Q&A with Four in a Bed participant Plover Cottage in Huddersfield

Q&A with Plover Cottage in Huddersfield from Four in a Bed

Q&A with Plover Cottage in Huddersfield from Four in a Bed

Cleide Brook, who owns Plover Cottage in Huddersfield, came second on the popular Channel 4 show, Four in a Bed. Read on to find out what she thought about the filming experience.

NOTE: The opinions expressed by the programme participant in this interview do not reflect the views and opinions of the Four in a Bed production team, Studio Lambert, or any other party involved. These opinions belong solely to the interviewee and are for entertainment purposes only.

How did you feel when the show aired? What was the response like?

Cleide: I felt amazing, but you do kind of think, “Oh my god, I shouldn’t have done this”, or “I shouldn’t have said that”, or whatever. 

I’m not English and I’m not originally from Huddersfield, but I have great admiration for the place. It’s where I live and I wanted to show it in a good light. I wanted to show people that it’s beautiful, undiscovered and peaceful. 

The local response has been really positive and they feel very proud of what I did. I just wanted to show Huddersfield in a good light, so the response has been very positive. 

I’m very, very happy about it.

Do you think competing on Four in a Bed was worth it? Do you think your business benefited?

Cleide: Oh indeed, certainly. My website, people were viewing my properties something like 60,000 times and my social media went up by 1,500%. 

The exposure is enormous. And consequently, I have received a fair amount of bookings and inquiries. So certainly, it’s a good result for marketing.

What surprised you most about the filming experience?

Cleide: Everything was a surprise. You don’t know where you’re going or who you’re going to meet. It’s all a surprise. But the team tries to make you feel at home and that you should just enjoy ourselves. 

One thing we did find a bit bizarre was that you haven’t really had a relationship with the people you’re competing against, but you get asked questions about them on camera. So that was a bit worrying at the time, but I just tried to keep it positive. 

Do you still talk to any of the other contestants who appeared on Four in a Bed with you?

Cleide: One of the other contestants is originally from Huddersfield and her father lives down the road, so she has stayed here since.

How and why did you decide to apply?

Cleide: They contacted me and I thought that it’d be an opportunity to show what we offer and reach a wider range of customers that perhaps don’t know about us yet. All my guests so far have some kind of connection to Huddersfield and the local area, such as people who come here for work, weddings, funerals and visiting family. I understand it’s not really a tourist site and so I thought it would be good marketing to be part of Four in a Bed because it’s national TV. 

Q&A with Plover Cottage in Huddersfield from Four in a Bed

Did you enjoy the application process? 

Cleide: They contacted me at quite short notice, but we said we’ll do it. We had interviews and filmed ourselves showing the property and then obviously, there was a lot of paperwork. 

It’s quite high tech nowadays, these things. The company was well organised in that sense because they had different people responsible for different sections. They really guided us well, so the application process was fine.

We’d never been filmed before so the interview was very interesting. It was asking about my relationship with my partner, what inspired me to open the business, and so on and so forth. So, yeah, everything was very much a surprise, because we’ve never done this before. 

Do you have any top tips for people going through the application process?

Cleide: I think if you apply for it, you have to have a clear mind of what you want to show and what you’re going to expose yourself to. There were people around me saying I should say no. It was very scary because I was putting my business at risk, but I saw it as a chance to show what I can offer. 

I just felt that whatever position I finished in for the competition, I would have shown my guests what I can offer. A competition is a competition. I haven’t got control of who’s going to win or not. You just have to offer your best and show people what you offer. 

I’m also self catering, so there was also the issue that I was competing against others who offer a different level of service. But it was fine because, you know, perhaps I could offer something different and perhaps that difference was what makes the competition more interesting.

Do you have any other advice that you’d like to give to other owners who might go on the show?

Cleide: I think the best thing to do is be a guest in your own place. Judge yourself and be prepared to accept criticism. 

If you have never stayed in your own place and you never analyse your own business, but you don’t like what people say about it, you’re exposing yourself in a light you might not like. 

So be your own guest and judge yourself first.

Plover Cottage Four in a Bed Huddersfield

Q&A with Plover Cottage in Huddersfield from Four in a Bed

About Plover Cottage:

Owned by Cleide Brook

9 cottages

Won Second Place on Four in a Bed

Located in Lindley, near Huddersfield

Family friendly

Self-catering 

URL

plovercottage.co.uk

Plover Cottage on Airbnb

Social Media:

Insta: @plover_cottage

Four in a Bed info:

What is it?

A popular tea-time show aired on Channel 4, Four in a Bed is a week-long competition taking place over five daily episodes.

Owners of four boutique hotels, B&Bs, holiday lets or glamping sites, try to convince their competitors that their business offers the best value for money.

Each week is a different competition. In the first four episodes of each week, the owners take it in turns to host their opponents. In the final episode of the week, everyone reveals how much they are prepared to pay for the visits to each of the businesses.

It’s a consistently successful show on Channel 4 and first began in 2010.

How do I take part in Four in a Bed?

Interested in applying to appear on Four in a Bed? Want to showcase your business on TV to the nation?

Apply to appear on the show!

Head to the Studio Lambert website and head to the ‘Take Part’ section.

To apply for a future series of the show, email your full name and name of your hospitality business to:

fourinabed@studiolambert.com

You can also check out their Instagram, where the team often share casting updates: @fourinabed

Want to learn more?

For our April 2022 magazine, we put together a feature with multiple Four in a Bed participants.

Read ‘Four in a Bed… Is it worth it?’ online today!

Back in April 2021, Luxury BnB Magazine’s Editor, Juliet Horner, interviewed the Executive Producer of Channel 4’s Four in a Bed, Mark James.

Mark gave Juliet a glimpse behind the scenes so that you, our readers, can discover the inner workings of the popular tv series.

Find out what the producers look for when reviewing applications submitted by business owners just like you!

Read online for free or check out the April 2020 magazine.

You can also check out the interview with Four in a Bed winners, Gables Pod Camping in our April 2020 magazine, to find out what it’s like to appear on the show.

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