2..5

We've just received a score of 2.5 out of 10 for 'service', on Booking.com.

That would have been the couple who booked Hexworthy at 1pm, for a 4pm arrival the same day.  Hexworthy is our most luxurious room, costing £130 per night, accounted for by the comfort and spaciousness of both bedroom and bathroom.

I have been personally using Hexworthy for months now, so it needed a very urgent deep clean, which normally takes me three hours. Without the use of the phone, with minutes to spare I succeeded in arranging by text for some kind neighbours, who are also in the B&B game and therefore understand the problems, to kindly collect Beloved Daughter daughter from school while I did battle with my Marigolds.

So my guests arrived to no phone.  No mobile signal. No electric gate. Weak Wifi.  And then to cap it all, Tesco's, with various ingredients of my guests' vegetarian breakfast on board, came and went without delivering anything, neglecting to ring the bell (the battery had expired) or shouting, despite the fact that there were three cars parked outside the house, and three people in it.  Through the window I caught sight of their van slowly disappearing out of the gate in the rain, and Tesco (who I couldnt phone) ignored the urgent email I sent, imploring them to send it back.

So fair do's.  Sometimes you are just jinxed, especially living out in the wilds of woolly Dartmoor.  Incidentally, my guests did describe their visit as "Welcoming, homely, awesome location, really quiet, would go again" so it can't have been all bad.  I'm just relieved they wrote their review on Booking.com's site (we still rate '9.1 Superb') rather than on TripAdvisor, where we have slowly climbed to the No 14 Slot and rising, out of all 182 B&Bs on Dartmoor.