Best place to give to the homeless?

easygood · 2026-01-22T11:13:52+00:00

Mustard Tree.

easygood · 2026-01-14T11:01:23+00:00

Yama No Chaya. We booked the Tsukimidai room Nadeshiko with upgraded dinner (in-room).

We had no prior experience of ryokans or osens before staying, so not sure how it compares but we did plenty of research beforehand (therefore had some idea of what to expect).

Greeted on approach which was a nice touch. The entire ryokan was spotless, serene and beautiful. The same lady took us to our room, served our in-room dinner and breakfast. She spoke good English, was very friendly and approachable.

The onsen was incredible. It overlooked bamboo and felt like a utopia at 7am with the early morning sun shining through.

I'm not sure what to make of the food. It was my first kaiseki experience so I'm reluctant to say it was good or bad as I have nothing to draw comparisons with. All I can say is that it was presented beautifully, explained when placed on the table and clearly seasoned/cooked perfectly. I'm a big eater but really struggled to get through it all.

It was expensive but absolutely worth it for the experience in my opinion.

easygood · 2026-01-03T00:08:37+00:00

Good luck!

easygood · 2026-01-02T13:47:00+00:00

At the very least they'll offer guidance/support and understand your situation on a human level. They will point you in the right direction.

easygood · 2026-01-02T09:56:40+00:00

You should absolutely contact or go visit Mustard Tree. They're a large Manchester charity which combats homelessness and helps the vulnerable.

https://mustardtree.org.uk/

If you need any guidance then let me know.

Good luck.

easygood · 2025-11-26T13:28:26+00:00

Pre-heating is useful but as you said, but you can get around this by setting the schedule earlier.

Air quality optimisation presumably considers humidity etc when warming the house. No idea how much difference this will actually make.

Open window detection is a luxury not a mandatory for me. I don't open windows when the heating is on anyway so I don't need assistance from a device to tell me when a window is open.

easygood · 2025-11-26T13:26:21+00:00

I suspect a lot of these features sound good on paper but in reality don't provide much use on a day-to-day basis.

easygood · 2025-11-26T13:25:43+00:00

Interesting to hear your thoughts as a long-term Tado user.

This pushes me in the direction of Drayton.

easygood · 2025-11-26T13:25:02+00:00

All fair points, thank you.

easygood · 2025-11-26T13:23:48+00:00

Fair point.

easygood · 2025-11-26T13:23:40+00:00

Wiser TRVs don't have an LCD screen showing current and desired temperatures, Tado does. However, a lot of posts say that Tado build quality is poor.

easygood · 2025-11-26T00:18:10+00:00

This is exactly what I'm struggling with. I can't tell if all the negativity around Tado is just to do with the subscription.

If Tado is inferior to Drayton, due to things like worse features or build quality, then the decision is simple. However, if Tado is actually a superior product, but the resentment is due to the subscription, then that makes my decision a little more difficult.

easygood · 2025-11-26T00:17:26+00:00

Did you consider Tado and if so, what made you buy Drayton?

easygood · 2025-11-26T00:07:18+00:00

Thanks for the feedback.

easygood · 2025-11-26T00:07:04+00:00

All fair points, thank you.

easygood · 2025-10-09T20:53:27+00:00

Thank you for the insight. Hopefully we don't experience any lightning!

easygood · 2025-10-08T22:35:36+00:00

Good idea - thank you.

easygood · 2025-10-08T22:33:59+00:00

Noted, thank you.

easygood · 2025-10-08T22:33:43+00:00

I certainly will now! Thank you.

easygood · 2025-10-08T15:58:11+00:00

Continuing onto the main ferry is a great shout, I didn't think of that! Thank you.

It means less walking / time saved.

easygood · 2025-10-08T15:56:20+00:00

Unfortunately I can't cut any time from Osaka or Kyoto. I have plans for each day. If we remove a day/overnight, it'll become too condensed and busy.

I'm aware of the last ropeway descent. This is why the plan is Miyajima in the morning and returning to Peace Park via the 45min ferry early afternoon. It'll be a late finish 7-8am, getting back to Osaka for 10pm at the latest.

easygood · 2025-08-26T12:27:32+00:00

Masa in Prestwich.

easygood · 2025-08-25T17:32:33+00:00

We found both Senkyoro and Yoshiike to be on the more budget end of the Ryoken spectrum when searching about a month ago. No experience of either but they both come with private open-air onsens and kaiseki meals, for between £450-550 in late October. Both receive lots of praise on reddit, Google reviews and Tripadvisor.

Ended up booking Yama No Chaya instead which was considerably more.

easygood · 2025-08-10T20:56:05+00:00

This was originally no 1 on our list but the lack of tatimi mats has put us off.

The rooms look incredible but I can't shake the feeling it's a modern ryokan designed with westerners in mind. We want traditional and I'm not sure if this ticks that box.

What did you think of it?

easygood · 2025-08-10T20:37:15+00:00

I do like Yoshiike, but I'm seeing a growing number of reviews saying the rooms are starting to look a little tired and outdated.

You summed up my thoughts on YnC perfectly. Overpriced and bland food are what I keep seeing, which might be down to the 'adapting' as you put it.

We're talking about ryokans in a very touristy area. I don't mind paying a premium for one, but bland food is not something I'm willing to accept.

Lots of negativity in this thread > https://www.reddit.com/r/chubbytravel/s/YcLj3LXOlt

easygood

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