Pleasing country house and garden

'The Pippins' is a four bedroom B&B sleeping up to nine people, with a large pretty garden, indoor heated pool, and views of fields and The Green. It is a peaceful and rural area yet only 45-60mins to King's Cross, London. Pippins is a great base for relaxing in its pool and gardens, especially after exploring London, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire... The house and all of the rooms are comfortable and spacious and make an excellent venue for a family house party. There is a charge for extra guests (over 9 people) staying and using the facilities during the day time which is £20 per person. I, your host, live in the house with my husband in my flat upstairs. Downstairs: The Long Room (sitting/dinning room) can seat up to a maximum of 15 people for meals, or can double as a huge playroom for the children. It opens onto the garden with trees, shrubs, outside furniture, BBQ and lawn. Access to the pool area is also from the long room. The Self Contained Suite on the ground floor is also accessible for a wheelchair using or disabled guest. It has a kitchenette as well as a wheelchair accessible wet room shower en-suite. The kitchenette is also fully equipped for cooking. There is a double bed and day bed/sofa which makes three sleeping spaces should you need them. The double bed folds into the wall, creating an additional reception room with French doors to the garden. The Main Kitchen is in the centre of the house. I, your host, Zuzana, use this kitchen in the morning for cooking your delicious breakfast and I also use it in the evening to cook and eat in for myself and my husband. The Pool, Hot Tub, Sauna Room has a heated 13m x 8m swimming pool and also a jacuzzi and Sauna. There is also a shower and bathroom by the pool, and an additional separate toilet. Upstairs: Upstairs there are three bedrooms with in total six beds and a shared family bathroom. I your host, Zuzana, also live at the house upstairs, but in my own studio with my own bathroom. I pride myself on my lovely clean house and lovely tasty breakfasts. Breakfast: From Monday to Friday I provide a continental breakfast. If you wish to have a cooked breakfast please arrange this on your arrival. There is an additional charge £5 per person. For the weekend (Saturday, Sunday) a cooked breakfast is included in the price. Vegan/vegetarian/gluten free option available. Please let me know in advance. Thank you. Continental breakfast: bread, croissants, cereals, fruit juice, milk, jam, marmalade, sauces, butter, tea, coffee Cooked English breakfast: sausage, bacon, hash brown, egg, tomato, baked beans, mushrooms, bread, fruit juice, sauces, jam, marmalade, cereals, milk, bread, butter, tea, coffee. Other meals: Other meals are available on request which are billed separately. BBQ: There is a space for a BBQ in the garden. Please note, you need to bring your own charcoal. Thank you. Pet: We are (well bahaved!) pet friendly, however please let me know in advance you are bringing your pet. Thank you. Transport: Car Parking: In front of the house is a private car park for up to 5 medium sized cars TRAIN: Sandy train station is the nearest station to Pippins and only 10 minute drive, or pleasant 45 minute walk. Taxis can be arranged. Biggleswade is a 15 minute drive towards London and has the fastest train service (31mins to London are the fastest ones). Airports: Heathrow is 75 minutes, Luton 40 minutes, Stansted 75 minutes by car. OPTIONAL FURTHER READING... You have now read everything you should need for your booking. The following is an optional questionnaire, to check that we are right for you: 1. Do you realise we live here? a) Yes. b) No. Answer: a) You are welcome to book. b) Please read the listing! 2. What kind of venue are you expecting? a) A rambling, eccentric, delightful and lived-in pleasant countryside home, full of lovely books, pool, hot tub, sauna, beautiful garden and large Green outside in front of the house where one of the three bathrooms is a family bathroom. b) A spotlessly-clean and immaculately empty characterless house with en suite shower to every bedroom and nobody living here. c) The Premier Inn. Answer: a) You are most welcome to book. b) or c) Please book the Premier Inn instead. 3. If you find a cobweb in a hidden corner of the outside loo or behind a wardrobe, will you: a) Tell us that you are sorry, but you are severely arachnophobic so please could we come and remove it? b) Say nothing at the time, but complain to Airbnb on Monday morning, give us a stinking review and demand a refund? c) Eat the spider? Answers: a) You are very welcome to book. b) PLEASE go to the Premier Inn instead: this house is really not for you. c) Ask for a discount. 4. If anything isn’t quite how you expected, will you: a) Tell us immediately, so we can fix it? b) Hardly notice because there are so many other wonderful aspects of your stay? c) Complain to Airbnb after checking out? d) Write us a horrible review? e) Demand your money back long after the 24-hour-window allowed by Airbnb, thus wasting dozens of hours of my time in protracted negotiations reminding Airbnb agents in a completely different time-zone what their policy is for the next three weeks and not resulting in satisfaction for any of us? f) Embrace the surprise and pour another glass of Prosecco (preferably for me as well as yourself)? Answers: c) d) or e). Please, please, please go to the Premier Inn. You will have a miserable time if you come here... and more to the point, so will we. a) or b) You are very, very welcome. f) What was that I said about not dishing out discounts...? In summary you can expect: a fabulous, huge countryside traditional home with lots of character; lots of indoor and outdoor games; a library of lovely books to dip into; and a very warm welcome indeed. You should not expect: the pool to be artificially heated; not a speck of dust anywhere... this is a fifty-year-old house not a modern minimalist box, and even if I sweep every inch of it before you arrive, some enterprising spider will have found a private nook somewhere to spin a little web unseen. Whole house except one bedroom and sometimes a day Zuzana use the main kitchen. Zuzana will be available to help guests make the most of their stay and to provide a full English/continental breakfast with produce from the local farm. Thorncote Green is wholeheartedly rural England and Pippins sits perfectly on The village Green. The working farm of Franklin´s of Thorncote is opposite Pippins and their local free range products will appear on your weekend breakfast plates in the morning! There are good country pubs (the nearest The Crown Northill) , pleasant walks (we are in Greensand Ridge Country), a lovely old church at Northill, Mayday celebrations at Ickwell, The famous Shuttleworth aeronautical and automotive museum and The Swiss Garden. There is very easy access to London by train (31-50 mins) Cambridge by car (45 mins), Oxford (1hour) and other places of interest. There are a variety of animals and birds here - owls, woodpeckers, black birds ...., pheasants, partridges, rabbits, squirrels, bat and deer are common and have all turned up on occasion in the garden! Thorncote Green is wholeheartedly rural England and Pippins sits perfectly on The village Green. The working farm of Franklin´s of Thorncote is opposite Pippins and their local free range products will appear on your weekend breakfast plates in the morning! There are good country pubs (the nearest The Crown Northill) , pleasant walks (we are in Greensand Ridge Country), a lovely old church at Northill, Mayday celebrations at Ickwell, The famous Shuttleworth aeronautical and automotive museum and The Swiss Garden. There is very easy access to London by train (31-50 mins) Cambridge by car (45 mins), Oxford (1hour) and other places of interest. OPTIONAL FURTHER READING... You have now read everything you should need for your booking. The following is an optional questionnaire, to check that we are right for you: 1. Do you realise we live here? a) Yes. b) No. Answer: a) You are welcome to book. b) Please read the listing! 2. What kind of venue are you expecting? a) A rambling, eccentric, delightful and lived-in pleasant countryside home, full of lovely books, pool, hot tub, sauna, beautiful garden and large Green outside in front of the house where one of the three bathrooms is a family bathroom. b) A spotlessly-clean and immaculately empty characterless house with en suite shower to every bedroom and nobody living here. c) The Premier Inn. Answer: a) You are most welcome to book. b) or c) Please book the Premier Inn instead. 3. If you find a cobweb in a hidden corner of the outside loo or behind a wardrobe, will you: a) Tell us that you are sorry, but you are severely arachnophobic so please could we come and remove it? b) Say nothing at the time, but complain to Airbnb on Monday morning, give us a stinking review and demand a refund? c) Eat the spider? Answers: a) You are very welcome to book. b) PLEASE go to the Premier Inn instead: this house is really not for you. c) Ask for a discount. 4. If anything isn’t quite how you expected, will you: a) Tell us immediately, so we can fix it? b) Hardly notice because there are so many other wonderful aspects of your stay? c) Complain to Airbnb after checking out? d) Write us a horrible review? e) Demand your money back long after the 24-hour-window allowed by Airbnb, thus wasting dozens of hours of my time in protracted negotiations reminding Airbnb agents in a completely different time-zone what their policy is for the next three weeks and not resulting in satisfaction for any of us? f) Embrace the surprise and pour another glass of Prosecco (preferably for me as well as yourself)? Answers: c) d) or e). Please, please, please go to the Premier Inn. You will have a miserable time if you come here... and more to the point, so will we. a) or b) You are very, very welcome. f) What was that I said about not dishing out discounts...? In summary you can expect: a fabulous, huge countryside traditional home with lots of character; lots of indoor and outdoor games; a library of lovely books to dip into; and a very warm welcome indeed. You should not expect: not a speck of dust anywhere... this is a fifty-year-old house not a modern minimalist box, and even if I sweep every inch of it before you arrive, some enterprising spider will have found a private nook somewhere to spin a little web unseen.