AIBU to ask what's the BEST stay you've had in someone else's house?

[bbcessex]

Inspired by the 'inconvenience' thread... what's the nicest thing you've experienced when staying at someone else's house?

I love having guests (for a night or two, max) and try to make things comfortable as poss.. AIBU to think there must be others like me?!

Haven’t read full thread but mine was when friends were House sitting for our mutual friend and we were told to go and spend time there too as they had huge outdoor swimming pool and there was a heatwave! But also it was positioned in the heart of an area of natural beauty we were drinking cocktails on the terrace after spending the day lounging by the pool. It was heaven. They sold it a few years later and I confess I bought a lottery ticket that week.

Lovely thread

I generally dislike staying with other people. I am shy, set in my ways and like my home comforts but one friend is so genuinely warm and relaxed it's always been a pleasure to stay with her - from the days when the DCs were little and she lived over a pub in a tiny flat where we had to top and tail the kids and myself in one bed to now when I have a lovely room with an ensuite all to myself.

I also loved staying with some quite distant relations who had a B&B in a busy market town. We would be given a bedroom in the public area but would eat and socialise in their private rooms out the back. It was hectic and noisy and crowded and the service bell never stopped ringing but my memories are of constant chatting and laughing, never feeling awkward or self conscious. Which for an introvert like me is an absolute tribute to their warm nature and hospitality. Sadly they are getting on now and can no longer host so we stay in a local hotel when we visit but they are still so warm and welcoming. It's so much nicer than going to my mum or my sister where things are posher but less relaxed.

Actually thinking about it, both the hostesses in these situations are great talkers which I like - it takes off the pressure of having to think of something interesting to say.

@Rhayader your PIL arent looking at adopting are they? Im 32, have 2 DDs and like reading Good Housekeeping . Let me know what they say, im off to pack

Going against the grain here, but I used to go and stay with my friend for the weekend, once a year, when my dc were little. I'd just go and leave dh to do everything at home like he used to do about 6 times a year.
I absolutely loved that everything was so relaxed and I didn't feel like she was putting herself out. I'd take my own sleeping bag and my own towel. We'd order in a takeaway for at least one meal, and it was just so lovely that I knew I could call her and ask her to stay anytime, without really putting her out. I also felt very comfortable alway inviting her to mine, because I knew it was me she came to see and would 'lay her head' anywhere and just eat whatever we were eating without expecting a fuss to be made.
I love a relaxed house, me.

Every time with DPs parents. Their house isn't big but they do so much to make people feel welcome. Always buy in our favourite snacks, the type of wine I like and have things like extra nappies and wipes for the baby. They don't care what time we lie in until, will never complain if the baby needs looking after for a little while, and are genuinely lovely chilled out people.

I like staying at my parents too but there are so many rules. No shoes in the house, no food upstairs, lying in after 10 is lazy (even after a difficult night with baby), they don't 'do' nappies or have any of the stuff in for that so we have to make sure to take huge supplies when we go. They also don't have any toys or a high chair etc for her so we have to take EVERYTHING for her hence not staying often despite them living reasonably close by. They're also super critical of everything we do - why is her bedtime not earlier? Should she really be eating that? Should she really be allowed to play with that?

DPs parents are just the best tbh.

My in-laws. They're just really good at letting you alone and not being overly solicitous - they've been retired from busy jobs for eons but remember what it was like to be mid thirties and in busy careers and balancing everything. There's no pressure to do anything, and if you wake up and they say 'do you want to go to town/a walk/to the pub' and you say 'actually I was thinking I might go for a run, have a shower and then read my book' that's it - they just do their own thing and we do our thing but somehow we're all still enjoying it together.

(They do have a weird thing about hot water though. There's never quite enough!)

I stayed at a MNers house. It was lovely. She gave me her room. I had tea maker beside my bed. ANd home made marmalade in the morning. ANd in the evening we ate chocolate.

I just had a lovely stay at my 72 year old aunts house. The house itself was FREEZING and the (one) toilet was dodgy and required a complicated flush system, but it was truly one of the nicest stays I’ve ever had.

She is a genuinely lovely, kind person, intensely interested in welcoming you and putting you at your ease; she made us a lovely breakfast, had rooms made up spotlessly and spent time just chatting with us, telling us stories about my granny who I never met, finding out about our lives and telling us about hers, showing us her collection of paintings and what they meant to her, then suggested we go out to the little park around the corner for a stroll, then took us into the city for a mooch, pointing out historical landmarks the whole way. She is just a very kind, interesting person, full of life and so eager to make us happy and welcome - nothing like that kind of personal warmth.

When I left my H after a very shitty time and moved in with my parents for a few weeks - it clearly wasn't the happiest period of my life BUT my mum and dad just 'looked after' me with such compassion, care, and kindness; I won't ever forgot that

My aunt's at sixteen - bought me a nandos for the first time, took me out in mini convertible, had sky+ HD and an iPod nano, (still v new at the time), bought me blue wkd, Smirnoff ice, £100 worth of new clothes and gave me a bag of her make up and costume jewellery. Was an incredible weekend, I was in seventh heaven. Haven't seen her in ten years due to divorces and miss her like crazy.

A friend of my (late) mum's has always been the most awesome hostess. I've stayed with her in two different countries, with various cats and at different life stages. She always makes me feel relaxed, cared for and not at all judged. She is at times a tour guide and at times "mothers" me in a way that my mum never did/could. I've not been for a few years... maybe next year

DH and I have had a rather rough year this year. DS2 had a breakdown and we had to put our plans on hold to help him through. Also, DH and I have different ideas on what DS2 needs so there's been some 'friction' between us (that we're dealing with).

I went to spend a week in my old family home with my cousin (who is like my sister) to get away and mentally 'regroup'. It was wonderful. She has my old home fixed up so nicely and she's just such a peaceful person to be around. Her house was a calm oasis and she seemed to know exactly what to say and when to remain silent. It was a wonderful week.

My best was when I was pregnant with my twins. Struggled through the last few weeks at work, then DH was away for a weekend so I went to stay at my friends. Arrived after a hellish drive - had to get out for a wee and a drink and a walk at every service station. Lovely friend sends me for a nap in an amazingly comfy bed absolutely heaped with pillows to pile around myself/bump, a fan, magazines.....AND A WHOLE TABLE OF SNACKS!!!!

Legend.

This thread, in combination with the minor inconveniences thread has made me realise something. We haven’t been for a while, but when we lived in the UK, I loved staying with my aunt. The beds weren’t perfect and for years there was only one rather problematic bathroom (had to wake aunt and uncle up one night when the toilet overflowed). But my aunt was so laid-back and motherly that it was always wonderful staying there. Because of the love, the minor inconveniences were rendered irrelevant.

I love hosting! I iron the bed linen for guests and leave flowers and fluffy towels in their room when I don't do it for us. I enjoy getting in the bits and pieces they like.
A full house makes a happy house for me

Dh and I went on holiday to china and spent half the time with friends, who live there. They had a big house with a pool, ac and a cleaner, who came most days. We went out regularly for meals. They took us places. It was bliss.

UnderTheRadar - lovely post.. your step mum sounds wonderful xxxx (not the usual read on AIBU ! )

My mums is always great. She has a lovely massive power shower and leaves out lovely molten brown toiletries, she makes amazing food and always fetches drinks and doesn’t Let us lift a finger :)

When I was a teenager, one of my best friends had a dad who was the manager of a five star hotel so she literally lived in a hotel suite. We could order whatever we wanted from room service, obviously had a gorgeous pool etc and access to a gym. We could also use the driver (not in UK) to take us wherever we wanted.

@bbcessex she really is wonderful. She's only been in our lives for a few short years but I feel very lucky to have her. I'm at her house now and I feel very sad at the prospect of going home tomorrow.

Some lovely reads on this thread

I stayed at my parents house last year along with my sister. It was like being a kid again, we shared a bedroom, my Mum brought us tea and toast cut into soldiers in the morning and Dad cooked a family breakfast. We sat around chatting and laughing just the four of us. It was so nice, I moved out at 18 when I was pg with Dc1 and DSIS now lives three hours away so we don't get together as a family unit very often.

Hope this still counts as it wasn’t an overnight stay but we enjoyed the most generous hospitality I’ve ever experienced at the house of a pop star (no really!). My cousin is a huge Sting fan and to his delight won a prize through the fan club to visit Sting’s house near Stonehenge last summer and invited my husband and me to join him and his wife. Sting and Trudie Styler were away but had asked their staff to look after us and we basically got to enjoy their amazing home and garden until nightfall. We were served organic homemade food by Trudie Styler’s chef - with ingredients grown in their gardens, afternoon tea served on the terrace, we played croquet on the lawn, walked for hours through the grounds and flower gardens, played in the maze and were shown all sorts of cool stuff in the house that Sting has collected over the years. It was a baking hot July day and in the evening we swam in the outdoor pool. It was the most generous and trusting hospitality and I was touched that Sting would do that for a group of strangers. His staff even gave us jars of homemade jam to take home, made with fruit from their orchards.

They even loaned us the family’s towels so we could dry off after the swim. We didn’t realise there would be a pool so we had suits in our cases in the car but not towels.

Where we are at the moment. New Year's Eve party at friends. Really comfy bed, bacon, egg, sausages, pancakes and cinnamon rolls for breakfast.