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Britain's Star
Attractions
For some
the highlight is a chance to enjoy the renowned British cooked breakfast with
all the trimmings and lashings of tea or coffee. To others it is the
opportunity to stay in a comfortable private home, one of a select few guests
and with a friendly host to greet them. There is no doubt that the British ‘bed
and breakfast’ (B&B for short) is a style of accommodation that is often
imitated around the world but rarely bettered. Wherever your travels take you,
from deepest Cornwall to the north of Scotland, you will find B&Bs everywhere
and spoken of affectionately by visitors.
The quality of the best B&Bs has risen markedly in recent years, and national
tourism agency VisitBritain has raised the game further by announcing that it
now only promotes accommodation that has been inspected, checked and graded by
an intrepid band of Quality Assessors. Also, the accommodation is being assessed
and rated by all the main inspection bodies using a common set of criteria. This
means that a B&B in say, York, will be awarded the same number of stars no
matter who it is checked by, giving peace of mind to the traveller who finds it
easier to compare places to stay.
VisitBritain has a team of 55 trained accommodation assessors working throughout
England - and checking out B&B’s is a very important part of their job. Like a
secret agent of sorts, they book incognito, study all aspects of a property,
including cleanliness and customer service, stay overnight and eat all meals
offered, including that special cooked breakfast. Only when they have paid the
bill to the assessors reveal their true identity, when they spend time pointing
out to the host anything not up to scratch.
 Key
to their role is being able to preserve their anonymity until check-out time.
They have to look like a ‘normal’ guest and will vary their dress according to
the type of accommodation visited – for example a business suit in a remote
property used mainly by walkers or tourists would be a complete give-away. Only
rarely are the host’s suspicions aroused!
So how does a B&B vary from a hotel in an assessor’s eyes? “At a B&B we put more
emphasis on hospitality than attentive service – the people who run it are key
to the whole thing. Taking an interest in their guests and making them feel
welcome is so important. But cleanliness is paramount, just as in a hotel,” says
Alison Barham, Quality Manager at VisitBritain and formerly an assessor for 10
years.
Informality is part of the appeal: the owner’s children taking breakfast orders
would be ‘cute’ in a B&B but not necessarily in a hotel.
The reactions from owners when assessors disclose their ‘true identity’ range
from “I thought you were an assessor but I didn’t let on,” to one woman who
passed out in the hallway on hearing the news. “My colleague was 6ft 7in tall,
so maybe his mere presence was overpowering,” says Alison.
At the end of the process the B&B will be awarded one to five Stars or Diamonds
(this is a period of transition; Stars will replace Diamonds fully from 2007 and
are already used exclusively in Scotland and Wales). This in turn provides
visitors with the information to make an informed choice when booking their
accommodation. Choose from one star/diamond for a simple, practical place with
no frills; or five star/diamond for something rather special, with a degree of
luxury. The more stars, the better the level of quality you can expect to find.
Accommodation that has something extra special to offer gets the bonus of a Gold
or Silver Award. With these, you can be sure your experience will be of the
highest quality.
As with most areas of life, you get what you pay for with B&B and it is not
necessarily a low-cost option. Though you will find pleasant, clean and
comfortable B&Bs for as little as £22 per person per night, at some the cost
heads skywards, such as at St. Ervan Manor in Cornwall, which charges from £70
to £215 per person per night. However, this is an exceptional place, the winner
of a in the Enjoy England Awards for Excellence 2006 and boasting five stylish
guest rooms and a recently added garden suite. Its fine Michelin-starred
restaurant serves seasonal produce in an intimate setting. In the words of
VisitBritain’s chief executive Tom Wright, St. Ervan “redefines the nature of
the B&B.”
 Other
B&Bs are notable for their locations or unusual architecture. At the end of a
sweeping drive in St. Osyth, Essex is Park Hall Country House, a 14th century
former monastery furnished with oak beams, open log fires and lounges with a
grand piano and chandelier. The property was Silver winner in the Enjoy England
Awards for Excellence 2006. In Central England, the five-diamond Old Lock Up
near Matlock, Derbyshire is another award-winning residence, originally a small
jail and a chapel. Once visited by writer D.H. Lawrence, it now boasts a double
spa bath and the cell which once held convicted felons is a bar. The county of
Kent – the ‘garden of England’ -- has conical oast houses (once used for the
drying of hops) converted into quirky B&Bs; while the five-diamond, silver award
Beach Court on the Northumbrian coast provides superb views over a sweeping bay,
and the master suite doubles as an observatory called the Crow’s Nest.
At the Old Railway Station in Petworth, West Sussex, guests can re-live the
golden age of rail travel – including accommodation in Pullman carriages as used
on the Orient Express – albeit without going anywhere. The midweek rates are
particularly attractive.
Scotland is also a good hunting ground for B&B fans: you can choose from
farmhouses, cottages, city mansions and country estates, all serving a hearty
Scottish breakfast (often complete with oat-cakes and porridge). At Edgertson in
the Scottish Borders guests can even ‘go back to school’. The five-star School
House (built in the Victorian era, it last saw pupils in 1945) has been
tastefully modified, with each room given a unique theme and set with period
furnishings; breakfasts are served in a farmhouse style kitchen, plus there’s a
minstrel gallery dining room. All from just £26 per night.
Farmhouses are another fine source of B&B accommodation: these are often
buildings full of character and it takes a lot to beat a farmhouse breakfast.
Wales is a country with plenty to choose from, such as 17th century Dove Cottage
(five star) at Buckley, Flintshire, which is set in over an acre of lovingly
tended gardens.
For many guests, it is the B&B hosts who really make their stay. These are
people who are proud of their homes and neighbourhoods, know the best local pubs
and restaurants, can point you towards the most historic attractions and the
prettiest beauty-spots. In short, they are walking, talking mines of information
and they are determined you will have a good time.
As someone once said, B&B is a little like staying with friends but you pay for
the pleasure. Equally reassuring is the fact that someone like Alison (motto:
“we check it out before you check in”) has been there first.
How to find B&Bs
Search the comprehensive tourist
board accommodation websites at www.visitbritain.com;
www.visitscotland.com and www.visitwales.com or visit the
specialist B&B agencies such as www.host-guest.co.uk;
www.bedandbreakfastnationwide.com. For farmhouse accommodation there’s
also www.farmstayuk.co.uk.
About Visit Britain
Visit Britain markets Britain
to the rest of the world and England to the British, building the value of
tourism throughout Britain and throughout the year by creating world-class
destination brands and marketing campaigns. It also builds partnerships with –
and provides insights to – other organizations that have a stake in English and
British tourism.
Visit Britain works in
partnership with the national tourist boards in England, Northern Ireland,
Scotland and Wales to promote an attractive image of Britain. It provides
impartial tourism information and gathers essential market intelligence for the
UK tourism industry.
For more information
please visit www.visitbritain.com.my
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