I don’t know about you but I do love a bargain, especially where travel is concerned – cheap air fares, good value accommodation and other travel hacks. I also get regular Groupon and Wowcher emails flooding my inbox providing a ready stream of travel inspiration. For this week’s #throwbackthursday I thought I’d share an eventful trip in the Bronte country, are you sitting comfortably…. [cue memory harp to April 2013]
My good friend, Alice, knowing my passion for the Bronte sisters invited me to join her for a weekend discovering our inner Kathys on the Yorkshire Moors. A bargain from Groupon, we had our digs, The Alder House Hotel, sorted on the ‘doorstep of the Bronte country’, a quick look at the website showed a comfy looking B&B with large gardens, often used for weddings.
Travel arrangements made, we headed up North, via Matlock Bath for the afternoon, making good time. Trusting our Sat Nav we turned off the motorway towards Batley… Slowly neat suburbs gave way to untidy concrete front yards and burnt out cars. Winding our way through the industrial landscape we found our orderly looking B&B, all appeared normal if not a little too quiet. Another slightly older pair were waiting for someone to check the in.
Like something straight out of Fawlty Towers, or room was missing several important features – light bulbs for instance. Eventually, popping a bottle of Asti, (we know how to live!) we settled down for the night as next door started up his guitar…shortly followed by his drum kit! Slowly the noise died down and we drifted off, to be rudely awakened by an rather early wake up call. Around 2am we had our first fire alarm, two groggy eyed guests, the pair from earlier, emerged from the room opposite and we all trundled down to the reception. ‘False alarm’ we were reassured. And so preceded the first of 4 fire alarms that night…
Breakfast was also eventful, although we both enjoyed our hearty full English, our breakfast companions were all slightly dubious characters. In fact on the arrival of one particular guest, staff jumped to their feet and insisted that he had breakfast in his room…odd.
With no internet connection, it wasn’t until we had tea in a cafe that we googled our B&B and found this on Tripadvisor….
“Oh dear… Just don’t. As others have noted, Alder House also seems to be used as emergency housing for the homeless. As a guest it was very disconcerting; at night there was a great deal of disruption in the early hours of the morning, to the extent that we became concerned enough to check that our door was secure. “
Funnily enough the other couple who checked in at the same time as us, checked out prettily hastily! In fact shortly after our stay, the hotel lost its licence after this headline… ‘Teen rape hotel in Batley loses licence’ in the Bately & Birstal News. Enough said.
Get the Knack
- Heed this cautionary tale, I now don’t go anywhere, not even if the hotel’s going for a song, without checking Tripadvisor!