April 2022
Eggs Benedict
Founder of the B and B Academy, Karen Thorne, shares her method for perfect the Eggs Benedict […]
Karen’s Column
February 2022
Karen’s Column: Lower your standards
My least popular blog post ever was “How to run a B&B in a power cut” so let’s talk about how you may want to lower your standards. […]
February 2022
Karen’s Column: Camping
Karen Explains the effect of camping on her hospitality business […]
December 2021
Closing the B&B
After 17 years, I closed the doors to Hopton House B&B in July. It wasn’t quite the finale I’d planned – thank you pandemic! I’ve been asked why I decided to shut up shop and […]
December 2021
Winter baby
Born in January, I was a winter baby, and whilst I love spring and autumn, I’m really at my happiest when it’s time to snuggle down in front of the fire. This summer I realised […]
Karen's Column
The Great Baked Bean Debate – Karens Column October 2021
One breakfast topic guaranteed to be controversial, and that demonstrates you can’t appeal to everyone, is the great baked bean debate. […]
Karen's Column
The Academy Award Goes to…. Karens Column October 2021
“Oh, I’m off to a 2 hour lunch with friends and then an afternoon at the spa, whilst the cleaning fairy does 5 hours of cleaning, 1 hour of shopping, 2 hours of ironing and 2 hours of baking.” […]
August 2021
Toilet paper origami
I’m staying on the toilet theme this week. I appreciate it’s not considered polite conversation but, like it or not, toilets do feature quite heavily in a B&B owner’s life. On a holiday to the […]
August 2021
Marry a plumber
My imaginary book – which I’m never going to write by the way – has the subtitle “Want to run a B&B? Marry a plumber!” Disclaimer: I’m not married to a plumber! – single plumbers […]
June 2021
A Country B&B
Living in the beautiful english countryside was my main reason for setting up a B&B. But running a rural business does come with some problems.There’s the sat nav issue. No matter how many emails you […]
June 2021
The Hotel Inspector
When I get a call from a single person, wanting to stay one night “on business”. I’ve always known it’s the Hotel Inspector. I get no business guests – someone turning up wearing a suit, […]
April 2021
Not everyone’s cup of tea
Karen’s Column, Part 1 of 2 for April 2021, written by the Founder of the B and B Academy It’s taken me 17 years in business to be comfortable with the fact that you can’t […]