A day before the stay we were sent a very matter of fact message regarding the rules of the house. When we arrived we were met by the house who spent about 20 minutes going over the rules of the house again, along with insisting that no shoes were to be worn in the house. There was a sign written on cardboard on the floor with a watchful eye drawn, that also said no shoes. The host warned us that her and her husband would be dropping in regularly to garden and would be keeping an eye on things. We felt very uncomfortable and it basically ruined the stay.
The host showed up regularly and let themselves into the house when they thought everyone was out. This surprised an elderly relative who had stayed back to sleep. They also came and complained that a fan and a light had been left on while we were out and warned us that we would be charged for electricity. They gave us specific degrees of daily temperature that if reached we were not to use heating or cooling, regardless of the fact we had elderly and children who were not familiar with the climate. We don't know how often they came into the house while we were out.
We are clean, responsible and respectful people. I don’t believe we’ve ever left a negative review prior to this. The host really needs to consider if they even want to have people staying in the house