Chapter 04 - B&B
I was born and brought up“uplong” in St. Ives, where people were more likely to be working as miners and labourers and in farming as opposed to “downlong”, which was really below Market Place. “Downlong”, the work was concerned with the harbour, boats and fishing and the trades that went with it, including net-making and net-mending in the lofts and cellars. As a child, I used to help my mother and grandmother with “visitors”. Soon after we came to Mulfra Farm we decided it was the ideal place to carry on the family tradition.
In the autumn, an advert was placed in the Farm Holiday Guide and early in the New Year the enquiries began, so did the frantic preparations to enable us to carry out the proposed venture.
We wanted out guests to enjoy Mulfra Farm and its surroundings and to get the taste of Cornish country life. Roy would take them for walks around the fields and to see the iron age settlements as well as showing them the cows and calves and explaining about them as he went, always with several Jack Russells racing around and the guinea fowl kicking up a racket not far away. On a fine evening (or sometimes not so fine) Rose, our bay mare, would be tacked up and people who have never been on a horse before would don a riding hat and after a few hesitant minutes would manage to struggle into the saddle and to sit gingerly as they were led around the garden – posing of course for the inevitable photograph.
The summers followed this pattern for many years, but with the increasing use of the internet and cheaper holidays abroad, I decided to advertise through the Tourist Information Centres. To do this I had to join the Penwith Tourist Board and to do that I had to join one of the larger tourist boards i.e. RAC, AA or Cornwall Tourism. Quite an expense for such a small business. A visit from an inspector showed me where I needed to change things, 60 watt bulbs by the bed, net curtain in the en-suite, when it is not over looked (only by the swallows flying past) and has a fabulous view from the Lizard to Penlee Point and beyond. I paid my dues, and later received a Highly Commended award and had an excellent relationship with Penzance Tourist Information Office. I had guests from all over the world: Italy, Japan, Israel, USA, China, Germany, Holland, Norway, Canada, France and Australia.
However three years ago I found the red tape for advertising just too much and far too expensive for the letting of two bedrooms. Mulfra Farm is off the beaten track so there in no point in putting up a B&B sign, so this means I would again have to join one of the big tourism agencies with an anonymous person staying here to assess the accommodation. (I’d like to see an anonymous person come here and we did not guess who it is!!). At that time I did have an inspector call (in November, when the season is over). She could not find anything wrong, as everything was way beyond the standard needed and I think this annoyed her, so she suggested I had a breakfast menu. I asked her what I should put on it as I serve a varied and hearty breakfast. “Good Morning” was suggested!!! I told her that I did speak to my guests and say “Good Morning”. The last straw was when she told me to mark on my brochure how far we were from the Eden Project and the Maritime Museum. So was I supposed to advertise them as well? That was it and, much to my regret, I didn’t advertise anywhere again.
Mulfra Farm did not have four poster beds or homemade bread or kippers for breakfast, but we did offer first class hospitality in a unique position. Yes, I have lost out financially, but the people who could have come to stay here have lost so much more!
Monica Olds