An average day
Christine Williams who runs the Drifters Lodge gives an example of an average day running her three bedroom B&B:
“I get up at 7am and start to prepare breakfast. Once that’s done I usually have a chat with the guests and then clear the breakfast things up. Next job is to service the bedrooms, and then the laundry and ironing takes me up until about 12-1pm.
“I try to take a break in the afternoon and generally get 2-3 hours to myself. Then at about 4pm I check all the bedrooms before the guests arrive which is usually between 4-7pm. About once a week I’ll go through my accounts, do a check on stock and go through any emails.
“You must block out time in your diary for yourself. It’s very hard to take a day off so holidays have to be planned well in advance. This can be a very tiring job so you need to plan breaks and not move them.
“For anybody that works at home, especially if you work on your own, it can be quite isolating. You can be so busy that time whizzes by and before you even realise it, you haven’t been out of the door for a couple of days, much less had any social interaction. That’s something you need to watch out for because it’s easy to let the time get away from you and forget about your own peace of mind.”