November 25, 2003


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    Here is the Ravenstone Hotel that we stayed at in the LakeDistrict. The following is a letter written by Miranda to the Trading Standards Authority. It details the gory details of our stay there!

     

     

    Dear Trading Standards Authority

    I had a strange experience when travelling in the Lake District last week and I would greatly value your advice as to how to deal with it.

    The Tourist Information Center in Keswick made a reservation for myself  and my travelling companion  at the Ravenstone Hotel in Bassenthwaite.

    The hotel was not cheap. 90 pounds a night for a twin room (including breakfast.) Double what we had paid for at a York B & B the week before, but it had a bar and a restaurant and we decided to splash out. We stayed there the 26th and 27th of September.

    We found out that the hotel locks its guests in at night. We found out about this because Ellen got up at 2 am with insomnia and residual jet lag on the night of the 27th of September to find a quiet place downstairs to read (so as not to bother me). She tried to go outside to have a cigarette and inadvertently set off the fire alarm by opening a fire door (the front door being locked). There were no notices on the fire doors warning guests not to open them at night (or any other time?)

    Unfortunately this was just the beginning of quite a sorry saga. The man who dealt with Ellen (who turned out to be the owner of the establishment) was very angry indeed and would not allow Ellen to sit in any of the public rooms downstairs (of which there were several). This, in spite of the fact that she apologized profusely for her error. She overheard him calling her a stupid woman to the fire department when cancelling the fire engine. He then came out of his office and told her that she could not sit and read downstairs. His shouted at her "It's 2 am, what are you doing up, you should be in bed." He shouted at her repeatedly "Go to your room." She repeated that she just wanted to sit and quietly read and he got angrier - shouting at her to go to her room and stay there. Luckily she was not vulnerable to taking his castigations personally and she decided that for the sake of peace and good will she would comply with his patently unreasonable demand.

    The next morning I paid and asked for the name of the man who was 'on' the previous night. The woman dealing with me asked me angrily whether I was going to complain and I said I was. She told me she was his wife and that they were the owners. I naively thought she might apologize so that we could all let the incident drop but she started shouting at me - saying that what Ellen did was unacceptable and a lot of other unpleasant things besides. She said she'd never had any trouble from any of her guests and it was "people like you" (Americans?) who are the problem. I was so incensed at this point that I called her a "silly bitch" - this was wrong and I'm not proud of it but it really wasn't the worst insult in the world - and I turned to leave. She jumped around the reception desk and beat on my back and shoulders with her fists.

    I know that you might be thinking I'm making this up at this point. That is exactly what I thought at the time. It was one of the strangest, more surreal experiences of my life. Her husband came from the kitchen and started shouting at me and threatening me. Waitresses were standing around with shocked expressions on their faces. I decided these people were either insane or very, very stressed and left as hurredly as I could not wishing to fan any more flames, just wanting to get out in one piece. I was very scared at this point.

    I went straight to the Keswick police station and filed a common assault complaint which they took seriously. They interviewed Mrs. Bins later that day. I understand she lied. Of course she did. She told them she thought I was becoming aggressive and so she pushed me away.

    Compare and contrast the modest B & B in York where we spent the first 5 days of our trip. Yvonne and David at the Bronte Guest House could not been nicer or kinder or more accommodating. The comfort levels at their establishment were higher - the beds did not have springs poking through the mattresses (as did the Ravenstone Hotel), the TVs had remote controls (the Ravenstone did not) and the rooms were immaculately clean and the decor fresh. At the Bronte a sitting room for guests was available at any time of day or night - with the astonishing touch of a decanter of sherry from which we could help ourselves. We had a friend over one night and sat up until midnight chatting and laughing. David popped his head in around 10 and asked us to turn out all the lights before we went to bed. For these lovely people their B & B is plainly a labor of love and we were all on hugging terms by the time we left.

    I have travelled extensively over the past 40 years. I worked in the travel industry for at least 6 years, as a conference organizer for about 2 years, for a tour operator for the rest. I have never been locked into a hotel at night. I have never been subjected to such hostility by a hotelier - never shouted at or hit by one.



     

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