Woodford Valley couple to star in Channel 4's 'Four in a Bed'
The first episode airs tonight (Monday 5th March)
Eddie and Karen Deighton, who own Finch Cottage B&B at Wilsford Cum Lake in the Woodford Valley, are appearing on Channel 4's 'Four In a Bed' this week.
The couple were approached by TV Production company, Studio Lambert, last year to see if they were interested in appearing as contestants on the reality show.
Four In Bed sees four sets of B&B owners compete to see which one provides the best value for money.
Karen said she's always watched the show but never thought about applying, so it was a bit of a shock when they were contacted by the production company on Instagram - in fact she thought it was a wind up at first!
Whilst Eddie wasn't initially keen he said he soon realised it was a great opportunity to showcase the love and hard work the couple have put into the property.
“To be honest, I wasn’t initially keen as I’m not too comfortable engaging in social media or appearing on TV, but I knew appearing on the show had the potential to not only be a life experience I would never forget but it could also really help us promote the B&B business for when lockdown ends. The majority of hospitality businesses have suffered so much this last year (ours included) and it had the potential to be a great way of reinvigorating our offer to the public. As it was, we had an amazing time and enjoyed ourselves immensely and, psychologically, it really helped get us through the last six months of 2020.”
Unfortunately, just as filming was about to start, the country entered its first Covid-19 lockdown, and all plans were put on hold.
But as restrictions were eased, Karen said the production company began filming again.
"The filming experience was different to how it would normally be because we'd just come out of the first Covid lockdown. But I have to say the staff and production team were really great and professional, making us all feel at ease."
Karen said that both herself and Eddie take great pride in their B&B.
"We've been through a lot over the years with regards to where we live and the flood and everything that we had, next door in our other house. It's taken a lot of blood sweat and tears to get the property up to the standard it is today."
Whilst the other B&B owners on the show with Eddie and Karen were offering something different, the couple don't believe there was much competition.
"We were in different stages of our B&B lives you know, you've got myself and Eddie we've only been open in just under a year.
"One of the other ladies on the show, it was her first hosting of more than one couple, and then one had been doing it a long while and the other girls quite a short time, so we're all at different levels so I don't think we classed each other as competition."
Their favourite part of doing the show was travelling to other 'B&Bers' to see what their offerings were, but the worst part was having to find fault in other people's offerings.
"We're not the sort of people that would complain for complaints sake, we would complain if it was valid, but to be fair it was really difficult because you had to try and find fault and make it TV worthy.
"One of our other favourite things about doing the show is that we've made some really, really nice friends. Although we haven't seen the show yet on television so it'll be interesting to see how it's been edited, and how we and other people will come across, so yeah it'll be really interesting to see"
Karen and Eddie can't reveal who won but, their first episode is airing tonight, (8th March) at 5pm on Channel 4, with episodes on every day for the rest of the week.