Guest Houses

Teetime - you're not alone - I need at least one hour complete silence when I wake up to gather my thoughts for the day. When in a guest house/hotel I am doing my planning while having breakfast and don't even like to talk to hubby let alone some stranger. When we go to our holiday home, any family who might be with us are kept at bay until I feel ready to switch my mind to facing the world. This isn't selfish - it's just the way we, as individuals function.

I think I have been misunderstood I am not snooty about sharing I love meeting new people but not at breakfast I'm just not good in the morning and as I said often queasy and seeing fried breakfasts makes me very queasy indeed.

Tbh with regard to feeling that the Premier Inn in Kendal was too far out with not alot around - you were in Cumbria ( one of the most unpopulated/remote areas of the UK ) so surely you should not expect a 5* restaurant on every corner!

I would say that I am less grumpy (or try to be) but more anxious.
I've got a new chair being delivered tomorrow but they are supposed to be collecting one that had flaws in it and the deliver company has not had the order for that. I don't want to end up with two but the company (Made.com) is not replying to my emails so I am probably going to have to postpone the delivery. It has been over 3 months since I placed the initial order but I feel (stupidly) anxious rather than cross as I would have done in the past.
In the meantime I am going to the dentist this afternoon to have a clean and filling and hopefully to have a tooth out so that might make me feel grumpy when I have to come back and deal with this.

I often do room only and take my own breakfast with me. That way I eat exactly what I want when I want it. Works for me most of the time.

Hotels for us too. B&Bs might be very good but you are always aware that you're in somebody's home.

Friendly chat in a hotel dining room feels more 'optional.' Nobody minds if you gaze at the view (if there is one) rather than engage in a discussion about parking in a nearby town.

We don't go away very often these days but when we do we prefer self catering or a short break in a hotel where no effort is required.

I love Premier Inns, have never stayed in a bad one yet, just wished they did a loyalty scheme.

Hotels for me every time

Always remember: a stranger is a friend waiting to happen.

Yes, it is, TerriBull and I don't mind at all, but DH doesn't like it, he must be the long lost twin of TWM grannyactivist and especially at breakfast time?
We have stayed at a lot of B&B's, all really good, and only once have we had a communal table.Being small breakfast rooms though, the tables are close, and yes, often there is a hushed atmosphere.

It's not really a question of being snooty, fellow guests in the main come across as perfectly nice people, but nevertheless they are strangers as indeed we are to them. We have however struck up plenty of inter table chat given the proximity of tables and often the host/s draw people into conversation. I imagine however many want a quiet tete-e-tete with their partner over breakfast that's the dynamic that usually plays out in "the breakfast room"

And good manners to chat to people at the same table!

Does TWM ever chat to people that he's never going to meet again?

I think to chat to a stranger is a basic human kindness/interaction.

I suppose some people are very harsh and just want to get on with their breakfast and get out of there!

And there was I thinking it was just The Wonderful Man who had a problem with communal breakfasts! Two years ago we stayed at a delightful B&B in Ascot and in the morning discovered that breakfast was served at one long table. I chatted to the other diners, but noticed that TWM wasn't really joining in. Afterwards I asked him about it and he said that he couldn't understand why anyone would want to chat, over breakfast, to complete strangers that we were never going to meet again.

And I can't think of anything that would put me off my breakfast more than sharing a table with Charles

My favourites are small independent hotels - I've never stayed anywhere and had to share a table. For an overnight for just convenience, we now use Holiday Inn Express if there's one nearby

I'm another who doesn't want to talk to anyone over the breakfast table.....or any other meal time. I thoroughly dislike eating in front of strangers. I'm not antisocial and will strike up a conversation at any other time.

I'm a big breakfast eater so you might not want to share a table with me.

luckily we have never had to share a table. I can think of worse things than sharing a table with a fellow guest.

One shouldn't be too snooty - a couple of years ago in Klosters, DS2 and his pal found themselves chatting away and sharing a very basic communal table and benches with Prince Charles and his bodyguard!

Teetime. I know the Lister Arms at Malham. Eaten there several times.

Teetime, I had kippers most mornings while we were in Morecambe last week. I never have them at home but often have them in hotels.

My husband used to stay in country pubs and guest houses. I've never been in one where you have to share a table.

We've stayed in guest houses and small hotels in the UK, some of the boutique type hotels can be very good, luckily we have never had to share a table. However, as Eloethan pointed out, they tend to be fairly close together and there can be stilted conversation and ensuing hushed silences. Most of the talk between guests tends to be about the area and what's worth visiting so have picked up a few tips on occasions. Whilst, an English breakfast is a treat once in a while, having recently come back from a week away in the UK, I don't want to see or smell bacon for a very long time I was glad to get back to yogurt and fruit.

I like Premier Inn and Holiday Inn because they offer fairly good standards but are also quite busy and impersonal so you do not need to interact with other guests.

Like some other Grasnetters, I'm not at all keen on small B&Bs or hotels where tables are close together (or communal). I find the ensuing hushed or stilted conversation very uncomfortable.

We've stayed in a variety of hotels, pubs and guest houses but I can't remember ever having to share a table with anyone apart from on two occasions. Once when we were on a ten day trip to Austria and shared the table with the same four people each day. Fortunately we all got along okay as we got to know each other a bit better as the trip progressed. The second time was a weekend away when we had two nights in an awful hotel and didn't like the people we were allocated to eat with. Mind you, they probably didn't like us either! I like Premier Inns. We use the one at Cribbs Causeway to break our journey if we are travelling down to Cornwall.

kittylester its the second time we have stayed in a gastropub/restaurant. We stayed in the Loch Fyne at Kenilworth and that was lovely- beautiful comfortable rooms. DH loved being able to have smoked haddock for breakfast. The latest one was the Lister Arms in Malham N Yorks - beautiful pub and restaurant, the rooms were boutique hotel standard wonderful food but gets very busy at weekends so can be noisy.