So, we wanted a break away to the Peak District, and booked at Park Farm House B&B in South Wingfield. When we arrived Sue the host greeted us, and did ask if we’d like a drink. Chris had a coffee. We then paid for the room.
The room did look lovely. Nice big bed. Skylights. Spacious. Nice woody furniture. Nice selection of teas/biscuits. Fairly small TV but that didn’t matter to us as we rarely watch it anyhow. We arrived in the dark, so couldn’t see out at this point. The bathroom was clean, although the sink did have a lot of fine cracks in the basin.
The rooms are fairly close to one-another with just one top-step separating us and the adjacent room.
When we could see out the window, we were disappointed with the ‘view’ that looked out over part of the farm, with farm machinery feeders etc. It was a shame when there was the potential to see beautiful hills and valleys.
Breakfast the next morning was fine. The sausage was a ‘breakfast’ sausage — so appropriate, but bland. The bacon was fairly thin and again didn’t have a lot of taste. But, it was all edible and cooked fine, and I ate it.
A Charge for Extra Cleaning Costs!!!
Nothing else remarkable about the stay, until we came to check-out. I handed Sue the keys, and then she said very sternly and disapprovingly: “There will be a charge for the extra cleaning costs incurred” and she asked for Chris’ card.
I immediately queried what extra cleaning, and how much? I wondered if it was because the bath-mat had become a bit wet at one edge, as I truly couldn’t think of anything else, but still didn’t think this was acceptable at all.
Sue replied, “I think you may have spilled some wine or something on the bed, if you know what I mean?” *said in a manner that she didn’t really mean wine, but was just using that as a phrase to imply what else could have been spilled*
Now, Chris HADN’T spilled wine on the bed! He was always sat up, had a very small amount of wine anyhow, and this had not spilled!
I asked, already beginning to feel quite cross, “Well how much will the charge be?”
Sue replied that she needed to assess the bed, and if there had been any damage to the mattress. She said that she had our phone number and would be in touch later.
I felt as though we’d been accused of something … but it was never actually very clear what we’d been accused of. I didn’t know what we were meant to have done that needed cleaning!
Now, here’s the thing. On our first night, in the early hours of the morning Chris and I made love! Woooooaaaaah!!!! Too Much Information you may be thinking!!!! I appreciate that it is, and perhaps not what you expect to read in the review of a B&B. We weren’t noisy! There was no head-board banging noisily against the wall; no loud moans/groans/or yells of ‘yes! yes! yes!’ it was discrete, but we are two people in love, and two consenting adults who enjoy physical intimacy, and when you’re away on holiday relaxing, it’s nice to engage in. For me it’s part of the fun of being away. The rooms were close to one another. It is ‘just’ possible that the man in the next room heard us if he was really straining his ears. It was at 3.30am, so most people would usually be fast-asleep at that time! It’s possible that he ‘may’ have complained to the host the next morning? If not that, I genuinely wondered if the room was bugged! Or Sue simply just took offense at us.
If any bodily fluids spilled on the sheet of the bed, well — I kind of think that’s part and parcel of running a B&B … you should be washing the bedding, and there should be a mattress protector on the bed. I didn’t even think to look/check, I just assumed there would be one there for hygiene reasons. So, if there was a mattress protector there, there should be no reason for us to have caused any damage to the mattress! If there wasn’t one there, there should be — people will naturally sweat, people could have germs/bugs on their skin, there may be drool when people are sleeping etc. To me, the bed sheets all looked white and fine the next morning, they didn’t look dirty/stained at all. If she’s examining all couple’s bed-sheets after they’ve slept there, with a magnifying glass … well that’s frankly a bit weird!!!!
Two Offending Items …
We had two items in the room that ‘may’ have upset Sue … but I actually think these are none of her business whatsoever! I’d taken a bottle of Chris’ favourite wine from home with us, and a silver goblet for him to drink out of. He had one small glass of wine one night, one small glass of wine the following. We had well over 1/2 the bottle of wine left upon our return. Chris didn’t drink all of each glass, and both nights tipped some away. He was certainly not loud/rowdy with the alcohol, and he didn’t spill any of the wine if that had been her worry/concern. He only drank the wine once we’d returned to the B&B for the night, so was never drink-driving. However, if we’d wanted 12 bottles of whisky in that room … that’s our prerogative.
I had taken another item with me, which I appreciate ‘some’ people may take offense to. I have a little key ring, that has a red-bell with the words ‘ring for sex’ on the bell. It’s no louder than a mobile phone text bleep. I don’t think I rang it anyhow. To us, it’s a joke, it’s silly, it’s fun. It’s nothing to be taken too seriously. To others, I’m aware this may appear lewd/crude … but again, it was in our room, for our purposes and really no-one else’s business.
So, I’m assuming the ‘alcohol’ and ‘sex’ made us unsavory guests that Sue didn’t want staying at her B&B. I don’t know whether the fact that we’re unmarried, was another strike against us. If Sue had looked in my tablet box, she may have seen contraceptive pills. Depending on her religion, this too could have upset her. But, if you’re running a B&B you will get all types staying there, and I think should be as open-minded as possible to every type of person. How people live their lives doesn’t have to be the way you choose to live your life.
Threat
So, Chris and I left the B&B with the ‘threat’ hanging over us, that we could be charged for incurring “extra cleaning costs” that we had no idea what they related to.
As we drove along, I started to get even more annoyed, and felt the whole situation was incredibly unjust. I couldn’t wait to phone Sue to try and sort it out immediately. We were driving through the Peak District and as we drove Chris’ phone would change rapidly from reasonable signal one minute, to just one bar, or no reception at all. I tried phoning, got through once, then the phone was cut off due to poor signal. I had to wait until we got to Buxton to get a decent enough signal.
Vague and Inconsistent
By this time I think it was around 10.30am ish. I phoned using Chris’ phone – no answer. I phoned using mine, no answer either. Sue rang us back, I spoke to her, and said that I wanted the situation resolved today. I was polite and respectful on the phone. I asked if she’d had chance to assess the situation yet. She claimed that she’d needed to wash the duvet, which I really didn’t understand. Without wanting to be crude, when we were intimate, we were ‘in’ the bed, not ‘on top of the duvet’ …. there’s no way in the world the duvet would have needed washing! I also just felt that she was changing stories and not being consistent. I didn’t feel that there was an ‘issue’ but that she was ‘pretending’ there was. I told her that I did NOT give her permission to take ANY money from Chris’ card without giving us prior notification and she said she wouldn’t. I also said that I wanted the situation sorted out today, and asked her by what time she would have finished assessing. She suggested that the duvet looked Ok, and said 6pm. I feel that was a ridiculous amount of time, and it felt like a ‘power-trip’ of deliberately keeping us waiting. However, I left it at that.
Good Rest of Day
Between the morning check out and getting to Buxton, I’d been really quite fed up, frustrated, angry over being accused of something that we hadn’t done! I felt so fed up, I ‘almost’ said to Chris, I just want to go home.
I am soooo glad however that we didn’t. I certainly didn’t want to let someone as insignificant as Sue ruin our final day of our trip. We had a wonderful time at Poole’s Cavern, it was Chris and I’s favourite cavern we’d seen over the weekend. We then went onto Dovedale. The weather was glorious, lovely blue skies, and we had a fantastic walk around Dovedale, and across the Stepping Stones.
Poor Customer Service and Inability to Leave a Review
Sue never phoned us back at 6pm as promised! Which is poor customer service! We’ve never heard from her since, which makes me think she had no valid point at all. She just was trying to put us off, so that we choose not to stay there ever again. Well, that worked. We certainly won’t. I hope no-one else ever does either!!!!!
What was interesting is that we appear to have been ‘blocked’ from leaving a review about Park Farm guesthouse. Chris’ phone screen is shown below:
I do however, intend to contact Booking.com about this. It’s no surprise that Sue’s reviews are all good on Booking.com if she blocks everyone who may give a poor review from giving this. But, that’s not fair, or just or a true representation of what people think.
Final Advice: Never ever stay at Park Farm House!!!!!
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