My B&B’s first celebrity guest

The TV talent show star was due to arrive at 5 p.m., and would be checking into our house long before we were ready to open it as a B&B.

I said yes to the lady in the village who organises events, and she told me to expect this singer who is very popular in Ireland, and his band, who would be performing at the local folk festival.

Kids, babies, female friends holding babies. I leaned to my friend: ‘They can’t all be staying at mine, can they?’

I spent weeks trying to make our partially renovated Georgian house look acceptable, and then the builder boyfriend had to go to England and I was left in West Cork making up beds and trying to hide cracks in walls.

We only have one guest bedroom with an en suite bathroom – the plumber has still not finished the others – but the organiser said it would be fine.

The TV star could have the en suite bedroom, his band members would make do with the other rooms, and they could all share the one bathroom.

I made the beds with my best linen and left out fluffy towels. I told the lady to tell the band it was ‘rustic accommodation’.

I said I would do the whole thing for nothing, because the place was such a mess. But I looked this star up and thought, he’s such a big deal all I need is a photo of me and him outside the house and our B&B is made when we open next spring. Looking at his website, he seemed to have quite a lot of band members.

I asked the organiser, could she give me an idea of numbers? A lovely but rather scatty Irish lady, she stood in the house after I showed her around and said that it would be three men, which I said was no problem.