Role: Owner
Company: Gorgeouscottages.com
Track Record:
Track Record
Originally from Co Tyrone, Christina Brion left Northern Ireland at 18 to study English at Leeds University. Falling in love with Yorkshire, she decided to stay and make it her home. Currently she lives in the North York Moors with her husband and with her two young daughters. For 10 years she worked in software product marketing until after the birth of her first child four years ago when she decided to combine her love for Yorkshire, beautiful cottages, and marketing to create a luxury travel company. Called Gorgeous Cottage.com its aim is to offer a top-service, handpicked luxury cottage booking service. With her strong Northern Ireland connections, and her family still living in Co Tyrone, she recently launched another website which will showcase her love for Northern Ireland and beautiful places to stay — Gorgeous Cottages Ireland.com.
6.15am
I set my alarm for 6.15am but quite often I’m awake before this courtesy of my children Poppy and Florence (four and two years old). They usually come in for a cuddle and a chat before the flurry of showering, dressing and breakfast begins. Although I try to resist, I usually sneak a glance at my phone just to see how last night’s Facebook posts have been received and if any emails have come in overnight. My husband Phil always takes charge of preparing the breakfast while I have a whirlwind tidy around the house.
7.45am
On a good day we’re all ready and in the kitchen by now. I’m a creature of habit; boiled egg and tomato juice every morning. I try to avoid toast and cereal these days. Depending on the previous night’s sleep, the kids are either making us laugh or driving us crazy.
8.30am
It’s all hands on deck to get the girls out of the house on time for preschool and nursery. Usually I’ll do the school run and Phil will take our youngest to the child-minder. Depending on who I run into at the school gates, I’m usually arriving at the office and sitting down at my desk before 9.
9.30am
I’m quite methodical and organised, I like to sit down and plan the day and prioritise actions before jumping in. Leading up to the Gorgeous Cottages launch in Northern Ireland most days now are spent researching, preparing copy, creating listings for cottages. I love this part, putting all of this information together to create something unique.
11am
I’m usually in the thick of it by now, but might take the occasional break for a cup of tea. Mid-morning is usually when I’ll work on our blog or schedule in our social media posts on Facebook, Twitter etc. Digital marketing is quite time consuming but I enjoy it, and we’ve understood from the word go how important it is to have a strong online presence. With Gorgeous Cottages Ireland website we took the decision to create an entirely new set of social marketing identities, so although both websites are intrinsically linked our Northern Irish fans can enjoy posts, images and content specifically about Northern Ireland. I think this is hugely important, to remain focused about your destination and really engage your customers. Developing content and ideas for Northern Ireland has been fantastic and I’m learning lots of things I never knew about the place.
1pm
I always intend to have a proper break away from the computer but often I’ll just work through. If I do stop for lunch it’s usually something very quick and I normally eat in front of the computer — against all the rules I know. I like to spend this time browsing new holiday cottages in Northern Ireland, sourcing owners to contact and just taking inspiration from other travel websites.
1.30pm
Two afternoons a week I set aside time just for my children. I’ll take them to the local farm, maybe for an ice-cream or catch a movie if the weather’s not great. In an ideal world I would be able to clone myself and dedicate more time to them and to the business, because as every working mother knows you feel enormous guilt about everything and are always trying to do more.
I launched the original Gorgeous Cottages when Florence was just nine months old and so had to adapt pretty quickly to the demands of two young children and a growing business. The days when I’m at work in the afternoons I’ll usually schedule an owner visit or work on uploading cottage details to the website. I have been fortunate to have already met some hugely inspiring owners in Northern Ireland. Colleen Lowry at the stunning Blessingbourne Estate in Fivemiletown, Seamus Beggan who hand-crafted everything in his properties Snowdrop and Orchard Cottage, Mary O’Brien, director of the fabulous Irish Landmark Trust with her passion for restoring historical properties back to their best
— and too many more to mention. All of our luxury cottages have a story behind them, a character and a personality imbued by their current and indeed past owners. That’s what makes Gorgeous Cottages so different, it’s about so much more than just the accommodation, it’s about the landscape, the places and the people.
5pm
Tea-time until around 7pm is all about the kids. That crazy few hours is a blur of feeding, bathing and storytelling until they are both settled in bed.
7pm
Back to work. Evenings are usually spent reviewing my action list and catching up on things I’ve missed during the day.
One of the things I suppose no one really appreciates until they have been there is just how much work and input running your own business requires. You have to be 100% dedicated and passionate about what you’re doing otherwise the effort required is likely to lead to failure. Holidays and evenings of leisure have been a thing of the past for me for several years now, but I wouldn’t trade places in an instant.
9pm
We take it in turns to prepare dinner — it’s always late by the time we actually sit down to eat but it’s become the norm now for us. To relax I love to zone out watching Mad Men. I’m terrified about reaching the end of series seven though!
11pm
I try to go to bed before 11pm so if the kids get up in the night I’ll have had a good few hours under my belt. Most nights now are undisturbed but there are the occasional mornings when we’ll wake up with three or sometimes four of us in the bed. Although it’s not always conducive to a good night’s sleep, I’ll always take a quick look at my emails before bed. If there is anything pressing or causing concern I’ll write it down ready to tackle it the following day — an old trick but one that works. Last thing for me is always reading a good book — it’s how my brain tells my body, ok time to switch off now.