Mountain View BB

This was a good, inexpensive place to stay overall, and it’s close to Port Talbot bus station. A taxi from there cost 2.8 pounds. My stay was from 5-9-18 to 14-9-18. The rooms are very good and clean, as are the toilets, and guests are expected to keep them that way. Some rooms have an attached toilet, while others use shared ones, but that wasn’t a problem for me. There’s no food service, but there’s a good shared kitchen where you can cook or bring in cooked food to heat. Water is available, though they ask you not to waste it. Smoking indoors isn’t allowed. They provide tea bags, small milk pouches, coffee pouches, sugar and a few biscuits, and each room has an electric kettle for drinking water. The pricing is in seven-day blocks: for a 10-day single stay, they charge 7 days at 30 pounds per day and the remaining 3 at 35 pounds per day. Double sharing is 40 pounds per day. There are also two big dogs on site. They keep to themselves and won’t bother you unless you bother them.

The main house had an overpowering wet-dog smell. The property is in poor condition and overdue for renovation, though at the very least it needs more frequent, thorough cleaning. I’d save the money and find somewhere in a smaller village nearby.

I stayed for nearly three weeks while working at the steel works, which is only a few miles away. The location was great, and I really liked the big, comfy bed. The owner was lovely, and the digs had a fully fitted kitchen with everything I needed for dinners or sandwiches for work.

The name is misleading, there’s no mountain view at Mountain View Lodge. I also thought the owners were ungrateful for the help and advice offered by the Hotel Inspector. If good manners matter to you, you expect people to admit mistakes and take fair criticism, or you know there’s plenty you don’t know about the world around you, I’d avoid this B&B.