Friday's Flashback: The Rutland Arms

One week before we left for England we were at my parents' house for the weekend, preparing to go to a family wedding in Athens, trying to line up lodging for the second half of our journey.  I looked at a few places around Chatsworth House in Derbyshire but knew I wanted to stay at The Rutland Arms as soon as I came across it.  It was a little splurge on our pocketbook, but it seemed worth a little extra money to stay in the inn where Jane Austen is said to have stayed during the year she was revising Pride and Prejudice.  

 Please forgive these not-so-great pictures.

Perhaps I was getting lazy with photography at this point?

Oddly enough, and I hate to say it, but this was the one place we stayed that I was unsatisfied with, and I probably should have reviewed it on Trip Advisor...but since I hate conflict I didn't.  I really appreciated and utilized customer reviews while planning our trip, but since I didn't get a chance to talk to the management about our problem I decided not to publicly defame them.

Our first little disappointment was not being in the main part of the hotel, but across the street in the renovated stables, where we were unable to pick up the hotel's internet.  Since we wanted to contact our children back home we brought the laptop over to the hotel lounge and restaurant and set up shop in a comfortable corner.  The restaurant was kind enough to serve us there, bringing our dinner of sandwiches and crisps, but I felt like they saw us as uncouth Americans.  This wasn't a big deal, but it was just this vibe I was picking up.  The man at the front desk seemed a bit snobbish to me. 

Those things were nothing to what I found when I went to shower that night, though.  The shower curtain was absolutely COVERED in mildew.  It was so gross, and I should have complained, but since we were across the street, and it was late, I cringed, put on KJ's flip-flops and went on with it.  It really was unacceptable, but I guess I accepted it. 

But we slept well enough, got a free pen, and enjoyed a delicious English breakfast in the hotel dining room the next morning after our sunrise adventure.  

After breakfast we walked up the wide stairs to the "first" floor to see the room where Jane Austen stayed.

I suppose it was worth our little inconveniences to look out the window at the "same" view Jane Austen enjoyed, the view that she gave to Elizabeth Bennet watching Mr. Darcy arrive from Pemberley to invite her to dinner.  He just couldn't stay away.