Elizabeth was an amazing host and her place is decorated beautifully.
The location is very central in terms of going to different places around london city but the immediate vicinity is not as loaded with options like other areas in london usually are.
Although the decor of the place couldn’t possibly be better there were a few things which must be mentioned to anyone looking to have a stay. First and foremost, there isn’t any shower in the house and neither is there any drier. Although the drier not being present is relatively easy to manage, the shower situation takes some getting used to.
One big issue that I felt needs to be addressed by the host is the absence of a trash can outside the house. All the houses in the lane have them present but not this one. So managing the trash can be a bit of a pain as it is only picked up twice a week and recyclable trash is picked up once a week. Trash has to be left outside specifically in the morning before 9 am.
Another major issue I faced was the presence of a myriad of spiders. During my 2-week stay I spotted 6 spiders. One or two were constantly stationed at the entrance making it a bit of a challenge for an arachnophobe like me to move in an out of the house with comfort. There were a lot of webs which I noticed as well around the house. On mentioning this to the host I was told that it’s normal in any house and I should deal with it. Although I had only raised the issue because we were with our 7 month baby.
Finally, it being an old house, had all the charm one could ask got from an English townhouse but that also comes with certain drawbacks. The furniture was very old in terms of firmness and stability and one has to be quite careful not to break anything. Although I did end up breaking the caning on the seat of one dining chair because the chairs seats have a cushion on top making it impossible for one to know that the base of the seat is made of cane. Also must be really old because it broke quite easily with the pressure of one knee on it. The host did not create much fuss about the incidence and charged me 100 GBP for the repair.
The housekeeper is quite a strange character and I hope you don’t have to deal with her. We were told to treat her with respect and of course since it goes without saying, we treated her with utmost respect. But she on the other hand treats the guest like some big burden and did not even speak to us like any stranger on the street would. She would bathe in using her key unceremoniously before agreed upon times.
Nevertheless, for the price and for it’s charm, it was worth the stay. Although I would be quite apprehensive in the future of staying in old properties.