This post was originally published in August 2020 and has been updated for 2025 with a new title, fresh content, and revised insights based on 17 years of running a B&B and nearly 20 years of supporting new owners through Bed and Breakfast Academy.

Thinking about starting a B&B? You’re not alone.

Over the years, I’ve met so many people dreaming of running their own bed and breakfast—usually involving homemade cakes, afternoons off, spending more time with their partner, lovely guests, and a beautiful countryside home.

When I set up my own B&B, I had similar expectations: the opportunity to work and earn money from home, spend time with my dogs, show off my cooking skills, and be there when my daughter came home from school (something I missed out on with a mum working full time).

So, after 17 years of running a B&B in rural Shropshire—did it live up to the dream?

In some ways, yes. But there was a lot I didn’t expect.

I've now spent nearly 20 years helping others start their own B&Bs through Bed and Breakfast Academy, and a big part of that is offering a bit of a reality check—because the day-to-day reality isn’t always what people imagine.

Someone said to me recently that they’d come across my blog and hadn’t realised how much there was to think about. That pretty much sums it up.

If you're considering starting your own bed and breakfast, or you're wondering what it's really like behind the scenes, this is my honest take after 17 years of running a successful B&B in rural Shropshire.

Why I Decided to Start a B&B

Leaving Corporate Life Behind

A lot of people who come on my courses have always dreamed of running a B&B.  But that wasn’t exactly me. I’d started to imagine the lifestyle, but it hadn’t been a lifelong dream or passion project. It was more of a practical decision, sparked by a lot of change happening all at once.

Back in 2001, Rob and I were both working for British Airways. I was in IT, and Rob worked in marketing. I’d just been promoted to a manager role, leading a team of 50. We were enjoying our jobs and the staff travel! That summer, we’d spent a wonderful two weeks in Maine, staying in a cottage by the sea with our daughter, Jess.

We’d also just bought a small cottage in Shropshire on 10th September. The plan was to rent it out as a holiday let to cover the mortgage, and stay there ourselves when we could. It quickly became our escape from busy work lives.

Then 9/11 happened.

It was a world-changing event, with devastating consequences for those directly affected and far beyond. The impact on the airline industry was immediate and severe. Like many others working in aviation, we felt the effects almost overnight.

My job changed dramatically. I suddenly found myself managing around 130 staff, and the pressure became relentless. That time made me seriously question what I wanted from life. “Life’s too short to feel like this all the time” became a regular thought.

Making the Move to Shropshire

Every visit to our Shropshire cottage felt like a mini holiday. As we drove down the lane, the stress would start to lift - it really felt like a physical weight lifting. We’d head up there whenever it wasn’t let out—and even our old dog Tess (yes, we had a Tess and a Jess), who usually hated the car and was always sick, started jumping in happily once she realised we were heading back to Shropshire.

Eventually, we decided to make the move permanent. Jess was about to start secondary school, and our close friends were moving north too. It felt like the right time.

We thought we’d found the perfect house in Clun, but just before we were due to exchange contracts, the sellers pulled out. I’d already resigned from my job at BA, we’d given up Jess’s secondary school place down south—and we needed to find somewhere else, fast. After a frantic weekend of house viewings, we found Hopton House.

It wasn’t my dream home—I’d pictured a cosy cottage with roses round the door. Hopton was a granary conversion from the 1980s, with a lot of shiny pine. But it was the right size, and the amount of land sealed the deal for Rob (he’d always wanted a sit-on mower).

We moved to Shropshire in September 2003 and into Hopton House a few months later. With two mortgages to pay and no IT jobs nearby, I needed to find a way to earn a living.

So I decided to set up a bed and breakfast.

The Reality of Running a B&B

Once we’d made the move and decided to open a B&B, things moved quickly.

We started converting part of the house soon after moving in, and by July 2004, we were welcoming our very first guest—a surprise visit from a mystery inspector from VisitBritain. Thankfully, we passed and were awarded a 4 Star Silver rating straight away.

That early success gave me confidence, and I threw myself into building the business. Over the years, we added more rooms and eventually reached 5 Star Gold status. At one point, we had four en suite guest rooms.

But I didn’t keep it that way for long. Cleaning four rooms and cooking eight breakfasts every day, on my own, was just too much. Rob was still working for British Airways and staying away during the week, so the B&B was entirely my responsibility.

People often imagine B&B life as relaxed and sociable. You bake cakes, chat to interesting guests, have the afternoon off and enjoy the view. And yes, those moments happen ( except the afternoons off for me! ). But they’re sandwiched between early starts, endless cleaning, constant laundry, and back-to-back admin.

A typical day often looked something like this:

• Up early to prep breakfast
• Cooking and serving breakfast
• Chatting to guests after breakfast
• Clearing the kitchen (four dishwasher loads a day was standard)
• Refreshing or changing over rooms (yes, it really did take me over an hour and 15 minutes to turn a room around)
• Managing bookings and replying to emails
• Laundry, ironing, shopping—fitted in between guests leaving and arriving
• Welcoming new guests from 4pm (assuming they didn’t turn up early)
• Waiting in for guests who hadn’t yet turned up and didn’t tell you their arrival time
• Tidying up again once everyone was settled in

Because the B&B is in your home, you never fully switch off.

The phone might ring at 10.30pm with a guest enquiry. Someone might arrive early while you’re still hoovering. The smoke alarms go off in the middle of the night, a toilet might break, or guests pull the shower of the wall at 11.30 pm. Yes - all these things happened to me. So you need to be ready for anything—and keep smiling through it.

I’m an introvert by nature. I enjoyed chatting with guests and I’m good at small talk and customer service—but being around people does drain me, and I need a lot of time on my own to recharge. I really hate cleaning and to be honest, I’m not great with late nights or early mornings either. But somehow, I made it work. I was able to create a calm, welcoming space that guests kept coming back to.

If you're wondering whether you can run a B&B as an introvert, I’ve written more about that here:

👉 Can You Run a B&B If You're an Introvert?

The reality is: it’s physically demanding, mentally full-on, and not for the faint-hearted.

But it’s also rewarding in a way that’s hard to describe—especially when you realise you’ve created something that people genuinely love coming back to.

What Surprised Me Most

Looking back, there were a few things I expected—early mornings, hard work ( though I underestimated the stamina required for constant cleaning), and having to clean more loos than I ever wanted to.

But the biggest surprises were the things I hadn’t even thought about.

I didn’t expect how emotionally invested I’d become in the guest experience. It wasn’t just about clean sheets and cooked breakfasts—it was about creating a space where people could properly relax. I had guests who came back year after year, and some who told me they slept better at my B&B than anywhere else. That meant a lot.

I also hadn’t realised how much running a B&B would change me. I became more confident, more organised, and more tuned in to what people needed before they asked for it. Hosting guests from all over the country (and beyond) gave me a new appreciation for how different everyone’s expectations are—and how to adapt without losing my own boundaries.

On the other side, I hadn’t expected just how relentless it would feel at times. It’s hard to fully relax when your home is also your business, and you’ve got strangers sleeping in the next room. There were weeks when I didn’t get a proper day off, or had guests staying back-to-back for what felt like forever. And while most guests were lovely, there were still occasional awkward moments, difficult conversations, bad reviews, and no-shows to deal with.

As an introvert, I found this part particularly hard. I didn’t always realise how much energy I was using just being around people—even when I was enjoying the conversations. I remember quite clearly the moment it hit me. Some of my regulars were staying—really lovely people who visited several times a year and shared a lot of the same values as me. We’d usually have a long chat over breakfast, maybe an hour or so. But on the second morning of a four-night stay, I remember thinking, I can’t do this anymore. That moment was a real turning point—and one of the many reasons I eventually decided to close the B&B.

Running a B&B taught me a lot about myself—especially my need for time alone and the kind of rest that actually recharges me. There were definitely times when I lost track of my own boundaries.

But even the hard bits taught me something. I learned to set firmer limits, pace myself better, and carve out time in the week to rest—even if it meant blocking out a night or two in the diary just for me.

What You Really Need to Succeed

A lot of people assume you need to be super sociable, a brilliant cook, and love making beds to run a B&B. But in my experience, those aren’t the things that make or break it—and I go into that in much more detail inside the course.

Liking people is important—but it’s more about empathy than being endlessly sociable. It’s about being warm, attentive, and able to anticipate what your guests need—without hovering or overdoing it. Most guests don’t want constant interaction. They just want to feel welcome, comfortable, and quietly looked after.

It’s the small things they notice: a spotless bathroom, a quiet night’s sleep, somewhere to hang a wet coat, or the fact you remembered their dietary preferences from last time.

You don’t have to be naturally “hospitality-minded” in the traditional sense. I was never a domestic goddess, but I put good systems in place and stuck to them. I had routines for breakfast prep, a smooth booking process, and clear check-in instructions. Those things saved my energy and kept the business running smoothly.

You also need to be flexible. Things will go wrong—probably when you're already tired or short on time. Being able to stay calm, think on your feet, and not take things personally is essential.

Just as important is knowing where your boundaries are. It’s easy to say yes to everything and end up resenting the job you created. Over the years, I learned how to set clear limits—on check-in times, one-night stays, guest expectations, and even how much of myself I gave. I talk more about that in this blog post:
👉 Running a B&B: Setting Boundaries

And perhaps the most overlooked skill of all? Marketing. You can run the best B&B in the world, but if no one knows you exist, it won’t matter. Learning how to get found online—through your website, SEO, email, and platforms like Pinterest—made all the difference for me. 

So, Was It Worth It?

For me, the goal was always quite simple: I wanted to earn a living, work from home, enjoy the countryside, and spend more time with my family and dogs. Running a B&B gave me all of that. But it also gave me things I hadn’t expected—like the joy of creating a space that guests wanted to return to again and again. Some people came once a year. Others came several times a season. And more than a few told me it was the only place they truly felt able to switch off.

That meant more to me than any star rating ever could.

It wasn’t always easy. There were times I was exhausted, fed up with cleaning, or just wanted the house to myself. And there are definitely things I’d do differently if I were starting again. To begin with, the guest rooms were inside the house, right next to our bedroom—but over time, we moved them into an annex and built in more privacy. Whether it was age or my introversion growing stronger, I found I needed more space as the years went on.

So yes, it was absolutely worth it. But before you jump in, ask yourself: what really matters to you? What kind of lifestyle are you hoping to create? You might, like me, hate cleaning—but be willing to put up with it to build a successful business. But how will you feel after two months with no break in the summer, doing five hours of cleaning a day?

Being honest about your personality and what you need to thrive is one of the most important things you can do before opening your doors. That’s exactly the kind of thinking we start with inside my online course, How to Start and Run a Bed and Breakfast. It's designed to help you create a business that works for your guests—but also works for you.

👉 Click here to find out more and enrol today

Final Thoughts

If you're still reading, you're probably serious about starting a B&B—or at least seriously curious.

I hope this has given you a more realistic picture of what it’s like, beyond the glossy Instagram version. It’s not always easy, but it can be incredibly rewarding. Especially if you build it in a way that works for both your guests and your own life.

And if you do decide to go ahead, I’d love to help.