Having got some bargain flights from Ryanair, my friend and I left it until the last minute to sort out accomodation - being, as ever, supremely organised. By this time the youth hostels were all booked out, and with a heavy heart I started looking into the B&B option.

A heavy heart? Indeed - my experiences of B&Bs in the past haven't been overly inspired. There was a beautiful one I stayed in in Marazion in Cornwall, but others have ranged from the merely OK, to the utterly dire.

Crisis deepened when the Rough Guide had a general price point of around £40 per person per night. There was one listed at £15-£20, so I rang up expecting them to be full. They weren't, and we got a booking.

Why weren't they full? That's a question to *you*, since I've no idea. The location was fine - about 15 minutes walk from the centre, and it was on the bus route from the airport (the #41 or #41C). The rooms were fine - an OK size, comfy beds, lots of drawer space. Each room has its own sink, but the toilets and showers are shared between three rooms each. The shower is great though, and unlike other B&Bs I've stayed in, there was no problem with the hot water supply!

Breakfast is basic, but fine. It's brought to your room about 9am, and consists of toast and marmalade, cornflakes, a pot of tea, and some pretty foul orange juice stuff. When you've finished you leave the tray outside your door, and you can go back to sleep ... and given Dublin's nightlife, that's a good thing!

There were a couple of niggling points. Firstly, the room wasn't touched while we were there. While it's not a huge problem that the beds weren't made, it did mean that by the third day we had to ask for new towels. And the curtains didn't quite fit the window, so the sun shone in in the morning.

But otherwise, if you want a B&B, try here first. It's a bargain.