Find your perfect Bed & Breakfast

Many of our B&Bs in Cornwall reflect the county’s history and culture, from old mills to harbourside fisherman’s cottages and restored mine buildings. You’ll find a warm welcome and locals ready to guide you to secret coves, quiet pubs and beautiful viewpoints.

Devon’s gentle, hilly countryside hides a wealth of lovely farmhouses and artfully-converted barns, from which you can explore the wilds of Dartmoor, the Exe estuary and miles of great coastal hiking to quiet seaside towns.

Dorset is scattered liberally with peaceful country estates, market towns and picture-perfect villages of thatched cottages. Slip into the slow life, from the “isle” of Purbeck in the south to cider orchards and a stroll round historic Shaftesbury.

Sicily’s people are as warm as the weather – be welcomed into weathered port villages, agriturismi serving fresh food from the garden and town houses with rooftop terraces and views of Etna.

The wonderful thing about Brittany’s B&Bs is the range of simplicity and grandeur – crumbling stone houses and palatial chateaux all wait to introduce you to a region of great seafood, wine and hospitality.

This is wine country, with the iconic image of terracotta roofs on deep green, vine-covered hillsides amply reproduced, but there are also stylish pads in Florence and chic escapes in equally historic Siena.

What is bed and breakfast?

• Bed and breakfast is exactly what it sounds like – you get a room and something to eat in the morning. Within that simple definition you’ll sleep in palatial, gilded rooms, stylish apartments and old cottage garrets. Breakfast could be a giant fry up straight from the farm, a self-serve buffet or anything in between.    
• A bed and breakfast doesn’t tend to have been purpose-built for letting rooms, it’s more like staying with a friend who has a really great house. You won’t find every room a standard size or shape and there probably won’t be locks on bedroom doors, uniformed staff or phones for calling reception. 

Are bed and breakfasts still popular?

They most certainly are and always will be. Some people take a dim view of them, worried about enforced conversation over breakfast and feeling on their best behaviour in someone else’s house, but those people have either been staying in the wrong kind of bed and breakfasts, missed the point, or both. The right kind are run by people who know how to treat guests, whether that means sitting down and planning an itinerary with them or leaving them in silence until at least after coffee. A good host is understanding and interesting enough to make conversation flow when it needs to and stop when you need it to.

Are bed and breakfasts cheaper than hotels?

They are often slightly cheaper, although it’s not really a direct comparison. Bed and breakfasts tend to be smaller than hotels, meaning a more personal service and greater flexibility. Generally, they have fewer staff and no restaurants, gyms or spas to maintain, so their overheads are often lower and prices might well be too.  

Will I have to talk to people at breakfast?

You don’t have to, but try it! You might like it. A good owner is a good judge of which guests are ready to talk and which need a moment to ease into the day, but a chat over that first cup of tea about plans for your trip is one of the best things about a bed  and breakfast. It gives you a chance to get excited about what you’ll be doing, swap suggestions with other guests, choose a lunch stop and find out where the locals go. 

How do you turn a beloved family home into a boutique hotel, but still have it feel the same? That’s the challenge Olive and Hugo faced when they took over the running of Hugo’s parents’ B&B, Glebe House, near Colyton in Devon. We spoke to Olive about the planning, painting and wardrobe-related confusion that went into updating the look without losing the heart of a place she knew so well.

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Wandering through France and meeting the wonderful people who lived there was where it all began for us back in the 90s, so thinking about our five best French B&Bs was a challenge and a pleasure. These are just a few favourites from our collection, with great wine and hospitality as standard and an extra touch of magic or two in each one.

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