My husband and I were supposed to stay at Fairchild for three nights at the beginning of April, 2005. I had read all the previous reviews, and decided that the negative reviews were answered well by the owner, and I thought that we should give it a shot. Plus, the pictures of the house on the website were very nice, and the price was very reasonable.
Before we got to the house the owner called to ask when we were getting there, and I told her it would be about an hour or so. When we got to the house we were not offered wine and cheese, as was advertised. I thought that was strange, because she knew exactly when we were going to arrive. It was not an odd hour (about 5pm) and I had understood that the wine and cheese were OFFERED upon arrival. I believe that if you are going to have to ASK for wine and cheese upon arrival that it should not be advertised as complementary. I did not mention it at the time for three reasons: first, I am not comfortable imposing; second, I don't think you should have to complain about something that is supposed to be complementary to get it; and third, she seemed to be in a big hurry to get out of there. Man, I really did want that wine and cheese, too.
I want to preface the rest of my comments by saying that the staff was very understanding and really tried to help us when we alerted them to the problems, and the room did have a kitchenette and a private bathroom. I would agree with the previous commenter who said that if you are a young person on a budget, this is a great place to stay. I would compare it to some hostels I have stayed in. But if you have, as I do, issues with the cleanliness of permeable surfaces, this is not a place you will feel comfortable.
When we got to the room I was very disappointed. It was just as the previous commenter had described. The website pictures were "pure fiction." There were stains on the carpet, bedspread and walls. The furniture was in very bad condition. The decor was strange - not "casual Victorian" as advertised. We had no bath towels. When we pulled the bedsheets down there were stains on them.
We called the owner about the lack of towels and the stained bedsheets. Within a couple of hours the sheets were replaced and we had bath towels. But the new sheets also had stains on them. We were assured that they were sanitary, but I was just not comfortable staying there.
We left that evening to stay elsewhere, and the owner graciously allowed us to leave without paying a penalty. She did not have to do that, and we really appreciated it.
I am writing this because I think people should know what they are going to get. I'm sure the other posters here that enjoyed their stays are sincere. I can see many people having a very nice time here if you're not a clean freak. I thought I had to write because other posters had mentioned how clean the place was. I just didn't feel that way.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.