Hardwick House, B&B

Sheffield

Small, Quality, Personal, Idiosyncratic, Comfortable, Inexpensive

"Bed and Breakfast" Accommodation.

This is a very simple page for a very small business. For those who wish for accommodation that is somewhat different from the standard hotel fare, an English B&B may offer the answer. However, it is often difficult to anticipate the standard of accommodation on offer; this page is an attempt to change that. Initially, the page will have only the basic relevant information which may help you to make an informed decision

 And at last I have done! click here for pictures of some of the inside of Hardwick House.

• The Garden Flat  is a self-catering apartment for 2 - 3 persons - it's as unusual as the rest of our accommodation -if you like one, you'll like the other, and if you don't, you won't. Its purpose is to bridge the gap between B&B and longer term lettings (which are normally 6months minimum). So, it can work out cheaper for slightly longer stays. Have a quick look at the rudimentary website. The Garden Flat

General Description:

The House is approximately 100 years old, and was extensively altered and refurbished in 1992, and further in the year 2000; the only 'new' materials used were for technical systems: wiring, plumbing, heating controls etc., the rest was achieved entirely with re-claimed materials, antiques from various periods, (with a little carefully selected help from Ikea!) and so on.

There are only three guest bedrooms, (2x doubles and a twin-bedded room), which are of course centrally heated, and each contains a colour television, together with tea-and-coffee making facilities, and each has its own bathroom.

1. Bedroom 1 is the "Victorian Gentleman's Room", (the room is, however, somewhat warmer than the original, due to 24 hr gentle heating piped up from the Aga stove below!) with gothic bed, cast-iron fireplace (though with a cunningly disguised gas-powered fire!) and views across the city that extend (on a clear day) about 6 miles. Double doors open into the small bathroom (which was formerly a small bedroom) which has an original (large) cast-iron bath, high flush lavatory and pictures of some rather stern family ancestors (on the wife's side).
2. Bedroom 2 is the "Swedish Room" (named after a certain infuriating furniture store who make you walk several miles for even the simplest purchase) in beech, chrome, low voltage lights and so on. The views are similar to the above. Off this is a walk-in shower / w.c. room, entirely clad in Chinese slate.
3. Bedroom 3 is the twin-bedded "French Fin de Siecle Room", with faded gilt, Toile de Jouy (! -its a kind of material, apparently) and large south facing bay window. The room floods with light on a sunny day. A tiny door opens into a large bathroom / dressing room, decorated in the same vein, and the view from the bath extends a mile across the valley to the wooded slopes of Ranmoor, and the University halls of residence for the poor starving students; the view is one-way, so they can't see you!

Breakfast is served in a large kitchen-dining area, which is the most idiosyncratic part of the house. The room is large (about 9 metres by 4.5 metres), always warm due to the aforementioned Aga, which is up to temperature 24hrs a day. Two sets of 'French windows' open onto the balcony which overlooks a surprisingly sizeable garden -in which can be seen about 6 hens (for eggs and as pets, not eating... Oops! I'm afraid the local fox can't read this web-page and the hens have departed - after a long and happy life they were dispatched swiftly and surprisingly mercifully. They won't be replaced until after the avian flu scare. Free-range eggs, meanwhile, come from a farm. I can vouch for their free range-ness, 'cos I have to avoid running over them every day on the way to work.)-and the sun (when available!) streams into the room in the morning. The whole room has lots of wood, combined with bright colours, and has a pleasant 'ambience'; and we didn't copy any magazines, or buy the kitchen from a shop!

In the interests of freshness and quality, the choice of breakfast is limited to:-

1. Hearty 'English Breakfast' - Bacon, sausage, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes; tea / coffee and toast, as well as breakfast cereals and orange juice.
2. A lighter, vegetarian breakfast - Scrambled eggs (own hens' eggs when available), mushrooms, tomatoes etc., (or any combination of)
3. A lightweight, continental breakfast,- for those who just don't eat much in the morning; unlimited fresh coffee / tea, cereals, toast (or croissants when we can get them).

Other Useful Information:

Located 2 miles (3km) west-south-west of the city centre, a small, quiet (unusual in a location so close to the city), residential 'cul-de-sac' -with good on-street parking, just off Psalter Lane; 3-minute walk from the A625 Sheffield to Castleton road (named: "Ecclesall Road"), along which run several bus routes (generally numbered between "81" "88"), the nearest bus-stop is at "Hunter's Bar" roundabout.

Location relative to certain facilities of the city.

1. City Centre: < 2 miles (=3 km)
2. Derbyshire Peak District : < 3 miles.
3. Sheffield University : main campus approx. 2 miles.
4. Sheffield Hallam University : main campus approx. 2 miles; Psalter Lane campus 0.5 miles.
5. Nearest Bus Route/stop : >150yds/metres. 
6. Restaurants : There are < 30 of , within a 1 mile(1.5km) radius, many excellent. 
7. Don valley Stadium : < 5 miles (7.5 km)
8. Pubs : These are places where you can buy alcoholic drinks, apparently. Although those of you coming to the city to study won't be interested, I'm told there are many fine hostelries in the area.

Prices:

As of November 2005, the single-person occupancy of a room is : £39.00 (inclusive of breakfast)

The price for double-occupancy (including a twin room) is : £59.00 (inc. breakfasts), which of course works out at £29.50 per person.

There is no VAT. to pay. (if you are from abroad, don't worry about what that is; you just don't have to pay it!)

• Contact: For Postal Enquiries, Deposits etc., The postal address is:-

Hardwick House,

18, Hardwick Crescent,

Sheffield S11 8WB.

England.

Telephone: (0114) 2661509.

And for e-mail enquiries the address is : peter[at]lennox01.freeserve.co.uk (substitute the @ symbol for the previous [at] -this is because the moronic web-trawling robots that recover e-mail addresses from websites so that their only-slightly-less moronic spam-sending owners can do their dirty 'work' are easily fooled by such a simple ploy!)

or: peter[at]hardwickhouse.fsnet.co.uk - same as above; I'm sorry to have to do it but we're plagued by senders of unwelcome (and inappropriate) 'offers'. You can highlight, right-click, copy and paste into an e-mail 'to' box, then alter the [at] to @.

We welcome enquiries by e-mail, however, due to the activities of spammers, our e-mail accounts are absolutely flooded and we can't really take bookings via e-mail. Old-fashioned telephone or letter work best!

We are unable to accept credit card bookings (due to the exceedingly small scale of our business); I'm afraid deposits still have to travel by old-fashioned postal services.

Check-in time is normally between 3.00pm and 6.00 p.m., though we can arrange something outside these times. In any event, we prefer an estimate of time-of-arrival, so that we can ensure someone is here to greet you (and let you in!); we do, after all, do things like go to Sainsbury's, pick up from school and all the myriad fascinating details that go to make up 21st century life.

Check-out time is normally 10.30 am. on the day of departure.

To get an idea of the area, and to help find our place (because many of the city's taxi drivers know less of Sheffield than you do, apparently), try going to:- Multimap.com , and enter our postcode when prompted to choose a search using either this or a street name.

I would further welcome any comments about the usefulness (or otherwise) of this site, to the same e-mail address.

And Finally!........ those pictures I promised some time ago...click here ! or Here: seeinsid.htm

P.S. -I notice there's a little teeny bit of product placement going on here, with mentions of Sainsbury's and Ikea - however, I'd like to point out that no money has changed hands - well, not in my direction anyhow. I think that kind of thing influences one's editorial style in completely unacceptable ways.

 On the other hand, any pan-global operations that do actually need to find a home for some of their vast marketing budget, I think I might be able to help...