Bed & Breakfast in Northeast England

When is a B&B NOT a B&B?

2011-07-07T17:45:00.000Z

Answer; when it’s a hotel, or guest house. There’s a lot of confusion between the three genres of “serviced accommodation”, as the Tourist Board call the sector, and it leads do a lot of unhappiness and dissatisfaction amongst guest and host alike. Expectations are different; even the poorest hotel may outshine the fanciest B&B in terms of range of services – yet may equally be outclassed in terms of the core offerings – a nice room and a delicious breakfast.

So let’s try and arrive at definitions of the three, always remembering that each covers such a range of prices, facilities and indeed personalities, that sweeping generalities will always be wrong at some point. Nevertheless, in the words of Edward Heath (as re-iterated by Monty Python…) “We’re going to have a try”.

First, the B&B, or Bed & Breakfast. Its primary defining characteristics are well described in the name; a good night’s sleep and a thorough breakfast. Most other aspects of a B&B’s offerings are derived fairly closely from those two key necessities. There is, however a third: the personal touch. B&B is about the hosts inviting guests into their home; I’d suggest that, if the hosts do not live on the premises, then it’s not a B&B – it’s a hotel or guest-house. You could go further and say that, even if the hosts (who will almost invariably also be the owners) live on the premises, but in a separate part of the building, then it is edging away from the “personal” aspect of a pure B&B. This (limited) intimacy with the business and with the guests is for us one of the glories of running a B&B, and if you are the kind of people that enjoy people, then this is the place for you to stay, or even to run.

Again, B&Bs by their personal nature, tend to be small. There is a distinction in English law that says, if a person lets out three bedrooms or fewer, incorporating no more than six beds, then theirs is not a commercial establishment – rather, it is a private person welcoming guests into their home. That’s not to say that larger places cannot be B&Bs; but they will be governed by commercial workplace – and work-force – legislation to a much greater extent than the private B&B establishment.

They tend to be not only run, but largely staffed by their owners. While a hotel owner may practically never even visit his investment, it is by and large the perspiring owner of the B&B who meets you at the door, shows you to your room, cooks and serves the classic English breakfast, takes your money, cleans the room and washes and irons the sheets. I fear we’ve chickened out on the last bit and get the ironing done by someone much better at it than us – it’s called “getting a life”.

Because they do all this themselves – and because they do need occasionally to do other things like live, be parents, members of the community – or deeply lazy, if you prefer – they do tend to seek later check-in times for their guests than you would expect in most hotels. Even if you “just want to drop our bags off, then we’ll be out again, don’t worry”, they still have to be ready, and to receive you – often during the small amount of time when they need to do other things. Please try to be sympathetic to this, and you’ll find most hosts will do their best to be correspondingly sympathetic to your needs.

You won’t find staffed 24/7 reception at a B&B. They tend to sleep when the guests do. Not as long, of course, but they do need it, promise! They also tend to be less good on the telephone before about 10am and later in the evening – ‘cos they are either busy cooking, or busy applying the restorative glass of wine that helps so much. More importantly, though, you will in general find 24/7 concern for their guests; it’s what drives your hosts, perhaps more than the money (since there’s not too much of that…).

To summarise, a (good) B&B is personal, individual and dare I say quirkier than the more mainstream hotels and guest houses. It offers a more focussed service – and often simply more service. If you enjoy interacting with the people around you it’s a great place to stay; if you’re more after seclusion, anonymity, and “peace perfect peace, with others far way” (to paraphrase), it may not suit. You won’t find squadrons of lackeys leaping (like that bit of alliteration?) to your bidding; you will find one or two people deeply committed to your welfare.

Enough for now; I’ll get on to the guest-house v the hotel in a future outpouring.

Staying in a B&B - What's it like?

2007-01-28T05:59:00.000Z

We stayed in a LOT of B&Bs before we went into the business ourselves (at Dowfold House), so here are some thoughts - please add your own.

The range of offerings is VAST. We've stayed in some wonderful places - and some shockers. That's part of the charm - or risk - of choosing to stay in B&Bs. They strongly reflect the owner's personality, so it's worth calling up and talking for a bit, not just about the B&B but also about the area, or your reason for coming, or almost anything. A good B&B host will know the area and will be interested in your reasons for wanting to come to stay. A short chat will tell you whether you "click" or are uncomfortable. If you are comfortable with the people, then you will be comfortable with the B&B.

You (sadly, perhaps) don't always get what you pay for. Identical apparent facilities, at a similar price, can be presented in VERY different ways. For example: "electric shower" can be a 7Kw dribbler in a 700mm cubicle with cheap plastic shower surround - or even WORSE, a shower curtain - or a 10-11Kw gusher in a 900mm or bigger shower, with proper glass panels. If these thngs worry you, ask. We try to offer really good facilities, well-maintained - but we do charge for it. We'd rather ask a fair price, then strive for customer satisfaction, than price low and resent every penny, every minute each guest "costs".

Look at the visitor book, if it's available on-line. people hardly ever write poor reviews in these, but the colour and frequency of the praise says a lot about the establishment. Look for comments on the food, the hosts, the room, the convenience, or for any particular thing you are interested in - near shops, or lost in the middle of nowhere, for example. Few are the hosts that will "make up" reviews; it's too easy to be rumbled, so they are generally reliable, if somewhat rose-tinted.

Inevitably, decide what you want, and ask if it's important to you. Good hosts will answer any questions willingly and frankly; thay don't want an unhappy guest any more than you do. For example, we've had a couple of small problems, when people haven't realised exactly where we are, and what travelling is like in the area. If you want to be 5 minutes from your destination, then deep in the country, up a muddy track won't do. (we're not, by the way; we're on the edge of Crook, with GREAT parking and APPALLING public transport). If you want buzzing night life, you won't want to come to Crook, anyway. If, on the other hand, you like seeing horses and sheep and rolling countryside when you wake up, then we might be right for you.

Do use the facilities; the hosts have made them available and are (usually) happy for you to do so. If there's a lounge, or a garden, check them out. If there's a wide-ranging breakfast menu, experiment. There's nothing I like better than a challenging breakfast guest! It means I can show off! We had one set of guests who ordered the works - full breakfast, porridge, pastries and all - then didn't eat a THING. If they want to come back, frankly, we probably won't take them. Others have scoured the menus, picked new and interesting combinations and almost always have savoured the result. We want more of those!

What's it like running a bed & breakfast?

2007-01-27T17:21:00.000Z

Good question. If you enjoy meeting people and don't mind a bit of hard work, then it can be great fun. Over the past 6 months, we've had literally hundreds of guests and fried/ poached/ scrambled/ boiled over 400 eggs! We've not had one bad guest; they've ranged from delightful to acceptable. Of course, they are different and we get on better with some than with others, but the difference in itself is part of the charm of the business. You get new perspectives, new ideas, new ways of thinking. You'll never get in a rut!

The biggest effort has been on the laundry side - it just never stops, and makes people who stay for more than one night VERY attractive! The cleaning and fettling side is not a problem, since there are two of us, and the breakfasts are just fun. We have a wide variety of breakfast options and frankly it's nice when people break away from "full English, please" and test us with demands for smoked salmon, porridge, fresh baked croissants, exotic juices and the like. We haven't been beaten yet!

The biggest tie is waiting in for arriving guests. If you get one lot out by say 10:30 and then next ones are coming in at 3:30-5:00pm, after you have changed the rooms and cleaned the house, you don't get that much time for you, in your own home, or time to go out.

Overall, however, the experience has been very positive. We really like the people, enjoy (most) of the work, and it allows us to live in a house, and to enjoy a lifestyle, which otherwise we could not afford. And, if it all gets too much, we just put a line through the diary and tell enquirors "sorry; we're full".