You may have read a Trip Advisor review from a US reviewer entitled “Traveler Beware” with a 1 out of 5 rating for Tudor House

As Trip Advisor have allowed this to be posted, but refused to publish my first two attempts to post a complete rebuttal of these accusations, I am left with little option but to post it here.

This “guest” booked on line overnight ( he being in the US and we being in the UK) and before receiving any correspondence/communication from us decided to use our secure on line payment system to pay a £20 deposit.

We awoke therefore to find our system telling us we had a booking request that needed confirming and then another one from PayPal confirming receipt of £20, less 98p charges, thus net £19.02.

The trouble was that the “guest” had not read our web site properly (or at all?) and had requested one of our double rooms for a one night stay some months ahead. Search our site, particularly those of the pages regarding rooms & bookings, I cannot count how many times we state:

“Please note that from 1st January 2012 we will only accept one night bookings by prior arrangement (& in “Littondale”) and this will usually be only if we have them available for one night only.”

or

“Please note that from 1st January 2012 we will only accept one night bookings by prior arrangement and this will usually be only if we have them available for one night only.”

We therefore adjusted the booking to Littondale, but in our reply to the guest stated that should he not find the room to his liking, then (against our normal policy) we would refund his deposit.

The “guest” responded and said that he would not like to take up the room offered. Thus, the same day I went to my PayPal account, found the transaction in question and hit the refund button. I told the “guest” the refund was on his way back to him but I had no control over what charges his bank/credit card may impose or what foreign exchanges losses he may incur.

I can confirm that £19.02 was debited same day from my PayPal account, plus 78 p in charges, which PayPal without being asked have kindly credited back to me.

We thought that was the end of it.

Then this arrived by e-mail.

Tudor House in Bell Busk, 4 miles from Malham and midway between Skipton & Settle, has operated as a B&B for more than 30 years, but in recent years has seen a significant revival in its fortunes under the stewardship of Bob & Sheila Marchant.

Every bedroom has undergone significant upgrade, we have even replaced 3 rooms with our two brand new deluxe double rooms, Swaledale & Wensleydale. We are fairly confident in saying that Littondale is completely unique, not only amongst local B&B’s but almost anywhere you can think of that isn’t a railway carriage!

The latest room to benefit from an upgrade was the ground floor pet friendly double, Wharfedale, where as well as installing a state of the art en suite shower/WC with sit down shower if required, we added valuable extra floor space by knocking into the chimney breast.

So we have invested heavily in the first part of the offer BED.

On BREAKFAST our focus is on providing the very best start to a day in the Dales by using only the finest local produce.

We are delighted that Visit England saw fit to give us a BREAKFAST AWARD on their assessment at the end of 2012. Even they liked the ‘FULL MONTY’.

So we feel as a B&B we have the basics covered, but we have also looked at what else we can provide to make a stay at Tudor House a memorable one that guests feel they would like to experience again and again.

The first thing we have is a fabulous lounge with log burning stove, music, TV, games and of course over 150 years of history as (partly) the Waiting Room for the old station. This is just a lovely place to wind down after a hard day enjoying the Dales.

The ‘sun room’ adjacent to the lounge is the source of all knowledge for those not so familiar with the area. Leaflets, books and maps give the new visitor a wealth of information on all that is local.

Although not trained as a ‘chef’ Bob’s love of food & cooking is amply reflected in his waistline, and that means evening meals at Tudor House are another reason why it is not just a ‘B&B’.

Even though very well served by eateries to suit all tastes and budgets in the local area, we recognise that some guests may want a ‘quiet night in’ after a busy day around our wonderful Dales. So, with 24 hours notice, we can provide a home cooked meal to rival anything mother used to make, to be washed down with any one of our seven own label wines.

Add to this our total commitment to customer service, where we do everything we can to ensure your hard earn leisure time is everything you would hope it to be and you have, like we said above, everything you might want from a B&B and a lot more.

If you still need convincing, visit our page on Trip Advisor, who have given us their ‘Excellence Award’ two years in succession to see what real guests think of their time with us.

Sunshine is a wonderful thing, it makes everything wake up and get moving. We have had no rain for over a week (WOW!) and for the last 2 days we have had wall to wall sunshine. Lo and behold, the phone has started ringing, the fax is not broken and has started spitting out bookings & enquiries and the e-mail INBOX is filling up nicely.

What To Do?

Not a problem. Firstly we are offering a discount from the world famous Chris Wildman’s very popular sausage making and charcuterie courses. If you book a 2 night stay at TH to go on one of these great experiences, we will book you on the course and knock £10 per person off the course fees. But hurry, the are filling up quickly and the March course are already SOLD OUT! There is so much going on at the Victoria Hall in Settle we can’t fit it in here, so just visit the web site HERE. If there is something you fancy we will buy you 2 tickets and only charge you for one, if you are staying at TH (min 2 nights) We will do the same if something at THE MART takes your fancy.

All of that is indoor. To tempt you to stay with us and go outdoors we will donate £10 to a charity of your choice if you choose to stay at TH whilst undertaking any of the following; OXFAM TRAILTREKKER Yorkshire Dales Walking Festival Skipton Santa Fun Run All of the above are of course subject to availability, but we will do our best.

Do you need any other excuse to plan a trip up t’Dale?

The garden at Tudor House is a little way off looking Spring-like yet, but at least the weather is getting there and therefore it wont be long before the scenes above will be repeating themselves.

It has been a long hard winter in Malhamdale and the surrounding countryside is still very, very wet but we are looking forward to a spell of decent weather when hopefully Mother Nature will self correct and all the Spring plants will be at their very best in just a few short weeks.

Asking around it seems like all the hens in the Dale have had a rest over the winter but the Tudor House flock are back on song and producing a dozen or more lovely eggs a day. More than enough to keep our guests “Full Monty” breakfast plates brimming!

Come and see us soon, we’d be delighted to show you our famous hospitality!

For sometime now we have been striving to make Tudor House more than just another Yorkshire Dales Bed and Breakfast.

The fact that it is fashioned from the old station masters house and station that once served Malham on the Settle-Carlisle line makes it different enough, but we wanted more.

That is why we have agreed to be a shop window for nce of the Yorkshire Dales most talented artisits, Patricia Durdey.

Lots of her work, both originals and prints, can be seen at Tudor House, many of them exclusively available only from us.

In all the rush over Christmas and then the fitting of the new kitchen we forget to show you some pictures of our new upgraded ground floor pet friendly double room – Wharfedale, so here they are!!
We have stolen a few square feet of floor space from the chimney breast which gives the room a much larger feel.

The bathroom has been completely transformed and now has a state of the art walk in shower, which can even accommodate a seat if you fancy a really lazy shower!

We have had a couple of guests stay in the room already and so far so good, they really liked it. But don’t take their word for it, why not come and try it for yourself.

Ground floor pet friendly room.

Having had what seems like forever without guests, we are now fit and raring to go. So to get us off to a flying start and ensure the new kitchen is fully extended, we have a great deal on rooms for February.

Throughout the month we are offering 2 nights stays for only £150 in a deluxe double room or only £130 in a standard double, inc breakfast!

The phone has already began to ring and bookings are flowing in steadily. The snow has gone and once the wind and rain ceases you will find the beautiful Yorkshire Dales ready for you to explore.

As newly appointed 4 star SILVER AWARD and BREAKFAST AWARD winners we feel sure you won’t be disappointed in the Dales most unique B&B accommodation provider.

We would like to wish all our guests and visitors to our site a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a peaceful & prosperous New Year.

Also…… A reminder that we are closed for the first 3 weeks of the New Year to have a new kitchen fitted. We will update here with news of a reopening date, depending on how quickly the kitchen fitters can get back into the swing of things after the break!!

Still searching for the gift for the people who have everything?                    Search over!!

Give us a call and we can sort out a 2 or 3 day break at Tudor House, the Yorkshire Dales most unique B&B in the first part of 2013.

We will provide you with a gift certificate to wrap and put a bottle of bubbly in your guests room on arrival with a card from you reminding them just who gave them this very special present.

What’s more, as we ask you to pay up front, we will knock 10% of the best price we have available for the dates in question.

We know how difficult it can be to come up with something ‘different’ for mum & dad, auntie & uncle, brother/sister, but we promise, a short break in the wonderful Yorkshire Dales is something that won’t be forgotten by Boxing Day.

Call us now to make all the arrangements. 01729 830301