Louise is one of ‘four in a bed’ for Channel 4

THE popular Channel 4 TV show Four In A Bed, which sees hospitality owners scrutinise (sometimes very meanly) each other’s establishments, will have its first fully NI-based programme starting next week with one local woman front and centre.

Castlederg woman Louise Hamilton, owner of Joe’s Fish & Chip shop in Sion and co-owner of The Oaks Luxury Lodges glamping site based in Drumahoe, will battle it out with three other places to be crowned the winner.

As Louise explained, “The Oaks Luxury Lodges are log cabins based in Drumahoe. For anyone who doesn’t know what ‘glamping’ is basically all the luxuries of a hotel combined with the beauty of camping in a gorgeous setting. I had seen that the show was advertising for place so we applied and got on the show.

“For anyone who hasn’t seen the show, it’s basically four hospitality owners who stay in each other’s places and scrutinise every single aspect; from the friendliness of the staff, the food, the rooms, right down to whether the sheets on the bed are dirty or there’s dust on the floor! It’s a bit like the Hotel Inspector or Come Dine With Me in that it’s shown over five nights, with the final programme announcing the winners.”

The Oaks was up against three other sites based in the North, their rivals including Ness Woods Glamping site also just outside Derry, Castlewellan-based Pine Tree Hollow glamping and Dulrush Fishing Lodge B&B in Enniskillen.

“The experience of being on TV was brilliant as I’d never been on TV before; we loved it and everyone was really nice,” Louise continued. “The crew were lovely, it’s the same crew who film Come Dine With Me, and the producers were great too. They try to stir up some controversy and tension of course, that’s what makes the show, but it was never anything too bad and we all got on well.

“The whole show took two weeks to film, going from place to place and the crew follow you from the moment you get up from the moment you go to bed.

“The hours were long but it was a lot of fun.

“There was one day when we were going across the Peace Bridge in Derry and that simple walk took six hours to film because of social distancing!”

The winner, as people who have seen the show will know, ends up with a beautiful glass trophy at the end of the week and Louise is very careful not to give the game away.

“You’ll just have to tune in to find out.” she slyly offers.

Louise’s week on Four In A Bed can be seen from next Monday at 5pm and The Oaks is featured on the first episode.