Francis Brennan's tips for running the perfect home

We’ve never been home so much  — so it’s perfect timing for Francis Brennan to publish a new book of household tips

Francis Brennan: 'I’ll be keeping the spirits up and hopefully trying to keep others’ up, especially, because people have found it difficult.

It’s seemingly a charmed life that hotelier, home-maker and television personality Francis Brennan maintains  — playing to his strengths after a lifetime of working in public-facing jobs that imbued him with an innate eye for detail, his At Your Service show is a consistent winner for RTE. His series of books, meanwhile, on the making and maintenance of a home are bookshelf staples around the country.

But as with anything else, this has been the result of years of work, learning and consistency, so when the time came around for his latest literary project, he cast his mind to a regular habit that’s been with him for years — maintaining a daily diary.

It’s a routine that has served him well, allowing him a daily break in the action to jot down his thoughts, garner some perspective, and head back into the fray of building his businesses.

‘The Homekeeper’s Diary 2021’, published via Gill, allows for others to benefit from the same routine, with space for a year’s worth of brief diary entries interspersed with important dates and information, as well as personal anecdotes, and the usual array of detailed information that piles up and goes into making a house tick, a feature of his previous literary excursions.

Down the phone from his home in Kerry, Brennan talks, in characteristically excitable fashion, about putting his own unique structure on a household diary and reference book.

“A lot of the book was collation of stuff, the framework is there in that the 12 months exist, and if you want to comment on each day or week, you can do so, so it was different, and an awful lot easier than my other books.

“Did I have loads of time? I had loads of time (laughs), because I wrote it all in March, April and May, so I was at home, in lockdown, and I was able to work away on Zoom with Alison, the designer that puts it all together for me.

“For every month, we’d do a little story referring to the month, like blackberries in September, or rhubarb in the Spring, what you might be able to do with them, etc. We just took pointers, and I’d a story or two here and there that would reference that time of the year.” For a man as busy as Brennan is, between his media exploits and the running of the Park Hotel in Kenmare alongside brother John, you’d assume the change of pace that lockdown represented something of a shock, but in the temporary absence of a busy schedule, he managed to take stock of his surroundings, and keep his eyes keen.

Happy publication day to #TheHomekeepersDiary by @francisbrennanb! Beautifully designed, and full of top tips and practical advice ‘The Homekeeper’s Diary 2021’ is the perfect diary to help you stay organised in 2021. Available now in all bookshops and online. pic.twitter.com/AZ7EPxBNR7

— Gill Books (@Gill_Books) September 18, 2020

He relates his experience at home in Kerry with the enthusiasm that has endeared him to his fans, peeling off new details or descriptive bijoux at an impressive pace.

“I had a very interesting lockdown, insofar as I walked a mile up and down from my house, every night, which is not a very safe road, unfortunately, but there was no traffic. I revelled in, and this is true, the blossoming of the hedgerow.

“It went from daisies to dandelions, to baby strawberries, to juniper berries, to wild roses and heather: all different, and they were all coming out of the ditch at different times.

“As I walked the road, I would say to myself, ‘oh, the heather’s out today’, or ‘oh, the daisies are just finished now’. So every day, I would amuse myself with the ditch, and I got loads of wild strawberries, which I haven’t picked since I was seven or eight, so it was great to relive the old times.”

 Beyond its use as a diary, there’s a huge reference element to the book, added at Brennan’s insistence: everything from recommended wash temperatures to vegetable seasons are compiled and presented in an orderly, at-a-glance manner.

Little things, that perhaps might get lost in a lot of peoples’ minds, owing to busy lifestyles, or an unfamiliarity with the entire home-making approach. If you weren’t familiar with Brennan, or his career in the hotel business, much less his television exploits, you’d be forgiven for marvelling at where such a comprehensive eye for these matters comes from.

“I don’t know! I suppose it’s in-built. I’ve just come off the road after two weeks with At Your ServiceI walk into a room, and people know I’m coming, so the place is absolutely spotless as far as they’re concerned, they’re excited, the place is tidied up, I know myself the way it is. But I can see things wrong instantly: stains on the window, fingerprints on the television, cobwebs on the skirting board.

“I always remind myself of my father, a grocer, and I worked in his grocery shop for many years, and he’d send you to the back store for tins of beans, Mrs. Browne would want one tin of beans, but if you came out with one tin of beans, he’d absolutely kill you, because you’re after walking in there and you could have brought out six to fill the shelves, and give Mrs. Browne the one she needs.

Never waste walking. I’m a big man for motion, I’m very conscious of it, and I just see things. I don’t know why, but my father was the same, so I presume that’s the gene Dad gave me.

His genes have stood to him throughout his career, never more so than when running the five-star Park Hotel, a 19th-century house overlooking Kenmare Bay. The hotel itself, much like the wider tourism sector, has been affected by the challenges presented by the restrictions of recent times.

The Park Hotel, Kenmare.

While the move toward ‘staycations’ has ably helped trade along, lockdown affected how things got done in the Park Hotel, and readjusting the premises for changing circumstances meant making a few changes in the short-term.

“It was a huge job, but we were lucky in one respect, now: lockdown came mid-March, and hotels were not required to close at the start. It was recommended to, but we didn’t, until we had to close, in mid-April.

“In those two-and-a-half weeks, on our own, without knowing much of the rules and regulations, we took tables out of the restaurant, got social distancing correct, we all wore masks, we did sanitisation, and the whole regime upstairs of leaving people do their own rooms, or else have a housekeeper sign off on the room before guests entered, and no-one else was allowed in.

Francis Brennan's new book is published by Gill Books.

“When we opened then, in July, we had very little extra to do, over and above what we had been doing. We found opening quite easy. We didn’t reopen immediately, as there wasn’t a lot of notice of being allowed to open, but we were very lucky to have that practice run. 

“We also are a small hotel, of 47 rooms, so we opened 37 rooms, but the problem was breakfast — if everyone came down at five to ten, we wouldn’t be able to facilitate everyone.

“But when I get home there lately from being on the road with At Your Service I asked the team if there had been any issues, and they said that in the three months since reopening, it’s maybe only happened twice that there’s been a ‘breakfast problem’ (laughs).” 

While 2020 has represented a stop-start pace of life for Brennan and crew, it’s very much a matter of keeping as full a schedule as possible, as the upcoming series of At Your Service makes air and the pre-Christmas push for The Homekeeper’s Diary begins in earnest with the usual slew of radio appearances. For Brennan, it’s about delivering a slice of regularity in uncertain times, for others as much as himself.

“I’ll just be at the hotel, I’ll be doing radio for the next few weeks up and down as far as the north of Sligo, but then, sure, you don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see what they tell us what we can and can’t do.

“But whatever is next, I’ll be keeping the spirits up and hopefully trying to keep others’ up, especially, because people have found it difficult. I live on my own, and have been on my own. But I’m lucky in that my disposition is that ‘we’ll get on with it, and we’ll be fine’, and I’d be on the phone.

“But if you’re a lone farmer in Mayo, and the pub was what you liked, and you didn’t worry about the pint, it was the chat that was much more important, I do feel sorry for them, so if I can go on the radio or on the telly and give a bit of spark, sure ‘twill all be worth it.”

 The Homekeeper’s Diary 2021 by Francis Brennan is published by Gill Books and available now in bookshops and online, priced at €19.99

Francis Brennan tips and tricks from The Homekeeper’s Diary 

• Get yourself a filing system and sort all your correspondence into files. If you’re like me, you’ll have the best part of the previous year to get through. The bonus is, you’ll start 2021 with a clean slate.
• Time is that precious commodity that we never seem to have enough of. Would you like to use your time differently? Keep a time diary for a week and see how long you spend working, travelling, watching TV and on your phone. You might be surprised by the results!
• Have you tried using dishwasher tablets for cleaning the oven? All you need to do is rub one around a dampened oven and it’ll lift the grime away.
• For the planet’s sake, I’ve opted for Meat-Free Mondays. Give it a try. A simple tomato pasta is quick, healthy and tasty, and I can now whip up a veggie green curry with green peppers, peas and spinach and a can of low-fat coconut milk in fifteen minutes. I’m learning!
• Self-care is so important. Eat well, get some exercise and a good night’s sleep. You deserve it.
• Just two things. I used to have endless to-do lists until I found this handy tip: think of two things you need to do today, this week and this month. That focuses the mind...
• Time to refresh your wardrobe. Every year, I take everything out, sort it, try it on and decide what’s staying and what’s going. Tip: if you haven’t worn it for a year, out it goes.
• When I’m at home, I like to do my housekeeping – paying bills and ringing up about insurance and that sort of thing – once a week. I just give it half an hour, so I don’t go mad hanging on the phone listening to music for ever, then I get on with my day. Job done!
• Vinegar is a wonder around the house, but beware! Certain surfaces such as stone, marble, hardwood and mahogany do not like this acid. Use the most gentle cleaners you have on these materials.
• The art of self-care might seem very 21st century, but with our busy lives, making just half an hour for ourselves is so important. We can rest, recharge and spend time doing things we love, whether that’s walking the dog, making a cake or reading or listening to a good book.
• I’ve been trying to be kinder to wildlife in my garden. I leave the hedge alone, so as not to disturb birds, and I have sown bee-friendly plants, such as lavender. A friend of mine also leaves out a little dish of cat food (in a safe place) for hedgehogs!
• Are you a poor sleeper? I used to be a great man for sending texts and messages at one o’clock in the morning after a day at the hotel. I called it ‘catching up’ until I realised that it was keeping me awake. Now I leave my phone in the living room and wake myself up with a good old-fashioned alarm clock.
• I used to be an awful man for saying yes to everything, but now I have learned that it’s okay to say no every now and then. If you find it hard, say ‘I’ll think about that’ to buy some time to reflect. Then say no with less guilt!
• This time of year, I love making a big pot of butternut squash or pumpkin soup. I chop the veg, then roast it for 30 minutes in a hot oven for better flavour, and add a pinch of chilli flakes or ground coriander to my softened onions for a little kick. A litre of stock, a nice simmer for 20 minutes, then blitz.
• Now is a good time to take up a new hobby to keep you going during the long winter months. A friend of mine has taught himself fly-tying, another has taken up hillwalking and another is learning Spanish. These might not float your boat, but what about something else? Make sure it’s fun, so you’ll stick with it.
• Finding time to just ‘be’ at this time of year can be hard. Set an alarm on your phone for, say, mid-afternoon, and when it goes off, give yourself five minutes to catch up with yourself. How are you feeling today? If ‘not great’ is the answer, ask yourself why and what small thing you could do to make yourself feel better.
• Instead of multi-tasking, try single-tasking – doing one thing at a time! If I try to do more than a couple of things in a day, I go half-mad – and I forget what’s important.