Controlling My Jack’s Alt-Stays Cabin

So, if you’re really keen, you might have unpacked your stuff already. In case you’ve missed anything, let me tell you all about unpacking and the storage.

Cases & Bags: There’s a nice spot under the bed especially for these in The Birdbox & The Hive. There’s also plenty cupboard space in all the cabins, including the utility cupboard next to the bathroom.

Jackets & Shoes: Just between the bed and the bathroom there’s a jacket hanging space, and you’ll find a wee tray for shoes next to the sliding entrance door. This keeps the rest of your space dry and clear.

Clothing: Check out the two storage cupboards next to the bed. This should have plenty space to put all your clothes and pretty much anything else you brought.

Charging Points: The cabin has USB and plug sockets. There’s a wee shelf next to your bed which should make charging phones overnight dead easy! You’ll find others next to the couch and in the kitchen.

Dining

Setting up for a nice home cooked meal? You’ll find your ‘Farandaway’ Crockery set and Recycled Ocean Plastic table mats just next to the dining table.

If you’re looking for some inspiration, try ask Google for a recipe. Ask something like “Hey Google, what should I cook for dinner tonight?” or “Hey Google, can you give me a good curry recipe?”. Need some provisions? Check out the local shopping guide in the “Guide to the Isle of Cumbrae” section of your cabin guide book.

Food & Drink: You’ll find a mini-fridge and freezer in the kitchen which should have plenty space for all your food and drink. If you’re cooking something delicious or making cocktails, feel free to invite us over.

Fold Up Table: A pretty snazzy fold up table can be found in the kitchen area if you’re eating a meal or playing a game. It’s easy to use, but watch your fingers! Just pull it up and allow the table to lock in place. To put it back down, release the clasps on both brackets at the same time. You’ll find these on the underside of the table.

Stools & Chairs: If you’re in The Hive, you’ll find some stools tucked away in the cupboard next to the table, and 2x foldable chairs in the utility cupboard between the living space and the bathroom, in case you have some extra passengers. If you’re in any of the other cabins, you’ll find your foldable chairs all tucked in the cupboard next to the table.

Folding Wall Bed

Please Note: Your bed pillows are stored within the couch. Lift the tab to open.

Here’s another flashy bit of foldable design – the folding wall bed. First step is lift the couch cushions, and pull the tag on the sofa to open the underneath storage. You’ll find your pillows in here, so simply switch them out for the couch cushions. Next step is to pull the handles on the Wallbed, allowing it to come down.

When you’re done, you can take the pillows off, slide the “OPEN” button on the bottom right of the bed frame, lift it up and put it back into position.

Note that the bed fits perfectly into the wall, so it won’t fit if you stuff all your pillows in there! All our comfy bedding is vegan friendly, and made using environmentally friendly materials, including fibres made from 100% recycled plastic bottles.

Mood Lamps & Lights

All of our lights are LED and are really energy efficient, including the LED neon sign.

All the main living space lights can by controlled by voice. When addressing the Google Nest, you can call your lights by “The Spot Lights” and “The Mood Lights”. Try “Hey Google, turn The Mood Lights On/Off”, or “Hey Google, Turn On/Off all of the Lights”.

Please note that voice commands for lights will only work if they’re switched ON at the wall, but you’re still able to turn them off by voice. For example, you can say “Hey Google, turn off the spotlights”, whilst technically they’re still switched on at the wall. “Hey Google, turn on the spotlights” will bring them back on.

Failing that, there’s always the manual switches on the wall too (in case Google isn’t playing ball… or if you’re just a technophobe).

Here’s all your light switches labelled below:

Heating

You’ll notice some white panels on the ceiling. These are your infrared heating panels. They’re super energy efficient and work a bit like the sun by heating the surrounding objects and surfaces in the cabin from above. You’ve also got an infrared mirror and towel rail in the bathroom – as if those bathroom mirror selfies weren’t going to be hot enough!

You’ve got a few options for controlling the heating:

You can use the thermostat to control your main space heating. Just stick to the “on/off”, “up”, and “down” buttons indicated in the diagram (Daniel will tear his hair out if you mess with his precious tech settings).

When on, the number the thermostat displays is the current room temperature. When you hit up or down, the number that displays is the temperature the thermostat will heat the room up to. This is the same for the bathroom’s heated towel rail. It’s thermostat can be found by tapping the bottom right corner.

You can use voice commands to control these! Just say “Hey Google, Turn the Heating Up/Down” or “Hey Google, Turn the Heating Off/On”.

You can also use the Google Nest screen, it’s easy to set temperatures and control the lights here. Just click the screen, go to ‘Home Control’, and choose the temperture on the heaters from there.

During the colder months, we leave have the thermostat on the heaters set to a cosy 21-degrees, although feel free to turn this up or down to your preference. 

If you leave it on high all day while you’re out we won’t be mad, just disappointed (and that’s much worse). Have you seen our 100% green leccy bills?!

Here are also a couple of handy switches for the heated towel rail, and the shower!

Note: The towel rail has its own built-in thermostat. You’ll find this by tapping the bottom right corner of the towel rail’s glass surface. If the room temperature is higher than the temperature the thermostat is set to, the heat won’t activate. Simply increase the thermostated temperature to a couple of degrees higher than the current room temperature by tapping the ‘up’ arrow. Please don’t go wild! You shouldn’t need to set this higher than 25 degrees. Ensure clothes/towels are on the chrome rail and not touching the glass front or these may be burned.

Note: the shower switch might be hiding behind the robes next to the utility cupboard!

Blinds

Blackout for your comfort and powered by solar panels! Again, these are controlled by voice, so try asking Google to open or close the blinds. These can be controlled individually or all together, so Try “Hey Google, close the blinds”, or “Hey Google, open the blinds”

There’s also a manual controller on the wall next to the light switches. Use the circle buttons on the left of the controller to select a blind (or multiple blinds), then use the up and down arrows to open and close.

The controller shown on the above diagram can be found in the main living space, and allows you to control each of the blinds separately.

Note that the “thin strip window” button is for family cabins only – The Hive & The Birdbox. You only need to worry about the top two circle buttons in the couple cabins.

The controller shown on the below diagram is for when you’re leaving / entering the cabin, and simply controls all the blinds at once.

Cooking

Your kitchen is also fully equipped with everything you’ll need to start cooking up a storm, big Gordon Ramsay style. There’s an induction hob, microwave, and a combination oven / grill, which are pretty straightforward to use.

On the hob, hold the power button until the red lights come on. Then, select the top or bottom hob by tapping lightly, until a full stop appears next to the number. Then, increase or decrease the heat using the right and left arrows. If you want to use the lock to prevent any accidental changing of settings, hold in the lock button, and same to unlock.

On the oven, you can set the temperature between 50 and 250 degrees Celsius. You’ll also find all the controls for the oven below.

To be honest… unless you’re planning to slow cook a pork shoulder, or de-frost some of your grandmas homemade lasagna, all you need to worry about is the fan oven and full grill setting, highlighted below.