Seven Super Reasons to stay in a Bed and Breakfast

Outside Becketts B&B

Travelling with children can be expensive and tricky. And depending on the ages of the kids, certain issues - babysitting, cots, large rooms, breakfast times which start early - can become surprisingly important.

But if you are looking for something a little different, and possibly, even a little bit cheaper than a hotel, we would recommend a Bed and Breakfast (or B&B).

We have always been fans of B&Bs even before we had children. When we holidayed regularly in America, we used our travel books (this was pre-internet) to search out recommended B&Bs, and hoped for friendly, informed hosts and delicious breakfast treats. We always got these and for far cheaper than a hotel. In fact, I still remember staying in a wonderful B&B in Newport Rhode Island which also served fresh cookies and sherry for tea every afternoon (all included in the price of course).

B&Bs faded away slightly once we had young children, not least because you become extremely conscious of noise when you are staying in someone's house! However, it was also because of course it meant that you had to go out to eat for supper, which was not always suitable with youngsters. Now the children are 12 and 9 (today - happy birthday Robert!) we love them again. In fact we have loved them again for quite some years. Let me tell you why.

1) The personal touch
Most B&B owners aren't part of a bigger corporation or chain - they do it to earn money and because they enjoy it. This means they really care about their guests' experience, from the breakfast (more on that below) to ensuring that that any information given is up to date and helpful. They rely on good reviews and word of mouth to survive.

2) A delicious breakfast
Hotel breakfasts can be delicious, but are often extremely expensive. At a B&B they are, of course, included, and cooked to order. You will often find all kinds of tempting goodies on offer, including homemade granola or bread, home-grown fruit salad, or delicious freshly poached eggs and sausages. You will rarely go away hungry and the service, because it's not for hundreds of guests, is good.



3) Value
Bed and Breakfasts are nearly always good value - though that doesn't mean they are cheap. Always ring up to find out about the latest offers, and note that not only is breakfast included, with parking often is too.

4) Charm and originality
A Bed and Breakfast is not usually a purpose-built building. Instead you may be staying in anything from a converted barn to an historic manor house(even a castle) or semi-detached home!

5) The opportunity to live like a local
Wherever you go, if you stay in a B&B, you are staying in somebody's home. What better way to find out what it's really like to be in that city - to discover local customs and the best local places to eat.

6) An intimate experience
You won't be sharing your stopover with hundreds of others, which can make it particularly special (and, if you leave the kids at home, even romantic).

7) Options
You might be surprised to find that unlike many hotels, lots of B&Bs have interconnecting rooms for families (read more to find out why I love these types of room). If they don't offer this, then they may have huge family rooms, which are often far more appealing or better suited to the kids than a hotel.

We search for B&Bs whenever we are travelling in the UK and have been extremely lucky with rooms and food (we always warn that we don't eat meat and often arrive to find delicious veggie sausages on offer). We do check tripadvisor for reviews (although that's a dangerous road to travel as someone will always find something negative to say!) and are very rarely disappointed. I can only remember one time in Banbury when the family room was so tiny we were nearly on top of each other as we slept.

That's not to say that B&Bs are for everyone, especially if you are not one for chatting (the flipside of the personal touch) and don't want to share your breakfast table with other guests. In other words, if you are a tad anti-social...

The children's room

Always ring up to find out about prices, rooms and offers. When we went to Kent a few weeks ago, we stayed in a lovely B&B called Becketts in Edenbridge, near Hever Castle. It was particularly exciting for us as the children stayed in a (gorgeous) room which was entirely separate from ours. We felt properly grown-up (and so did they).

Becketts was particularly lovely because, as a converted 300 year old barn, it was genuinely full of character. Our room even had a four poster bed! We also all enjoyed a truly delicious breakfast (toast, poached egg, tomatoes and veggie sausages for us, juice, cereal, toast, mushrooms and more for the kids).

Our four poster bed!

Jess and Rob on the couch in their room

The children's room (which is called the garden twin) is also able to have an an extra temporary bed or cot and prices vary between £85 - £100 for two people depending on midweek/weekend and length of stay.

Read our posts:

In praise of interconnecting rooms

A visit to Hever Castle (just 5 minutes from our B&B!)

You can find out more about Kent from the Visit Kent website.

Seven Super Reasons to stay in a Bed and Breakfast

Outside Becketts B&B

 Travelling with children can be expensive and tricky. And depending on the ages of the kids, certain issues - babysitting, cots, large rooms, breakfast times which start early - can become surprisingly important.

But if you are looking for something a little different, and possibly, even a little bit cheaper than a hotel, we would recommend a Bed and Breakfast (or B&B).

We have always been fans of B&Bs even before we had children. When we holidayed regularly in America, we used our travel books (this was pre-internet) to search out recommended B&Bs, and hoped for friendly, informed hosts and delicious breakfast treats. We always got these and for far cheaper than a hotel. In fact, I still remember staying in a wonderful B&B in Newport Rhode Island which also served fresh cookies and sherry for tea every afternoon (all included in the price of course).

B&Bs faded away slightly once we had young children, not least because you become extremely conscious of noise when you are staying in someone's house! However, it was also because of course it meant that you had to go out to eat for supper, which was not always suitable with youngsters. Now the children are 12 and 9 (today - happy birthday Robert!) we love them again. In fact we have loved them again for quite some years. Let me tell you why.

1) The personal touch
Most B&B owners aren't part of a bigger corporation or chain - they do it to earn money and because they enjoy it. This means they really care about their guests' experience, from the breakfast (more on that below) to ensuring that that any information given is up to date and helpful. They rely on good reviews and word of mouth to survive.

2) A delicious breakfast
Hotel breakfasts can be delicious, but are often extremely expensive. At a B&B they are, of course, included, and cooked to order. You will often find all kinds of tempting goodies on offer, including homemade granola or bread, home-grown fruit salad, or delicious freshly poached eggs and sausages. You will rarely go away hungry and the service, because it's not for hundreds of guests, is good.

Read more »

An Awesome Time At Hever Castle By Jessica!

Although the weather was poor, our family had a fabulous time at Hever Castle. Here is what we did...

 

As we got to the castle early, we decided to go outside and have a look around first - something that is essential for every visit. There is loads for adults and children alike, ranging from incredible gardens to kids' playgrounds.

The Castle

You can see most of what we did from the video, but some of it has to be described in a bit more detail.

We spent ages walking around the spectacular gardens, which were laid out from 1904-8. They are immaculate, with absolutely beautiful flowers and colours. The gardens are award-winning and there is loads to see and do, including hiring boats on the huge lake.

I particularly recommend the stunning Italian gardens, but my favourites had to be the bushes which were trimmed to look like animals. We saw birds, lions and Rob even swears that he saw an elephant!

Me in the water maze

There are three mazes in the gardens; the Yew maze, the water maze and the children's maze. The yew maze is a normal (yet surprisingly difficult) maze that Rob and I really enjoyed. We split up from mum and dad and managed to beat them to the centre. The water maze is very different. It's not at all hard, and the objective is to get around the planks without stepping on one which sprays water. The last one is the children's maze which is a wooden maze, complete with slides, bridges and steps. Although I was too old, Rob really seemed to enjoy it!

We were not allowed to take photos, videos or record audio in the castle itself which was a shame, but we did have an amazing time.

The castle is surrounded by a moat and is the kind of place that I would love to own - grand, but still liveable. The oldest part of it was built in the 1200s and it was owned by the Boleyn (originally Bullen) family from 1462 to 1539.

Me and Rob with "Anne Boleyn"

The museum inside the castle has three floors and is jam packed with interesting information about Anne Boleyn, the castle and general Tudor facts. I was particularly interested to find the prayer room built into a bedroom and a book owned by Anne as a girl. There were also the prayer books which she took with her to the Tower of London.

There are loads of beautiful rooms, antique furniture, prayer books, interactive displays and paintings to look at, making it fun for the entire family. In fact, Hever Castle is said to have the best collection of Tudor portraits in the UK after the National Portrait Gallery!

I do recommend taking an audio guide or getting a guidebook to go from room to room inside the castle (especially on the ground floor), as there is not much information to read, only lots to see. Rob and mum both took audio guides and dad had a guidebook, and I felt that I did not learnt as much as them.Overall, Hever Castle is perfect for the whole family, and I learnt loads, enjoyed looking at cool pictures and had a very entertaining time. If you ever go to Kent, you should definitely visit!

Hever Castle costs £15.50 per adult for the castle and gardens, and £8.70 per child. A family ticket for castle and gardens is £39.70, although it's slightly cheaper if you just go for the gardens. The audio tour is available in English, Dutch, French, German, Chinese and Russian and costs £3.75. There is a special audio tour for children.

For more on great things to do in Kent, go to the Visit Kent website and take a look at Robert's blog post on Groombridge Place.

Here are some more posts by us:

Brighton In The Winter By Jessica

An Amazing Time At clueQuest By All Of Us!

Disclosure: we were given free entry to Hever Castle in order to write about it. All views, photos, opinions and videos are our own.

An Awesome Time At Hever Castle By Jessica!

Although the weather was poor, our family had a fabulous time at Hever Castle. Here is what we did...

As we got to the castle early, we decided to go outside and have a look around first - something that is essential for every visit. There is loads for adults and children alike, ranging from incredible gardens to kids' playgrounds.

The Castle

You can see most of what we did from the video, but some of it has to be described in a bit more detail.

Read more »

Groombridge Place by Robert

We went to Kent at the weekend and visited Groombridge Place. It was fun, exciting and interesting. The main activities were in the Enchanted Forest and, the ones I liked best were when we:

* Found out that there is such thing as a zedonk, (half zebra and half donkey.) The one we saw was called Adam.

* Walked across a half mile boardwalk that included zip wires, tyres to climb through, tunnels, wobbly bridges and lots more.

Jess and me on the boardwalk

* Saw a giant spider web and two giant oak doors that led you to a standing stone from the other side of the world.

* Walked around the mystic pool

* Swung on giant swings that swung us so high into the air we could see nearly all of Groombridge Place. This was my joint favourite bit.

Altogether in the Enchanted Forest there were 23 activities including a labyrinth, the double spiral, the serpent's layer, Dinosaur Valley, Groms village, Indian tepees and more. There was so much to do, even though the weather was only okay (it rained a bit, but it wasn't too bad).

Outside the Enchanted forest there were gardens (including a secret garden), inflatables, including a bouncy castle and a gladiator arena which I really liked. There was also an Easter egg hunt, (which is only there for the next few weeks.) And lastly my joint favourite bit, the fete games.

There was knock down the cans, (I got 16 cans down out of 18.) There was also throwing balls into a bucket, which you may think is easy but is not because the balls keep bouncing out. The last fete game was "whack a rat". A member of staff put a (toy) rat down a tunnel and you had to try and hit it with a bat. The only problem was that you did not know when the member of staff was going to drop the rat. It was so hard!

Groombridge Place had lots of wildlife, facts and activities. All the family liked it and over all it was a great day out.

Peak Prices (school and bank holidays) at Groombridge (which is located near Tunbridge Wells) are: Adults £9.95, Senior Citizens £8.45, Children (3-12 years) £8.45. A family Tickets (2 Adults and 2 Children) is £33.95.

For more on great things to do in Kent, take a look at the Visit Kent website.

Please also take a look at our blogpost on Hever Castle, which we visited the same weekend as Groombridge. We also made our own video there...

More from me:

Dr Johnson's house in London

Cadburyworld in Birmingham

Groombridge Place by Robert

We went to Kent at the weekend and visited Groombridge Place. It was fun, exciting and interesting. The main activities were in the Enchanted Forest and, the ones I liked best were when we:

* Found out that there is such thing as a zedonk, (half zebra and half donkey.) The one we saw was called Adam.

* Walked across a half mile boardwalk that included zip wires, tyres to climb through, tunnels, wobbly bridges and lots more.
Read more »