TRUE STORIES FROM A BED & BREAKFAST HOST. I grew up in a B&B since the age of 4, after 20 plus years of having a constant stream of strangers come through the front door. You pick up a story or two....
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I used to cook a lot of evening meals when I first started renting out rooms. The guests stayed for longer in the 90s as many of them were students studying at various language schools or doing an internship. It was less common to have groups coming to sightsee but I did get a few.
The routine was very similar to my chalet girl days and I would cook evening meals, five days a week:
Monday - Roast Dinner
Tuesday - Chicken, Jacket Potatoes & Salad
Wednesday - Spaghetti Bolognese
Thursday (the day I went shopping) - Cold Meats/Cheeses with Bread & Pickles
Friday - Sausage & Mash.
For dessert, I would always make sure there was a bowl of seasonal fruit. I also enjoyed baking so there would always be things like freshly baked Victoria sponge, brownies, flapjacks or chocolate fridge cake. I would also make ice cream or sorbets as I had an ice cream maker and loved making different flavours or making a flavour that a guest requested.
It was a real family affair. At one point I had as many as 4 different nationalities around the table, it was like a mini-UN meeting. Friday nights were the nights that my sons Chris and Paul would join in with the meals and I would sometimes ask another mother and her children too.
There were always 10 or more people sitting at the table and it became the weekly event with more guests joining us for supper in the summer months when I had a huge table that seated 16 or more. Friday and Saturday nights were when we had a glass of wine or beer with the guests and everyone let their hair down a bit and it felt like a proper occasion that all of us looked forward too!
After their supper, the boys would scamper off to the TV room and watch films till they fell asleep on the sofa. When their friends were over they would tend to play games and turn the TV room into a fort using all the cushions they could get their hands on.
It was during these times over meals that I encouraged the guests to tell me about their day at school and what they had learnt. There was always something to talk about and I enjoyed seeing the progress they made with their learning. Many of them were naturals, others you had to work a bit harder, but they were all far more competent than I, who can only speak one language!
It was especially fun in the summer months when I created an outside area surrounded by a trellis of greenery, which also sheltered us from the wind and drizzle.
For someone who doesn't have many relatives, these guests would become my temporary surrogate family, many friendships were formed and I still hear from some of those students twenty years later!
It was a different kind of hosting back then, one that was experienced over longer periods of time and grounded in routine and generational variety. Things are different nowadays, as I specialise in short-term guests, but I still have opportunities to develop relationships but in a slower fashion i.e. guests who regularly stay with us over the course of a year or several years. What hasn't changed is how a shared meal is the most effective way of communicating and developing these friendships that exist outside of the host/guest relationship.
Looking back, it was a special time for me as I was recently divorced and discovered that my family wasn't as supportive as they should or could have been. So I developed my own family and in many ways, these temporary people helped me heal as time progressed. It made me realise every cloud has as silver lining no matter how dark it gets, so for that, I will always be thankful.
