House policies

Check-in and check-out

Check-in is from 3:00pm and the desk is staffed until 10:00pm. Check-out is by 11:00am. If you are arriving after ten at night, telephone us before six that evening and we will arrange a key; if you have not spoken to us and arrive at midnight, there may be nobody here. That is the most important sentence on this page.

Cancellation

Free until three days before arrival. Inside three days, the first night is charged. A no-show is charged the first night and the rest of the booking is released. There is no non-refundable rate and no cheaper rate with worse terms.

Payment

A card holds the booking and nothing is taken until you arrive, except where the cancellation window has closed. The balance is settled on departure. We take cards; we do not take cash for the room.

Children

Children are welcome in the Attic Doubles, the Garden Queens and the Long Room Suite. A cot is free and there are three of them, so it depends on the night. There is no charge for children at breakfast. The Snug takes one person of any age and the Courtyard Twins are adults only, because the beds do not move.

Pets

One dog is welcome in the two ground-floor Garden Queens, twenty-five dollars a night, told to us when you book rather than on arrival. Not in the other rooms, not in the breakfast room, and not left alone in a room. Assistance dogs are welcome everywhere in the building and are not charged.

Smoking

No smoking anywhere inside the building, and that includes vaping and includes the top-floor rooms with the windows open. There is one place to smoke, at the far end of the garden by the shed, and it has an ashtray. A room that has been smoked in costs two hundred and fifty dollars to put right and we will charge it.

Quiet

Quiet in the house from 10:00pm. This is a 1926 wooden-framed building and it carries sound between floors, which is a fact about the building rather than a rule we are inventing. The garden is closed at 10:00pm for the same reason, and it is the neighbours' rule rather than ours.

Visitors

Guests may bring visitors into the parlour and the garden until 10:00pm. Nobody stays in a room who is not on the booking, which is a fire-safety count rather than a moral position: the number of people in the building has to match the number on the sheet.

Damage

Things get broken and most of it is nobody's fault. If something is damaged we will tell you what it cost to put right and charge that, itemised. There is no security deposit, no blanket "damage fee" and no charge for ordinary wear — a mark on a wall is what walls are for.

Lost property

Kept for ninety days. Telephone and we will look; if it is here we will post it to you at the cost of the postage and nothing else.

If we have to ask somebody to leave

It has happened twice and both times were about the ten o'clock rule after a warning. If we ask you to leave, the nights you have not stayed are refunded in full — we are not entitled to be paid for a room you are not in, whatever the reason you are not in it.

Free until three days before you arrive. Free cancellation until three days before arrival. Inside three days we charge the first night. Same terms on every room, and a cancel link in your confirmation e-mail that needs no password.

The desk closes at ten at night. Check-in is from 3:00pm and the desk is staffed until 10:00pm. Arriving later than that is fine if you telephone before 6:00pm the same evening; arriving later without telling us may mean nobody is here.

One dog, and only in two of the rooms. One dog in either ground-floor Garden Queen at twenty-five dollars a night, arranged when you book. Assistance dogs are welcome everywhere in the building and are never charged.