This room is the bare minimum of a B&B. It is a place to stay, that's all.
No hospitality. No food. The only food we had from her was tea and biscuits after we arrived (we just had a seven hour non-stop flight), which seemed like an afterthought and not warmly shared. Everything seemed like we were inconveniencing her, or that she was interrupting us (which, of course, she wasn't. It's her house.) She also behaved as if she was surprised to see us every time.
It was awkward to ask the host for anything, as there was a feeling that she didn't want you to be there in her house. My friend and I are social people and have no problem talking to people, but the unwelcome feeling made us fend for ourselves.
We were never offered any kind of meal.
There was no access to the rest of the house, not even the kitchen. No refrigerator and definitely no microwave / oven. No utensils. It is a bare room with a desk, a couch, two beds, and scattered chairs. The rest is awkward furniture. There's a TV that I couldn't figure out how to turn on (the batteries in the remotes are years old; they expired a few months ago). By the time we asked how do you turn the darn thing on, I wasn't interested in watching TV anymore.
You can't open the French doors unless it's an emergency. So, no window. (Also, no view to the outside, except for the bins).
There is a dog! He is adorable, but it seems the hosts didn't want us to know about him and didn't want him to be friendly to us. (He's also not mentioned in the BnB ad). When I was leaving, the husband, who I only saw once in the entire stay, was pulling the dog's neck so hard (so he wouldn't run out the door) that I had to wince. I really felt for that dog. I wish I could have taken him home and saved him.
It is not a garden entrance, implying a side or back entrance. It is the one and only front entrance; we all shared the same entrance. I suppose it is a "garden" but I understood that to mean it's in the back of the house.
It is not lower ground floor. It is the basement. As you could imagine, was cold.
The shower was nice. It's a wet room which I've never had before. However there were ants. Many ants. I thought it was a one-time thing the first night but there were ants in the bathroom for the entirety of the stay. I made sure to wear sandals every time I went in.
There are personal pictures of the hosts' family, especially someone who I gather is her son, framed and facing the guests, both on the walls and on the shelves. I turned over the ones that were on the shelves, but even that was noted by the host one of the times she entered the room ("My father-in-law is troubling you?" she said, before telling me how attractive he was in his prime years. I said, "I really don't like people in frames looking at me".) I returned all of the frames to exactly how they were before I left. I don't mind caricatures, fine art, or really any kind of framed art, but personal pictures of someone you don't know? And not even stock photos or paid actors like in ads?
I felt like I was living in a distant relative's house, where personal photos would be appropriate, but that I actually paid for that experience. Absolutely not what I wanted from a BnB.
And of course there are the books. After a while, with all the other issues of the room and the lack of hospitality, living with nearly century-old books for a week wasn't that bad. Honestly, an open window would have been a better feature, considering I didn't have one of those, but the books were fine. A bit creepy, but fine.
So it's fair to say I am extremely disappointed, but I am grateful to have had a room so close to Brompton Road and Royal Albert Hall. A few touches would have made the experience so much better! An electric tea kettle, access to the kitchen, fresh towels, the ability to play with or even walk the dog, the ability to open the French doors. These things don't cost money! Then the review would have been at least four stars.
The stay could have been phenomenal, but unfortunately it was quite the opposite.
I hope the dog is alright. (Thinking of you, pup!)