff member made a record of the issue and each voucher has a number. Although I didn’t ask (perhaps I should have) I assume that  all these results are analysed and used to improve the Starbucks experience. 

Most companies big or small would have stopped at just replacing the item… Starbuck took it a little further.

The winning picture has been mounted and exhibited in the conference room on an easel, and receives a print to take away. Those placed 2nd and 3rd receive a framed print to take away as a memento.

However it doesn’t stop there, the winter/spring season is now upon us and the New Lodge art page on the website is set up ready for new entries, the more the merrier.

The first season has set the bar high as acknowledged by judges and New Lodge staff alike. Enjoy looking through the pictures and reading the judges comments, the closing date for winter/spring is middle of June.