When thinking of launching our website we knew from the very beginning that we wanted to have a space online that we could communicate with our lovely customers other than through just our social channels. Thus the blog is born.

Since so much has changed and happened over the last few months it made sense to give you an update on how lockdown affected Drift and how in many ways it has helped us evolve.

Having to close Drift was upsetting but in all honesty we weren’t too worried about the impact it could have on our business. We knew we would be able to furlough and retain our staff, and with small business grants available we had faith everything would be ok.

The support throughout lockdown has been incredible. It all started with the Agritourism group which after an initial virtual meeting, with support from Scottish Enterprise and Agritourism Monitor Farm Facilitator, we continued to meet via Zoom every Monday.

To be part of a group who were all in the same boat and have the opportunity to ask questions and receive advice from those who could deliver answers was fantastic.

This was invaluable for us as farmers and owners of an Agritourism business.

Lockdown also gave us time to reflect on Drift and analyse the business and how it has worked and most importantly, how it could work in the future.

We knew opening back up in July would mean outside dining only so we worked hard and converted a horse trailer for takeaways as well as improving the outside space- and I hope you will agree that it looks great!

If you have visited us recently you will have noticed the additional seating, the converted potato boxes looking out onto Quarrel Sands, the artificial grass and the ecogrid system at the front entrance and outside the main doors.

Drift Potato boxes in the snow looking over our view to Canty Bay, North Berwick

Like many other eateries, we reduced our menu, introduced a Specials Menu and focused more on Scottish food and drink products.

We had to reinvent our offering whilst creating new risk assessment documents (14 pages long, may I add) and proudly reopened in alignment with Visit Scotland’s health and safety industry standard ‘We’re Good To Go’.

After finding our feet again, business has been going well, and Drift continues to be busy, and we are delighted to be able to welcome people back. It has been lovely to see some regular faces and of course some new faces as well. .

Since then we have been able to promote two members of staff as well as conduct continuous training for the full team and welcome new members aboard.

We have also become one of the first to join the Scottish Tourism Alliance Agritourism membership which is an exciting opportunity to be part of a great group aiming to support economic growth.

I have also been asked to represent East Lothian as a Destination Leader to help support the growth of Agritourism in Scotland.

We are looking ahead to reopening our indoor space so it is very exciting. We would like to thank everyone for the continued support of Drift – every visit, like and share helps us to grow and succeed.

Speak soon,

Jo and Stuart