Very small hutong courtyard inn, just north of touristy and crowded popular areas of Beijing. The neighborhood is the real deal, which may not be everyone's cup of tea, but very peaceful and quiet. Rooms are tiny but comfy - bathrooms are quite minimal. A nice public room and courtyard tables for breakfast, or just sitting (the pet rabbit will appreciate your breakfast cucumber slices). The suite is much roomier - advisable if you're not alone. Kim and her helpers couldn't be nicer. If jumping on and off the metro is your plan, it's especially good, and Grandma's Kitchen is practically right next door, too. Not particularly inexpensive - but if a dose of real "old" Beijing is what you want, look no further.

Dale M., Fayetteville AR/US

I thoroughly researched our options for a cute upper scale (i.e. not a hostel or cheap hotel) unique and romantic place (yet not tourist 'one-time-only' prices) to stay in Beijing over Christmas. Having already stayed in a few fine hostels , each with private bathrooms, I expected much more from this "guesthouse" at over twice the price of our previous stays.

Although we made the most of it, the experience was quite disappointing - esp. after the pre-booking with the British-run b+b china operation went so smoothly via www. bb-china.com and they called back long distance to arrange payment and answer any inquiries. The bed and its bedding were by far the best and most comfortable part of the room - as most beds in Chinese hotels and homes are of the hard variety - this one was plush and the little touches with the linens and pillows were lovely. I am sure that in the summer this would also be a more attractive location to stay as they have a rooftop patio and sunlit common room. The former being unusable in the dead of winter, and the latter should have been unused as well as it was frigid.

By far the most unattractive part of our stay was that the rooms were not sufficiently heated - in fact upon arrival our room was freezing! Later with the heat blasting via aircon and a space heater (which they tried to take out of our room after the first night - trying to convince us that the water heaters, which never really got hot at all, would now be sufficient to heat the room) AND the addition of the water pipe heating - with stone floors and a door without a seal...there was always somewhat of a chill if you were not under the covers.;-)

The other major downer is that the place is billed as a bed and breakfast -- but I have not heard of a relaxing bed and breakfast that serves breakfast only between the hours of 7am - 9am!!! Even business hotel chains in the States hold longer breakfast hours. Especially it being a weekend and over Christmas - you would think, with few guests, breakfast would be a) served later in general and/or b) accommodated at guests requests.

Would not recommend staying in winter or if you thing you'll get bang-for-your-buck with the breakfast. Just a rug on the floor, seal on the door, sufficient heating and accommodating breakfast preferences would have made a world of difference! Thumbs down!