We left Blighty for the cliche "better quality of life" 10 years ago and we run a Gite business. We live in our own house and the 2 Gites are in the grounds. Our summers are busy but the rest of the year is quiet. We do all our own renovations and this can be time-consuming and costly but if you bought somewhere more modern than our place then you would only have yearly touch-ups to do
The last couple of years have been stressfully quiet with regards to bookings, what with recession, price of petrol. etc.
For us, Saturday change-over days (when one set of guests leave and others arrive) is extremely busy and utterly shattering. I then get to spend the rest of the week washing, drying and ironing twenty peoples' worth of bed linen and towels.
For the most part we enjoy our life-style choice but we cannot go on holiday for more than a week during peak school hols for example (well we could, but we might lose money if we did that).
You get to meet some lovely people, but you can also get some who you'd rather not have met....Some people look after your property and leave it looking nice , others don't

Thanks for the replies all Think I'm off the idea now

Lol - sounds fun. Maybe not

You'll have to post some pics of your place

Thanks for the reply.

I did B&B on a small scale down in Newlyn. Worst bit was the having to be around to change sheets and ready the rooms when people only stayed one or two nights. People rarely book a B&B for a week or more. And hosting short stayers means you have to be around more or less all the time. And people arrive at all hours depending where they've travelled from. I switched to taking in long term foreign language students, female and over 18 - much easier, better money and made some lifelong friends too. Wages down there are meagre and it paid better than me working and enabled me to stay home with small daughter and dawg and cats!

Here in Cyprus, I rent out the one bed apartment next door to me. I rent it out very cheaply and never advertise - restricting it to just family, friends, friends of friends and get a lot of bookings from neighbours who have family visiting but prefer their own accom. I NEVER rent it out when I am not going to be around. Obviously when it is family coming over - they are coming to see me as well as take a holiday. Family and extended family are easy. And I don't do ANY of the cleaning or laundering - I pay someone else to do that before arrivals and upon departures. I am an IT worker - why put a cleaner out of work! I don't even clean my own apartment or do ironing and stuff!

As I am very close to the beaches and main tourist area and a short hop from the airport it's a favourite with family and the friends of my grown children. I usually whack them on the insurance of my car so they don't have to rent (don't use my car much here - don't need to). All mod cons, seaview, swimming pool, spare laptop and local mobile phone for them and they use my wifi. I have NO shortage of visitors! Daughter in law here in 2 wks, my sister one week after that and my daughter one week after that! But this July/Aug I am spending in the UK to escape the heat of Cyprus.

But, for anyone considering 'guest house' stuff - I'd say think of it being at least as much work as running a small pub. Lots of shopping to do, because you have meals to provide (at least breakfast) as well as room cleaning/laundry changing and having to be around on the premises. And you have to not mind strangers in your own home all the time and coming home at all hours and being tied to the place. Nigh on impossible to have one of those days where you just slop around in your jamas all day! Financial rewards are not great and would be difficult to afford to pay someone else to do the laundry and cleaning and still make a profit with a quick turn around of guests.

It sounds like it could be hard work. But Laranca, is beautiful I've been there a few times and love it there.

Think it's back to the drawing board for me I'm afraid, I thought it would be something that could pay for itself (the mortgage) but sounds like it could end up eating away!

Thanks for the reply.

Well Azz - if you ever fancy a holiday in Larnaca - you know where to come! You can even get a 'dog fix' lol! Only a fraction of the size of dog fix you get from yours though!

If you google Le Castellot, Dordogne you should find us
the FB page: Le Castellot has lots of pics
I don't think I am allowed to give the direct link?

My aunty and uncle used to run one on Bournemouth, right near the gardens. They only had it a short while and then sold it as they had people disappearing with paying and a resident ghost! Think it was more trouble than it was worth (but excellent for visiting family members!)

Thanks again for the replies all

Is this it? http://www.dordogne-holidays.com/index-en.shtml it looks lovely

Azz holiday cottages are really easy. My mum has one. It's not the prettiest of properties, but nice location and often let out.

Less cleaning hhah, vv easy to keep people happy, make sure they are spotless and everything works in-between visits, leave a few things for arrival like tea/milk/biscuits and some nice bread. Make sure you go and see them when they arrive. All good. Also means you don't have to cater to their every need haha

Yes Azz, it is, and thanks.