What is Bed and Breakfast all about ?
The cheapest accommodation of all on Dartmoor is camping, and camping barns followed by youth hostelling,
which is fine if you are happy to share and sometimes 'rough it'. Bed and breakfast is a lot more comfortable and
bedrooms now are mostly en-suite. Occasionally people e-mail and ask me 'What does bed and breakfast mean ?'
People who offer B&B within their homes often have a spare bedroom that they can offer to holiday
guests during the summer months some are more organised affairs, more like a small hotel. 
These walkers were some the last guests that I had at my own bed and breakfast on Dartmoor.
They were on the Two Moors Way and had stayed overnight on their journey..
As a guest, you will pay for a comfortable room usually within the house or very close to it. The B&B price comes
with breakfast included. Many bed and breakfast places now offer an extremely good standard of facilities.
Landladies have moved with the times and your money will be better spent in a good B&B than in an average hotel.
All b&b prices include a breakfast. If it is a limited breakfast, say only a continental option, then that will be
mentioned at the time you are quoted a price. Expect a limited option if you and your chums want to be off and
walking at the crack of dawn. Not many landladies will want to be up with the spatula in hand much before 7a.m.
Most landladies or landlords offer a healthy range of cereals sometimes porridge, fruit, maybe some yogurt and
fruit juice, followed by a cooked breakfast. If you fancy a boiled egg or a poached egg on toast just tell the cook !!!!
The traditional full English Breakfast takes the form of eggs, bacon, sometimes sausage, maybe a few mushrooms,
grilled tomatoes, possibly baked beans and when I was a landlady, the best fried bread in the business.
All this is topped off with toast or crumpets, croissants, home made bread or whatever your host wishes to offer
you. Some B&B's offer kedgeree or a kipper, tea or coffee will be provided, and you should set forth with feeling
full and ready to start your day on Dartmoor. Farmhouse landladies will be only too keen to let you have a couple or
more free range boiled eggs and quite a few make their own bread too. If you are a vegetarian, then mushrooms on
toast might be what you fancy. If you have a very special diet that needs to be catered for, say celiac or dairy free
then do let your host know before you arrive, as some Dartmoor B&B's are a long way from the nearest grocery shop !
Can you believe that only as recently as the 1950's guests were expected to bring their own salt and pepper to
seaside B&Bs ? They were also expected to vacate the rooms each day by 10 and stay out of doors until 4 maybe
5 o'clock ! That's not the case these days though and quite a few hosts are happy that guests use the house as home,
and a 'come and go as you please' attitude is more the norm now. Expect to find a tray with tea making facilities in
your B&B room. A kettle, sachets of coffee, a few tea bags and the complete wherewithal to make yourself
a hot drink. Many of our B&B providers are excellent cooks and lucky guests will find a tin of
home made biscuits, or a slice of fruit cake on the tray. We like you to feel welcome.
Yes this hideaway chalet by a stream is a bed and breakfast!
It's in the middle of the country and you have the use of the bed and breakfast's heated outdoor pool when you book it.
You can find it on our B&B's price range 3 page.
Please let me know if you have any interesting anecdotes from your bed and breakfast holidays on Dartmoor.
I should be delighted to hear them. Jill
