B&B’s good and bad

[pepperami]

So I’m determined to go away on the bike this year.
Even if my big plans don’t pan out I have a need to go somewhere even if it’s just a long weekend.

So BCF , tell me about B&B’s you have stayed in, anywhere in the country.
Good and bad, could make for interesting reading

Yes yes I could go on the review websites, but I want to hear it from you.
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[chickenstrip]

I don't see it making for great reading from my own experience. Whaddya wanna hear? That they sent free coke and hookers up to the room in the evenings? (I wish!). A B&B is a B&B (if you're on the budget I was always on ). Never been in a great one I want to write a song about, never been in a really bad one. I used the review sites to find them.
Oh, one crap one, on Skye. Tiny little loft-conversion room with a small window that didn't open - like a feckin' oven. Ya pays ya money...

Take a chance, and maybe you'll end up with a story to tell.

Edit: oh, another one springs to mind, a hotel, not a B&B though, in Ullapool. Think it might have been called "The Overlook" ( ). There were two weird little twin girls who kept appearing in the corridor, the fire hose turned into a snake, and the dead woman in the bath in room 217 opened her eyes and winked at me. And some nutter tried to hack his way through the room door with an axe. But the boiler blew up and the hotel isn't there anymore. Redrum!
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[AldridgePrior]

What's the point of giving (subjective) reviews on accommodation in places there is a massively high chance you'll never visit?

I reckon you've read some other thread/article, been inspired and now you're in adventure mode

Joking aside, book nothing in advance and see where you end up. It'll give you something to talk about for years.

[chickenstrip]

You'd want to know if they sent free coke and hookers up to your room in the evenings though
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Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!

[Sister Sledge]

Blimey! Talk about vague!
Best I can do is in Scotland I've had many places where they lied about accommodation. I'm sure they count kitchen cupboards as bedrooms.. Lake District has never let me down and places have been immaculate. Every single roadside 'motel' I've stayed at has been a flea infested grimy broken noisy stale aired hovel.

Must admit a previous comment saying not to book and go on an adventure does appeal.
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CCM 404 DS

[doggone]

One in Keswick had fitted wardrobes down one side but if you opened the doors they fell off as there were no hinges.
The electrics were held together with insulating tape and those adapters like your Gran had in 1972
Good breakfast though.
Near Cheddar Gorge a draughty old Farmhouse with an woman about 90 the sole occupant, knocked on the door and muffled banging and shuffling noises from within.
Heavy front door creaked open like a scene from Dracula.
"It's £10 you make your own breakfast with cornflakes and toast"

[pepperami]

Well that went down like a lead balloon .
So none of you have been to a particular B&B that you could come on here and say “ Mr & Mrs xx at the Seaview in Mapethorpe were really good hosts” , the breakfast was nice etc etc.

It might have been amusing if someone had a tale of woe (booked into the Munsters house ) and could say stear clear of Mrs Jones at Dunromin in Skegness or whatever.

However I’ll stick a pin in a map to see where I’m going and use a review website to try and check out my bookings .
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[pepperami]

[stinkwheel]

Not a B&B but there was a place near Alnwick I stayed which had Shepherds huts/Gypsy cravans and did breakfasts too.

Odd location just off the A1 but they do let you have a fire outside the hut.

Alnwick Lodge it was called.

One of the best Indian meals I've had for a long time at the nearby
lalkhazana.co.uk . Ordered a "special meal for two" they asked what sort of curries we liked and the chef took the opportunity to show off.

I don't stay in B&Bs as a rule. Tend to go for the "glamping" options if I'm travelling light. So Wigwams/shepherds huts etc.
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[doggone]

Along those lines I was looking at these a while back in a superb location for The Lakes
https://www.theherdwickhuts.co.uk/ - not cheap

[barrkel]

Most B&Bs are inferior to a hotel room if you have a choice.

B&Bs sometimes aren't en-suite and when they are it can be a very pokey retrofit, the room is typically smaller than a hotel room, bed is typically a double rather than king sized, mattress quality is much more hit and miss. It's more awkward if you stay out late, or make much noise for whatever reason during the night.

It's heavily dependent on the host as to what quality the breakfast is. You can't get a good breakfast at a cheap hotel though.
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[Sister Sledge]

Hey stinkwheel I had to look for the place near Alnwick with me being close and that. For years that land was like a travelers tip. So much inert waste was tipped there for decades.
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CCM 404 DS

[Howling Terror]

As it's BCF and you've asked for B&Bs I present Totters Independent Hostel in Caernarfon where the landlord will personally rearrange his patio furniture to allow 8 bikes to park safely in his secure yard then personally show you the best pubs by walking across the road to get hammered with or without you.

Basic, clean and cheap.
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[mentalboy]

DISCLAIMER: Tef like post! If you want a decent recommendation head to bottom of the post.

Two spring to mind, the first was absolutely fucking awful and should probably be avoided by all but the most hardened 1%ers, the second was proper interesting.

Firstly, I give you the 'First in, last out' pub in Winchester. If the name hasn't already put you off, the approach to the pub through an 'interesting' area of town on the edge of some run down social housing high rises may well do.
Should you make it to the front door, having employed every security device on your vehicle and wishing you had more, you are greeted with a friendly bunch of regulars getting 'merry'. The landlady showed us to our room, and proudly announced the 'Polizzi suite', our obvious ignorance of the significance of the name prompted a story about 'the Hotel Inspector', although the landlady omitted to mention that this was, to that date, the only property the esteemed Alex Polizzi had walked out of. For those not in the know apparently the Hotel Inspector is one of those reality TV programs where someone goes into a property and tries to make a silk purse out of a shit sandwich.
The room itself, apparently the best in the building, can best be described as 'shit', we tried to keep the lights dimmed as we didn't want to know if the bed sheets still had the cum stains from the previous occupants, the bathroom was a dark, dingy affair down the corridor. General access to and from the accommodation was via the fire escape stairs into the badly lit car park.
That was the just building!

We found a very nice restaurant a short ten minute walk away, although had I known where I was staying in advance then I wouldn't have gone out into the streets without being tooled up.

Upon our return, having checked that the bike was still there, we decided to grace the regulars with our presence and have a pint. The ones at the bar, and the landlord, were very chatty and friendly but the pool room down the other side had a couple having a domestic and some other 'colourful' characters - I got the distinct impression that the domestic started around who would be buying the drugs and evolved into a full on 'you're an arsehole' type slanging match.
So we swiftly downed our drinks before a full on fight broke out and headed back up to the hovel for an early-ish night.

An uncomfortable night on a shagged out mattress was made even more restless by the several punchups that were happening, right below our window, in the pub garden until about two in the morning. Next morning, we looked at the offering of cereal that comprised breakfast and the dirty plates to eat it from and decided to find someplace else to eat.


Secondly, I give you 'St Curig's Church' b&b in Capel Curig, Snowdonia.
Location - excellent.
Accomodation in the converted chapel was clean and pleasant, our room had been built in front of the old stone pulpit and it was novel having a pulpit hanging out of the end wall!
The landlady comes with an interesting history, she's the Lady Alice Douglas, daddy is the marquess of Queensbury (boxing rules, anyone?) but she and her boyfriend are down to earth and would do anything for you.
If you are ever in the area looking for a place to stay you probably won't find better and it was quite reasonable in price.
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[recman]

Not exactly a B&B but what the hell, live a little.
This place is superb.
https://www.cambrianway.com/

[Kentol750]

+1 for llanerchindda, good base for exploring some of the best roads in Wales.
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Some bikes.

[ZebraDriver]

The Pines in Elgin gets my vote. Big detached house, all bedrooms large and all en-suite. Does a nice breakfast as well.

[pepperami]

Thank you people
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[Stevie GooGs]

Have you checked this? https://bikerbnb.com

I find most b&bs are pretty much biker friendly up north, ive never had any issues.
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[TCFA]

Not strictly a B&B but the Buccleuch Arms in Moffatt gets a thumbs up, got individual lockup for your bike, all the cleaning and basic maintenance stuff you might like, and staff who will give you good tips for rides

Also not technically a B&B, but on the shittier side, Ben Lawers Hotel in Lawers. I don't remember all the details but I remember the owner was weird, and kept telling me off for not booking something right
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