Well, I wasn’t keen on this place we stayed in though in theory it was very nice indeed.
It looked as if the complex was once a farm: farmhouse, barn (where we stayed) outbuildings, new build, now all renovated in Cotswold stone and owned by the same Airbnb hosts.
We booked this as a surprise 70th for my partner’s mum and were determined that she should do nothing at all as she is the kind of person who will.
So there was my partner’s mum and husband, my partner and myself, his sister, her partner and son, and her ten year old Goldie, my partner’s daughter and her husband with their two children and our work partner and family friend.
There was more than enough room. And yes, it had been beautifully renovated and decorated, but it just felt blankly unfriendly. My partner said he felt ‘harried’ and couldn’t relax and he is a person who can plonk himself anywhere and chill.
Several people remarked individually that they simply didn’t sleep at all despite the fact that we were all busy and later to bed than normal.
The Goldie wouldn’t go into the dining room or lounge. They would call him in, especially if they were gathered there later to play board games etc, or in the lounge and he would just stand there stiffly and refuse to move.
He was okay in front of the main door and preferred to settle there. They coaxed him into the dining area briefly this morning and he started to growl, although he is a lovely natured dog. He wouldn’t settle at night in the room over the big lounge and my partner’s sister said he seemed bothered all weekend. (They took him to a big old place near Yeovil several years ago, and there was a room there he wouldn’t go near).
The designer clearly had a thing about stairs, and rather than bedrooms being accessed along one main corridor they were up different flights: there would be two bedrooms up one flight, two up another, another two only reached by two more flights, etc. I don’t know why, but I feel safer if you have a corridor connection to make a head count or get to someone quickly if there’s a problem, but the way this was planned you felt very cut off. Maybe it’s for fire/safety reasons.
When you went in the main door there was a staircase winding up and an internal load-bearing wall. To the left there was a dining room and beyond that the main big lounge. At the corner of that lounge was a bath/shower/wc and a staircase to a kind of mezzanine twin bedroom.
To the right of the front door was the top part of the kitchen which went around in an open L shape connecting with the dining room.
Further right was another smaller lounge. Behind a door in the top left corner was a bath/shower room and a staircase to a king size double room.
Through the lounge to the right was a space which was like a large utility room/ corridor. There was another staircase here going up to two double bedrooms. Further along was a bath/shower room, cupboard for hoover, mop etc, then coat racks in a corner, then another door. If you opened this, it went down into a tunnel/corridor that descended beneath the ground. It had motion sensor lights and a space heater (not switched on) and you went down the steps, along it and up again. It didn’t exactly smell damp but ‘earthy’. The source of the Thames is very close. It was dim and not very pleasant because of the smell and the gloom.
There was a staircase at the further end, and a wine cellar (open wrought iron door so you could see through).
Eventually we realised that we’d wandered into the owner’s property! There was a room through an open door with a library and large table with all these forms on, (like Inland Revenue), so we quickly backtracked and walking around the outside later on, we saw and that the whole complex was connected either under or overground, probably to make it easier for the cleaners. But you couldn’t lock that door from our ‘barn’ into the tunnel which seemed odd and was a bit off-putting. The door would close with a satisfying click then suddenly open, probably because there was a draft from somewhere although if you opened it the air was very still down there.
The hosts instructions of which part of this complex was ours and where to go were non existent (although I suppose it was just common sense) but there were so many stairs and rooms it was confusing and people will wander unless instructed not to!
We had one of the bedrooms that were accessed from
the stairs by the front door. My partner’s daughter and her family had one larger bedroom as they have two children and we had the one opposite. The bedrooms shared a ‘Jack and Jill’ bathroom and you locked the connecting doors if you were in there and then unlocked them when you left.
This morning my partner’s daughter and her family left about eight as her husband had work. We were all downstairs, carrying out things to the cars or tidying and my partner said he would just use the bathroom before we left.
Although no-one was upstairs he locked the Jack and Jill doors anyhow.
Our friend said he would do a spot-check of all the bedrooms to make sure no-one had left anything and when he tried the bathroom door and it was locked my partner called, ‘I’ll be out in a minute!’
So he flushed the loo, washed his hands, and then heard this loud rap on the door. He opened it quickly saying, ‘Yes, I’m coming now,’ and opened but no-one was there and he heard our friend’s voice talking downstairs so he checked the other bedroom. No-one there. In fact I’d seen our friend come down and everyone at that point was downstairs or outside except my partner.
So not much except this, the dog and the rather cold atmosphere that made it quite hard to feel relaxed. Lovely place, but odd set-up.
They could have done more with the land, I think. I know it’s the end of summer but where they had a trampoline and climbing frame there was all long, dull grass and the closeness of the tiny Thames made it damp and uninviting.
I’m glad there was quite an upbeat energy due to the birthday, because otherwise I think it would have felt quite dispiriting, as if we weren’t wanted there.
Took the pic about a third of the way along the connecting corridor.
