Beds and pillows and duvets...(another aside)

We have been here nearly five weeks, and the other inconsistent thing, (after bathrooms and plumbing), is in the bedroom. 

No, nothing to do with Lee and I, but when you are travelling to so many different places, you do need your sleep. That is not always possible, simply because every place varies in what it provides.

PILLOWS - if you are going to be here as long as we are, buy two pillows at the beginning and take them with you! This will only work if you have a car for most of the time, but at least you will know what to expect each night. The pillows range from what seem like a bag of cereal, to spongy, or very hard.

MATTRESSES - again, these vary from simply lumpy, to hard as rocks, to squishy, to quite OK. But again, not consistent. And, they don't do top sheets. So, if you are a top sheet person you will be disappointed. They do duvets, which also vary in weight and thickness, and they have their own cover, (which is changed after each use). But, they don't seem to change the type of duvet from season to season. I asked at one place, and the lady said she'd never thought of it!

BED SIZE - Never assume that if you book a room which says Double Bed, that you will get any other size. So if you are used to a Queen sized bed back at home, you might just end up being closer than you want to be.

You have to remember to ask. Whenever I have done so, and been told the bed would be a 4'6" (double bed), we have gone for twin beds. That way you both get a good night's sleep.

The most consistent bedding we have had is with Premier Inn hotels. No, I am not on their payroll, but whichever one we have stayed with, and that has been four different places so far, you get the same good stuff every time. This may change, as we still have a number of them across the country to try out, so this recommendation might also change.

The Minuses - No. 1.

Very few hotels/motels in the UK have fridges in the rooms. This is a problem for us as we like to have real milk of some description in our rooms for our coffee, and perhaps an orange juice first thing.

Then there are the minute problems we seem to have had with particular rooms, like the first night in Oxford when the toilet wouldn't flush, and the 24 hour promise of a good night resulted in our calling up, and a man knocked on our door very promptly, and sort-of fixed it. But, it didn't work again, so they moved us to another room.

The other one was today, when we arrived in Nottingham, to find that our room was ready, but Goldilocks hadn't changed the sheets. I rang down, and they were most apologetic and moved us across the hall.

Little things, but we hope they don't keep happening...