Each to their own, is how I’ll start the review.
Katherin is a pleasant host but there were moments of awkwardness.
For example, I asked if there was an iron and any tea or coffee in the room (which are standard questions, one would think) and I received a curt response saying ‘we’re a family home not a hotel!!!’.
When I arrived there was an ironing board in the kitchen, which I used, and I was shown where the tea and coffee was. I enquired if there was a specific set of cups to use, and was told ‘why would there be’, and ‘I don’t understand your question!’ In response.
Well, given this is a family home, not a hotel, I was showing my respect in not using personal items. However, that led to a further tension.
The room is small and is in the basement. The ‘door way’ is an arch that’s lower than a door so watch your head and the room is at the back of the utility area.
There is no door directly to the room, but there is one to the utility area which can be closed but if access to the utility room is required by the family, this would mean them entering the area that the room can be entered through.
The bed is a narrow single. Reasonable comfy. The linen is high quality, as is the duvet and pillows.
There is no full length mirror in the room and there is little or no mobile phone signal, though wifi is available.
The room was far too hot for my comfort and so I both turned off the radiator and opened the window. As it’s a basement, there is limited natural light, but there are two lights in the room.
The toilet and bathroom are on the first floor (entrance floor from the street).
Note: there are no blinds or curtains in the bathroom, only a voile, that offers no privacy at all. If the light is on in the bathroom, the back of the houses opposite can see directly into the bathroom, shower/bath. I could see clearly one of the neighbours in their window/kitchen, so they could definitely see me.
This meant I had to use the bathroom without the light on.
I attempted a dark shower in the morning (around 6.30) however, there was no hot water. So ended up having to go to work very early to shower there. Not a good experience at all.
I shared this feedback with Katherin who said the houses can’t see in, however, that’s not the case, and the pictures I took demonstrate this. Similarly with the cold shower water, no apology, just a message saying it was strange.
I’ve not had any further response on this matter from the host.
There are two cats, as stated in the description. They are cute, but they do walk on the kitchen surfaces, so I didn’t have breakfast at the property as the surfaces wouldn’t have been clean enough to prepare food on.
The property is more like a 5-7 min walk from the tube, not 2 mins as described, but it’s still close and convenient. The area is nice and clean. The house is pleasant looking from the outside and is well maintained on the inside.
Other than the cats on the work surfaces it was a clean property too.
It’s also a smoke free property which I was pleased about.