Lazy journalist does not visit Llancayo windmill 🌍

I know that real journalism is a difficult proposition in these times, but I hate the fact that even prestigious national newspapers like The Times resort to producing lazy and inaccurate (clickbait) listicles such as 22 of the best unusual places to stay in the UK.

This one opens with "We've roamed the UK to turn up 22 of the most curious places to stay", but there is no evidence that the writer did anything other than let their fingers roam over their computer keyboard. Although the author's byline describes him as a photographer, the photos in the article are credited to either a stock agency, or to booking/airbnb, or in some cases they couldn't even be bothered to include a photo. Rather than link directly to the property being listed, the links given route through a site that by its very name admits they skim a commission off of the transaction.

The current version of this article is headlined with a Getty Images photo of Llancayo windmill, which appears at number 22 in the list. There it is given a single £ rating, indicating it's at the cheap end of the accommodation scale. That shows how little care has been taken in producing the text - staying at the windmill costs about £6000 (3 night minimum, at £2000 per night), which is hardly cheap. (One of the other properties which has been given a £££ rating has stays from £380, which is comparatively economic). The windmill property does sleep up to 12, but the text misleadingly says there are 6 round rooms, across 5 floors (you can instantly see the maths doesn't work out there!), but actually there are only 2 bedrooms in the windmill tower, with the other 4 in the decidedly rectangular building alongside (a former drying store). Although it has fake sails (made from galvanized steel), and a steel and fiberglass domed cap, there is no milling machinery left in the mill. The fantail is functional to rotate the sails to face into the wind. The top floor of the property is inaccessible to renters, being described as the generator room.

Although this is new August 2026 refresh of this article, it has been around for a few years. An earlier version from 2023 titled 25 of the best unusual places to stay in the UK has 24 places to stay (you see the lack of attention to detail when they can't even count correctly). Llancayo windmill was also on that list.