Guest Houses

No I am the same Teetime I just don't want to make polite conversation over breakfast, leave me alone until I've had coffee and toast

It's not you!!

DH keeps suggesting we try B&B's/Guesthouses when we go away. I let him get carried away with the idea until he remembers that he can't stand eating 'communally' and I heave a sigh of relief.

We use Premier Inns for brief stops but not for extended stays. I like to eat in the hotel and not having to trawl round trying to find somewhere. Breakfasts are ok in Premier Inns but I don't think much of their evening meal offering.

How did you find the Gastro pub? We are debating whether we'd feel weird if there weren't many people there.

I especially like breakfast and enjoy conversation with others while consuming it! B&Bs often offer extremely good value. I do prefer hotels though but not ones that don't have a good breakfast included. In fact I'd rather stay in a nice hotel for a shorter trip than a cheaper one for longer.

Yes, I hate company at breakfast. DH knows to keep quiet until I clock on afterwards.
Also don't enjoy watching people eat, or worse still, talk and eat.
In a B&B have a quiet word when booking in.

kittylester its the second time we have stayed in a gastropub/restaurant. We stayed in the Loch Fyne at Kenilworth and that was lovely- beautiful comfortable rooms. DH loved being able to have smoked haddock for breakfast. The latest one was the Lister Arms in Malham N Yorks - beautiful pub and restaurant, the rooms were boutique hotel standard wonderful food but gets very busy at weekends so can be noisy.

We've stayed in a variety of hotels, pubs and guest houses but I can't remember ever having to share a table with anyone apart from on two occasions. Once when we were on a ten day trip to Austria and shared the table with the same four people each day. Fortunately we all got along okay as we got to know each other a bit better as the trip progressed. The second time was a weekend away when we had two nights in an awful hotel and didn't like the people we were allocated to eat with. Mind you, they probably didn't like us either! I like Premier Inns. We use the one at Cribbs Causeway to break our journey if we are travelling down to Cornwall.

I like Premier Inn and Holiday Inn because they offer fairly good standards but are also quite busy and impersonal so you do not need to interact with other guests.

Like some other Grasnetters, I'm not at all keen on small B&Bs or hotels where tables are close together (or communal). I find the ensuing hushed or stilted conversation very uncomfortable.

We've stayed in guest houses and small hotels in the UK, some of the boutique type hotels can be very good, luckily we have never had to share a table. However, as Eloethan pointed out, they tend to be fairly close together and there can be stilted conversation and ensuing hushed silences. Most of the talk between guests tends to be about the area and what's worth visiting so have picked up a few tips on occasions. Whilst, an English breakfast is a treat once in a while, having recently come back from a week away in the UK, I don't want to see or smell bacon for a very long time I was glad to get back to yogurt and fruit.

My husband used to stay in country pubs and guest houses. I've never been in one where you have to share a table.

Teetime, I had kippers most mornings while we were in Morecambe last week. I never have them at home but often have them in hotels.

Teetime. I know the Lister Arms at Malham. Eaten there several times.

I'm a big breakfast eater so you might not want to share a table with me.

luckily we have never had to share a table. I can think of worse things than sharing a table with a fellow guest.

One shouldn't be too snooty - a couple of years ago in Klosters, DS2 and his pal found themselves chatting away and sharing a very basic communal table and benches with Prince Charles and his bodyguard!

I'm another who doesn't want to talk to anyone over the breakfast table.....or any other meal time. I thoroughly dislike eating in front of strangers. I'm not antisocial and will strike up a conversation at any other time.

My favourites are small independent hotels - I've never stayed anywhere and had to share a table. For an overnight for just convenience, we now use Holiday Inn Express if there's one nearby

And I can't think of anything that would put me off my breakfast more than sharing a table with Charles

And there was I thinking it was just The Wonderful Man who had a problem with communal breakfasts! Two years ago we stayed at a delightful B&B in Ascot and in the morning discovered that breakfast was served at one long table. I chatted to the other diners, but noticed that TWM wasn't really joining in. Afterwards I asked him about it and he said that he couldn't understand why anyone would want to chat, over breakfast, to complete strangers that we were never going to meet again.

Does TWM ever chat to people that he's never going to meet again?

I think to chat to a stranger is a basic human kindness/interaction.

I suppose some people are very harsh and just want to get on with their breakfast and get out of there!

And good manners to chat to people at the same table!

It's not really a question of being snooty, fellow guests in the main come across as perfectly nice people, but nevertheless they are strangers as indeed we are to them. We have however struck up plenty of inter table chat given the proximity of tables and often the host/s draw people into conversation. I imagine however many want a quiet tete-e-tete with their partner over breakfast that's the dynamic that usually plays out in "the breakfast room"

Yes, it is, TerriBull and I don't mind at all, but DH doesn't like it, he must be the long lost twin of TWM grannyactivist and especially at breakfast time?
We have stayed at a lot of B&B's, all really good, and only once have we had a communal table.Being small breakfast rooms though, the tables are close, and yes, often there is a hushed atmosphere.

Always remember: a stranger is a friend waiting to happen.

Hotels for me every time

I love Premier Inns, have never stayed in a bad one yet, just wished they did a loyalty scheme.

Hotels for us too. B&Bs might be very good but you are always aware that you're in somebody's home.

Friendly chat in a hotel dining room feels more 'optional.' Nobody minds if you gaze at the view (if there is one) rather than engage in a discussion about parking in a nearby town.

We don't go away very often these days but when we do we prefer self catering or a short break in a hotel where no effort is required.