I was travelling to Wiltshire to drop my son off at his Army barracks and decided I would stay over night, visit Stonehenge and make a lovely weekend of the trip given that my birthday was also fast approaching. I found The Duck Yard listed in Alastair Sawdays Special Places book and e-mailed the owners a week in advance of the date I needed the room.

The owners very promptly mailed back and confirmed availability for the night I needed and i responded again by e-mail asking them to reserve the room for me.

Everything seemed fine and I was really looking forward to my trip. Then at 12:09 on the date I was supposed to be staying I received a further e-mail from the owners stating that if I didn't ring by 12:00 I would be too late!

I rang as soon as I received the e-mail only to be most disappointed to be told that I could no longer have the room - it was too short notice - she couldn't 'clean the room after the current guests had left in time for me to... more