Pension Fernblick

The hosts were warm and attentive, and on checkout they kindly waived the announced €15-per-night charge for our child. We stayed three nights as two adults with our toddler. Street parking was plentiful, and there’s a bike garage beside the guesthouse. Our room was very spacious, with a large bed provided since our child slept with us. The bed was comfortable and the room clean, though the bathroom could have been cleaner and the shower drained slowly. There were lots of decorations and knick-knacks throughout, which made the room, bathroom, and guesthouse feel quite kitschy. Breakfast was basic but adequate. At €15 it didn’t feel worth the price, but the room was fairly inexpensive, so the overall value was acceptable.

After just one night, I was glad to get back to my cycling trip. The room itself was clean and functional, but I could hear every nighttime trip to the bathroom next door in detail. At breakfast, the host couple sat in the room alone with me the whole time. I wondered if they were checking that I didn’t eat too much, but I really don’t know. My bikepacking arrival had already been unpleasant. The landlord greeted me in a bossy, unfriendly way. I left my bike with my bags by the street, thinking it was unlocked, but he insisted I come inside before he would let me take it to the garage, saying he needed to get to know me first. He told me stories about other guests stealing towels and breaking things. Eventually I could put the bike in the garage and carry my panniers upstairs, with no help offered. There was also a sign saying credit cards weren’t accepted. That’s a shame, since paying by card debits the amount from my account right away and clearly shows it as income on the recipient’s bank statement. Never again.

We just wanted a pleasant Easter with friends, but the hosts’ rules and reactions really spoiled it. The guesthouse is quite dated, though it seems suited to groups. We were greeted kindly, given a long list of instructions, and then allowed to pick our own rooms. Our friends arrived a day later and got the main instructions too. It felt a bit like kindergarten. The breakfast room had to be cleared by 9:45 sharp. It was 8°C, but if we lit the fireplace in the common room, we weren’t allowed to open the door if it got too warm, and adding wood was forbidden. We were told not to switch on the drinks fridge because it would ice up. We left the heating on in our room and bathroom so they’d be warm when we came back, but everything had been turned off. Later, when the air in the wood-fired common room felt stuffy, we opened the door, even though one window had been locked from the start. That was apparently a mistake. Breakfast was okay, with homemade yogurt and jam, though we suspected the leftover rolls were reheated each day because they got harder. One evening we left a few bottles on the common room table while we were alone in the house and could have put them away ourselves. After that, he stopped speaking to us, not even saying good morning. We were glad to be able to store our bikes in the garage, but when the code stopped working, naturally that was blamed on us. I could say more, but it’s not worth it now.

The rooms were clean, the beds okay, and there was a tiny balcony facing the street. Still, after one night, we knew we wouldn’t return. The place is very dated, and the website photos are old. The breakfast buffet was unappealing: dry pre-baked rolls, very few open jams, boiled eggs only if requested, and tiny melon pieces that seemed to have been sitting out for days. The hostess standing beside the buffet felt like an inspection, and the other guests didn’t seem happy either. The welcome set the tone. I rang the bell five times before anyone answered, and the hostess could only open the door with a walker. The owner immediately spoke rudely and said we couldn’t leave the front door open, even though I’d specifically asked his wife beforehand. We had to haul our luggage up 29 steps, awkward with heavy suitcases. Then he unfriendly told us we’d left the sliding cover for the garage door PIN switch open. The weather was perfect and we wanted to go into town, but instead we had to climb another 60 steps. It felt like being treated like children. A friendly welcome would have looked very different. The guesthouse sits on a hillside, with a distant view of the road and houses opposite. We had trusted the attractive website and its friendly wording, but based on our stay, we wouldn’t come back.