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Truly English. It's quite cool how well things work out sometimes. When planning this trip, I'd originally wanted to sample a few Bed & Breakfast type places in England, but later opted for the more predictable Hilton experience on the premise that the trip was too over-scheduled for major surprises.
        Fast forward to today, when I was supposed to be back in London in preparation for a couple meetings there tomorrow. Instead, reluctant to leave after such a wonderful few days with my family here, I've been juggling schedules around to stay a couple more days, leaving tomorrow around noon to still get back to London before my 4:00pm meeting, but spending an extra Sat-night-through-Mon-morning here in Cambridgeshire.
        I wanted to stay somewhere nearby but away from the house, over the family's objections that I wasn't inconveniencing them and should stay. So as an excellent compromise, Shirin found me a great Bed & Breakfast just a few blocks away from her house, where I have time to lazily lounge about this Sunday morning and type up blog posts and really experience the strangely-cool world of the B&B.


(The sitting room, in traditional English style.)

This place is a regular residential house on a regular residential street, and only a small brass "B&B" sign near the front door lets you in on the secret that this is no ordinary household. Inside, two lovely old-fashioned Brits, Alan and Monica, maintain a beautiful household and allow strangers to come in and share their home as well. "I've been doing this over 30 years," says Monica while serving breakfast. "Over the years, I've met literally thousands of people." It's both charmingly endearing and patently absurd at the same time.


(The beautifully-manicured yard, viewed from the sitting room.)

Consider: Alan and Monica were off to visit their last two grandchildren today (the other seven were here yesterday), so they'll be gone for the next day or two. So after making me a flawlessly-perfect English breakfast and showing me how to set the alarm, they were off, leaving me with keys and alarm codes and the run of the house. Keep in mind that I knew nothing at all of Alan or Monica 48 hours ago, and that they never did see any ID at all from me. How do they know that I'm not an axe murderer?? Also, how have they left me with keys to this beautiful house, with their things setup perfectly as you'd expect of any well-maintained British household, without worrying about me walking off with any one of the countless curios and pieces they have lying about?? In some odd way, I'm so proud of the fact that I'm trusted by almost everyone, and it completely throws me for a loop when random strangers give me their trust without making me earn it first. Hmmm.


(The initial view, walking in the front door.)



(Looking back towards the door in the entry-way.)

Probably sounds odd, but I was really looking forward to the English breakfast this morning, as some sort of comparison to the Hilton Kensington breakfast I had a few days ago. And I was pleased to find that this English breakfast was exactly what I was expecting of the English.... fried egg on toast, with English bacon (something between our bacon and our ham), and a fried mushroom and fried tomato half, with toast, and cereal, and orange juice, and tea. Of course. It was quite delicious in a stereotypically English sort of way--- the sort of food I definitely appreciate while on vacation here, but which I wouldn't opt for at home. But -- more to the point -- this was excellent food that certainly put that final nail in the coffin of my ever staying at the Hilton Kensington again.
        As for B&Bs vs. hotels in general, the jury's still out on that. I'm completely and thoroughly impressed with Alan and Monica, and I would stay here again in a heartbeat if I were in Linton and wanted to be close to my cousin's house, etc. But B&B's in general? I'm not sure I'm the right person for that sort of thing. First, there's the unpredictability of each individual place, as Alan was telling me this morning, and I get the sense that these charming people have set a rather high bar that few other places will live up to. Secondly, I'm really getting quite picky about things lately, and accommodation is quite far down the list of things I like to experiment with. But oddly enough, one of the only negative things about my entire stay here was the realization that I'm likely too shy to stay in a place like this. During the night, I was very conscious of every noise I'd make, trying to walk down the hallway to the bathroom without making a noise, worried that my coming back past 11:00pm would wake them, that sort of thing. Contrast that to a hotel, where I'm still pretty quiet but don't think twice about walking around, or watching tv at 3:00am if I feel like it. I can't quite bring myself to do that here, though Alan and Monica would probably insist that it's fine. (I suspect B&B operators are heavy sleepers as a general rule?)


(The modest bedroom, more than enough for just me.)

But the fact that these people open their homes to strangers like this is one of the most fascinating things I've seen. It takes quite an open heart and trusting attitude to do that, and I don't know many back home -- or really, anyone -- who could do that the way these people do. Yet another unplanned UK experience that turned out to be a highlight of the trip overall. Will be interesting to go back to the Langham Hilton on Monday after a nice weekend here.
// 12.27.2003 11:06am //