Portsmouth Hotel, Ashby's will be featured in Channel 4s, 4 in a Bed next week

Transcript

00:00Okay, my name is Steve Ferguson. I'm one of the owners along with MUBI of Ashby's Accommodation,

00:08which is where we're set now. In terms of the two parts, we had a call out of the blue, didn't we?

00:13Yes. Just asking whether we would like to take part in the in the program.

00:19We explained it. We had like a video call. They said we've got a few days to

00:23prepare ourselves. We thought it was a prank call. We thought it was a prank call, yeah.

00:30So we did a video call with them. They asked a bit about us, how we met. They laughed a little bit,

00:37didn't they? Yeah. And then in two weeks time, it was the program take really, it was a really short

00:44period of time. So it was a very hectic for us. Yeah, it was a bit manic, wasn't it? Scary.

00:50And then Ashby's, it came into being, we lived next door and the property was up for sale. It was

00:57going to go to auction. We have five children. We didn't really want the property to be a halfway

01:02home. So we just bought it in a moment of madness. And over the time it changed how we would like it

01:09to run. And we wanted to be celebration venue, group booking, you know, also having a spa in the Ashby's.

01:18So something slightly different way than usual hotels. So it is Ashby's, it's home from home,

01:25really. Yeah, it's really all about having fun and wellness. So they're the two things that we try to

01:32offer to anyone that wants to book. We're not commercial. The number one priority for us was not

01:40to make money. I think it was mainly because we love properties. We try to keep the future of the old

01:47property. And we like interior design, but in a unique way. And we try to put things we, what we

01:56expect when we go away with the children. So that's, that was the whole thing, you know, the certain

02:02features we put in the place is the, you can, what we look for when we go away, isn't it?

02:09Yeah, something different. Honestly, we don't know how, you know, we know that some of the other

02:14contestants had been sort of not stalked, but approached for years to be on the programme,

02:19like the dog in Wingham. So I don't know their criteria, you know, we didn't think we'd fit.

02:26I think they find, they find it, they said they wanted to us to be in the programme. And then we,

02:34did we ask ever why they did choose? We did. And they gave some, they didn't

02:38want to tell us, but they said they just wanted us to, you know, they just kind of.

02:44Yeah. So I think they're all, you'll see from the programme, they're all very unique properties,

02:48all very different, with very different people running them. So it's quite diverse, wasn't it?

02:54Yeah, it was. At the outset, we just decided we wanted to just go and experience it for what it

03:02is, really. So it's just more about enjoy, meet people, don't, you know, we weren't in it to win

03:08it, it's kind of. Yeah, we didn't think it was the whole idea, is it, just to enjoy and then get

03:16experience from it. But yeah, at the same time, we quite enjoyed it, because we don't go away,

03:22because we don't have time, we always entertain. So it was a holiday for us. Yeah, really. And we've

03:28been really lucky, the people we were in, quite nice. They were great, great people. We still stay

03:35in touch with all of them and friends with them. And yeah, like I say, you know, don't want to take

03:39too much away from the story, but they're all very different. Properties. And experiences. Yeah,

03:45we love that.