Distant Hills Guest House on Four in a Bed

We always said we’d never do it…

Go on Four in a Bed that is! We’d watched the Channel 4 TV show once or twice before, but if we’re honest, we didn’t like how catty some of the competitors could be and neither of us enjoy conflict. Then late one Friday afternoon in early January last year, we received an email from Lambert Studios inviting us to apply to go on the show.

At first, we were very sceptical and worried that it could do more harm to our new business than good. There were still many improvements we wanted to make to the property, so showcasing something less than perfect seemed a huge risk. Then we thought, what have we got to lose? Our first year of business had been thwarted by a pandemic, seriously how much worse could things get? So, we took a deep breath and hit the reply button saying we’d love to take part! The wheels were set in motion and so were the nerves and excitement.

The Selection Process

Things moved quickly starting with a telephone interview followed by a 2 hour Zoom interview where one of the production team asked us the kind of things that would be aired on the show. It was exciting and daunting at the same time. We were then asked to make several short videos showcasing our property. What a laugh that was! Cameron and I had a great time taking the mickey out of each other, as well as the show itself.

It wasn’t too long before we were told Channel 4 had approved us and wanted us on the show but we were sworn to secrecy. We couldn’t even tell family members at that stage. We still had weeks and weeks of lockdown ahead of us, so our guilty pleasure became to watch Four in a Bed. This taught us what we’d signed up to and we soon became obsessed with every detail of our property looking for ways we could improve it. We even slept in several of our guest rooms to properly understand the guest experience. That was invaluable and we wished we’d done that much sooner.

The First Filming Session at Distant Hills

We were told filming would start towards the end of April 2021 and that we would be the third property to be visited. At that point we were able to tell our immediate family and close friends. Two weeks prior to visiting the first property, the director Natalie and one of the cameramen George, visited us at Distant Hills Guest House to film the ‘master interview’. These are the snippets that are edited into the show introducing us as a couple, who we are, how we met, what makes us tick and how we run our business. We prayed for a sunny day and miraculously we were granted one allowing the interview to take place in our beautiful garden.

Doing the ‘master interview’ gave us an insight into what was expected of us during filming and how long things would take to film. Unless you have been exposed to this industry before, you have no idea how much time and effort goes into recording just a minute of film. It’s bonkers.  Just to give you an idea, we were asked to make a bed together. This usually takes us no more than a couple of minutes. We must have been filmed for about 45 minutes making and remaking the bed, shooting from different angles, taking close-ups, putting your hand in this position and then that position, doing it slower, looking this way and then that way. It was a real eye-opener but we loved every minute of it and were buzzing with excitement when Natalie and George left.

D-Day Arrives

Before we knew it, it was the night before the first day of filming. We had been told to check in at a Premier Inn in South Queensferry by a certain time and that we’d be told what time the camera crew would meet us the following morning. Rather naively, we assumed that some of the other competitors would be staying in the same hotel, so Cameron and I were on high alert trying to suss out who else might be on the show.  Little did we know that we had all been placed at different hotels miles apart from each other!

The next morning came and we duly met two of the crew in the hotel car park at our allotted time. A camera was placed on the back seat of our car and another fitted to the windscreen and we were each fitted with microphones. We were then told to follow the car in front of us which would lead us to the first property. It was incredible, we truly had no idea where we were going and suddenly everything became very real and we both had butterflies. There was no backing out now!

Camera, Lights and Action

We pulled up at the first property and it wasn’t too long before we laid eyes on the other competitors for the first time. We were all a bit nervous and apprehensive and introduced ourselves with a genuine warmth and friendliness. The filming started right away with us arriving, being shown to our room and the first room inspection.

A lot of our family and friends have asked us whether the inspection is staged. In our experience, this was not the case at all. We were asked to look at things that stood out to us, but to be fair, Cameron and I had by then watched so many episodes, we kind of knew the ‘classic’ things to look for, say and do.

After a spot of lunch, we were then taken to our first activity. It was good fun actually and presented us with an opportunity to get to know each other a little. That said, us as a group of competitors, we were never left to talk without the supervision of at least one crew member to ensure we didn’t give any information or clues away about our own properties. That made the bonding process a little stilted.

Again, the filming of the activity was relentless. Guess how long it took us to film what was edited down to no more than 5 minutes? We’ll tell you. Over 5 hours!!!

We had a quick bite to eat back before we were filmed having drinks, and then it was the first ‘bedding down’ scene. Oh my goodness, that was weird and personal! Filming stopped for us around 12.30am on that first day! We were absolutely exhausted! No wonder we slept well.

If you’ve watched the show before, you’ll know we’re then filmed having breakfast before we head back to our rooms to write our feedback and decide what we wanted to pay for our stay. This was the trickiest part of all.

After leaving the property number one, we then headed to our next Premier Inn in Port Glasgow in preparation for the visit to property number two.

On to Property Two

Having already met John and Shona, we had them down for running a more traditional style of bed and breakfast. How wrong we were! We could not believe our luck when we were led to our next property. It felt like a real treat indeed. It was a glorious sunny day, the views over the River Clyde and beyond were breathtaking and we were thrilled to have our own private hot tub. We instantly fell in love with it. The filming at John and Shona’s didn’t feel quite so gruelling, maybe because we were beginning to get used to the routine, and maybe because we actually felt like we were having a mini holiday.

Distant Hills Under Inspection

After leaving property number two, we were all allowed to go home for the weekend before it was our turn on the Monday! Oh my goodness, we hadn’t felt a nervous excitement like it!! We knew we couldn’t be any more prepared and we just wanted to get on with it. Bizarrely, when it’s your turn to host, you aren’t filmed quite so much, so other than wondering how the room inspections were going and the pressure of getting breakfast right, it was pretty stress-free and we got a bit of a rest.

The most fun part was taking our guests quad biking on the nearby Ardverikie Estate with Highland All Terrain. We’d hoped for clear blue skies to show off the stunning backdrop to its full, but the rain clouds came in and the wind got up. In short, it was flippin’ freezing but we still had great fun razzing around the Ardverikie beach with the camera crew filming us out the back of a 4×4.

Breakfast the next morning seemed to us to go without a hitch: not too difficult with only 3 people to cook for and a pre-ordered menu! Once our guests had left, we were allowed to read our feedback. Without giving too much away, let’s just say you might see some tears! We’re not sure if this bit will come across in the show, but my palms were literally running with sweat before we opened that folder. Essentially, you’re being judged by your industry peers, not only that, but publicly too!

It was a massive risk we’d taken. Had it paid off?

The Final Property

The final visit was to Craig’s property in Edinburgh. We hadn’t been to Edinburgh in years, so that itself was a huge treat. As we’d expected, Craig’s place reflected him and we enjoyed another great stay in a beautiful property. We even got to do some whiskey tasting. The challenge for us was not too drink too much and end up tipsy on camera!! Did we manage it? We’ll let you decide!

Payment Day

Until the show is aired, we’re unable to reveal any results, so we won’t say any more about it. Let’s just say there were more tears and they weren’t necessarily ours!

Watch the Show

Our 5 episodes are being aired everyday Monday 7^th – Friday 11^th February on Channel 4 at 5pm. Distant Hills Guest House features at 5pm on Wednesday 9^th February. Four in a Bed is available on All 4 here.

If you have any questions about our appearance on Four in a Bed, leave them in the comments below.

Stay at Distant Hills Guest House

If you’d like to book a room at Distant Hills Guest House, click on our availability checker here or call us on 01397 712452