Looking through the keyhole – the farm B&B owners

We spy on a day in the life of a farm B&B

Our blog post on Monday featured a Through the Home Office Keyhole photo of a workspace and invited you to guess who it belongs to. Quite a few readers went for something in the accommodation line – hotelier, owner of holiday cottages, B&B owner.

Well, you were right – the workspace belongs to Charles and Christine Taylor, who run Ednovean Farm B&B in Cornwall. Here Christine describes their busy lives:

Our day starts rather too early now with Lillie our foal ready for her first big bowl of milk by 6 am, and as I am there I feed the rest of the horses in the stables nearest to the house. Normally at this time I’ll stop by the office while the kettle is boiling to download the first e-mails of the day and probably log into Facebook to check the activity through the night. Occasionally if I’m behind I’ll reload the washing machine and tumble drier before creeping back into bed.

By 7.30 am (are you still with me?) it’s back outside with another bowl of milk for Lillie and to muck out our stallion Danilon while Charles feeds our other youngstock in the fields, then we turn out the mares and foals.

Then into the house to try to make myself look vaguely presentable to cook our house guests’ breakfast. Charles will have already prepared the table with fresh orange juice, stewed fruits and yogurts, and I attack the bacon and eggs. Charles at this time makes an exit to the office, to answer any enquiries and send back booking receipts until the dining room empties and we have our breakfast, usually by 10am.

Our next few hours are spent on servicing the rooms and conducting spider hunts around the beams – I swear we must have the only house that you have to sweep the ceiling in! If all goes well we have a quick cup of coffee (I do love structure to my day!), recheck the e-mails and then it’s back out to exercise the two stallions. After another bowl of milk for Lillie we even have some lunch too.

By this time it would be so nice to sit down and enjoy the day, but the afternoon brings lawns to cut, gardens to weed, strimming to do. Or a trip to the supermarket and cash and carry and aim to look respectable again for 4 pm for any newly arrived guests.

I like to settle new guests with a pot of tea and cake in the garden and see if I can help them with any advice about their holiday or book their table for supper that night. After that you’ve guessed – more horses to settle, mares and foals to bring in, e-mails to check, table to lay for breakfast, supper for us, check Facebook and occasionally toy with the beast of Twitter resharing anything that looks relevant to promoting tourism in Cornwall.

By 9 pm we will check the guest sitting room and feed the horses for the last time before staggering into bed – well, except for Charles who has to feed Lillie at midnight! So that is the day in the life of a farm B&B.

Good night!!

Many thanks to Charles and Christine for taking time out from their busy routine to reveal what goes on behind the scenes of a farm B&B. Their beautiful farmhouse is perched above Mounts Bay in Cornwall and from the Blue Room bed you can see St Michael’s Mount and Newlyn across the bay. They have just been featured in The Telegraph’s Best Hotels in Cornwall.

Would you like to be the next mystery guest on Through the Home Office Keyhole, providing a few clues about your occupation? We need a photo or short video – Instagram or Vine – for the initial post, and then a photo of you in your workspace and a description of your home working life for the follow-up. Get in touch with us if you’d like to take part.