Learn English With Photos 4The Guest House Transcript
Hello and welcome to episode four of Learn English with Photos. My name is Jeffrey Hill and this lesson is based on photos I took during a trip to the Isle of Arran off the west coast of Scotland. I went with my daughter and we spent one night at the Glenartney Guest House in Brodick, which is the main town on Arran.
In the first part of the lesson, I’ll tell you about the trip, then we’ll look at some of the vocabulary in more detail, and finally you’ll get the chance to answer some questions.
To get to Arran, we took the car ferry from Ardrossan to Brodick. The crossing takes about an hour. The views of Arran from the ferry were quite spectacular, though I didn’t like the look of those clouds! The big hill is Goat Fell, the highest point on the Isle of Arran at 874 metres.
Brodick is a small town with a population of only a few hundred people, so the guest house was easy to find, especially as it was well signposted.
I had booked a twin room online a few days before, so Angela the owner was expecting us. The room cost £80 for one night, which included breakfast for two. I could probably have found somewhere cheaper to stay, but the reviews on TripAdvisor were excellent, and the guest house was conveniently situated just a 2-minute walk from the town centre.
Glenartney was built as two houses and a summer house in the mid 1920's and was first established as an 'upmarket boarding house' in the early 1930's. The place has been completely refurbished over the last few years, and is now a 3-star family guesthouse with 11 bedrooms providing bed and breakfast accommodation. Let’s have a look around.
This is the reception area.
And here is the front lounge, where guests can relax and plan their adventures.
The TV lounge features a painting by Angela, who runs the guesthouse with her partner Robbie.
The Glenartney has a variety of twin, double, and family rooms available and can cater for families, couples, or singles. Each room has tea and coffee making facilities, a hairdryer, and a flat screen TV. Most rooms also have free Wi-Fi.
Our twin bedroom (with en suite shower and toilet) was not very spacious, but it was comfortably furnished and tastefully decorated. We were lucky to have a room at the front of the house overlooking the garden with lovely views over the bay to hills beyond.
I’ve labelled some of the items in this photo, and we’ll go over the vocabulary in the next part of this lesson. You can pause the video if you want to study the photo in more detail.
After a good night’s sleep, we were looking forward to breakfast to set us up for the long day ahead. Glenartney offers a choice between a cold breakfast buffet with cereals, fruit and yoghurt, and a full
cooked Scottish breakfast featuring Arran's fresh produce such as sausages, black pudding and
potato scones. I chose the full cooked breakfast. I also had a bowl of porridge to start, so I think I got
my money’s worth!
If you want to know more about the breakfast we had at the Glenartney, check out episode two of
Learn English with Photos, where I describe it in a lot more detail.
And if you want to know more about the Glenartney, why not visit their website, where you can also
read some of the comments left by the guests.
Right, I hope you enjoyed the visit. Now let’s go over some of the vocabulary we’ve seen. I’ll say each
word and you can repeat it after me. I’ll also make a few comments along the way.
Vocabulary
accommod n (U) — the rooms provided by a hotel for people to stay in bay — a bay is part of the coast where the land curves inwards bedroom — a room used for sleeping in bedside table — a small table placed near the side of a bed book — when you book (or reserve) a hotel room, you arrange to have it at a par ular buffet — a meal of cold food that is displayed on a long table for guests to help themselves cater for — to provide all the things that a group of people need coast — the area of land next to the sea crossing — a journey by boat to a place on the other side of a sea, river, or lake cushion — fabric case filled with so material, which you put on a seat to make it more comfortable en suite — an en suite bedroom has a bathroom next to it which is reached by a door in the bedroom facili — the equipment that is provided for a par ular purpose ferry — a boat that transports passengers and some mes vehicles across short stretches of sea furnish — if you furnish a building you put furniture and furnishings in it furniture (U) — large objects such as tables, chairs, and tables furnishings — the furniture, curtains, carpets, and decora ons, such as pictures, found in a house guest —someone who is staying at a hotel or guest house guest house — a small hotel hairdryer — a machine you use to dry your hair headboard — the upright board at the end of a bed where you lay your head isle — an isle is an island; o en used as part of an island’s name, or in literary English lamp — a light that works by using electricity lounge — in a house, a lounge is a place where people sit and relax overlook — if a house or room overlooks something, it has a view of it, usually from above: owner — the owner of hotel is the person who bought and runs it pain — a pain ng is a picture that someone has painted pillow — a rectangular cushion which you rest your head on when you are in bed porridge — a thick s y food made from oats cooked in water or milk and eaten hot for breakfast recep n area — the entrance to a hotel where you check in and out refurbish — to clean or decorate a building or room to make it more a ra ve or be er equipped review — a report in which someone gives their opinion about a film, book, hotel, etc. room — a bedroom in a hotel run — if you run a business, you are in charge of it or you organize it sheet — a large rectangular piece of co on or other cloth you sleep on or cover yourself with in bed shower — a piece of bathroom equipment that you stand under to wash your whole body single bed — a bed for one person spacious — large and with a lot of space switch — a small object you push up or down with your finger to turn something electrical on or off toilet — a bowl that you sit on or stand near when you get rid of waste substances from your body towel — a piece of thick so cloth that you use to dry yourself trip — a journey that you make to a par ular place twin room — a hotel room with two single beds view — everything that can be seen from a window or a high place, etc. wallpaper — thick coloured or pa erned paper used for covering and decora ng the walls of rooms
Questions
1. Have you ever stayed in a hotel, guest house or bed and breakfast in Britain?
2. What is the best hotel or guest house you’ve ever stayed in?
3. What is the worst hotel or bed and breakfast you’ve ever stayed in?
4. How do you decide which hotel or guest house to stay in?
5. What things are important for you when choosing a hotel or guest house to stay in?
6. If I was planning to come to your country on holiday, what advice would you give me about the hotels and guest houses?
7. What’s your opinion of budget hotels?
8. How would you market a guest house like the Glenartney?
9. What’s your opinion of the Glenartney website? (www.glenartney-arran.co.uk)
10. What qualities do you need to run a guest house?
