you need public spaces. Last week at the place near Darlington, we turned up at about 1600 for our room, and from memory dinner was booked for 2000. As always we thought we’d sit around for a drink in the bar or go to a local pub before changing for dinner. But the place had no bar, and was in such a small village there was no pub, and you couldn’t sit in the restaurant for a drink either. We were a lucky with the weather and sat in the outdoor smoking area - it wasn’t ideal, but the only alternative would have been to sit in the room.
Mind you all that was a minor inconvenience when you consider the quality of the food/cooking. But it has made us think twice about returning and staying.
People are different, of course. When it comes to holidays I get to decide the big picture (which country, what the whole point of the trip is etc) and Mrs VB decides the details. If the details don’t suit her then she won’t go. She prefers the countryside because the most important detail for her is that she gets a good night’s sleep. So decently quiet is critical. She also doesn’t like living out of hostelries. A few meals out is fine. But we often end up in self-catering. So as far as holidays go I don’t think we can give much in the way of useful guidance Jon.
That said, we have stayed at restaurants/pubs quite a few times, and it’s very often been so that we can both have a drink with dinner. That’s a one-night arrangement though and I guess it carries significant overhead of effort for the establishment compared with checking guests in for a whole week. When we do go for a dinner-B&B a quiet place to sleep matters, as does a comfy spacious bed. The coffee machine is not make-or-break .
To flesh out some of my earlier meanderings, my mental picture of the end result is roughly as follows:
Each apartment would fave a decent en-suite (bath and separate shower), a distinct comfortable seating area and a king size bed. Sort of like a combined bedroom and lounge. Usual accoutrements of TV, drinks facilities etc. I really hate the overly flowery decor that so many B&Bs have, so something cleaner and more coherent as far as decor is concerned.
The restaurant is really my focus in this, and that will revolve as much as possible around local, seasonal produce and suppliers, but without the trappings of formal fine dining. Ethically sourced meats, heirloom vegetables, single estate teas and coffees, more niche drink choices than regular run of the mill stuff.
Assuming there’s a coherent and reasonable business plan, there is a likely source of funding so putting in the initial outlay required to build a place of that quality isn’t out of the question.
Probably good to ask what type of market you are targeting? The local Office de tourisme should have some figures to give you a sense of regional peek months / age / length of stay - ‘Cut the cloth to make the suit’…
Completely. It’s also very wise to have the local mayor on side, smoothes over a lot of potential issues (France can be remarkably corrupt at a local level).
This thread forms a small (albeit important) part of the research I am doing on this one.
That’s a lot of property for the cash, and with enough spent could look good too, provided you can get change-of-use permission, planning permission etc. etc. Make sure you have full water rights (abstraction, fishing, etc.), check flood records (if the French keep any…), and check industrial use after milling ceased, as you could have contaminated land issues.
Make sure they include the go-kart too
Name: “Msr. Creosote’s Rêve Humide All-You-Can-Eat English Buffet”