“There are three types,” says Susie. “The ones who pour you a glass of wine
and want a chat, those who will exchange pleasantries and that’s it and
those who avoid eye contact altogether and just want to be left alone. They
all deserve a holiday and it’s my job to treat them as they wish to be
treated.”

She likes that her main house is right next door to the cottage. Apart from
being able to keep an eye on guests to ensure hordes of teenagers don’t turn
up, breaking the tenancy agreement, she likes being close by to phone the
handy man or plumber should the shower throw a wobbly or the loo stop
flushing.

Susie, who also runs a small PR agency, maintains that you have to be business
savvy and not afraid of hard work to turn a profit from a holiday let.

“The days when you could put granny’s cast-offs into a holiday cottage and
expect your guests to be happy are long gone,” she says. “Visitors now
expect broadband, two good televisions, books and a welcoming gift such as a
bottle of wine when they arrive. Competition is fierce and you have to
specialise – we are very dog friendly and we offer our field opposite as
somewhere for the owners to exercise them. And you have to be on top of your
bookings, which can come from several different sources.”

The cottage has helped pay for improvements to the main house, notably the
extension to the kitchen/family room and the landscaping of the beautiful
Italian-style gardens. Yet on the downside, overheads also add up. On
average, it costs £1,000 a year to redecorate and maintain the cottage;
cleaners cost between £8-£15 an hour (Susie won’t say which rate she pays),
and her profits are taxed as earned income.

All of which begs the question of whether or not running a B  B,
with its extra income potential, wouldn’t be a better way to make that
little bit of extra income to put aside for retirement. The idea of rustling
up a few full English breakfasts, then spending the rest of the day in the
garden of Bella Alexander’s home in Polruan, Cornwall, sounds idyllic. How
does reality match up?

“It’s hard work,” says Bella, 48, who runs Hormond House, a large Victorian
semi-detached as a BB, letting out three of her six bedrooms and one of
the two studio flats in the basement. “But I get to meet a fascinating mix
of people, everyone from train drivers to High Court judges, and that’s why
I love it.”

The BB is strictly a sideline. Bella also works in Birdkids, a children’s
shop in Fowey, while her husband, Chris, 50, is the technical manager for
the Hall for Cornwall in Truro. The BB income turns over about £18,000
gross a year, although she stresses that the house could make more if her
family – Joe, 18, Tally, 13, and Sasha, 10 – didn’t occupy three of the
bedrooms and one of the basement studios. She spends £3,500 a year on her
guests’ breakfasts and another couple of hundred pounds on sundry toiletries
and towels, but otherwise her overheads are minimal, for the simple reason
she does nearly everything herself. That’s possibly why she finds all this
multitasking too tiring and wants to sell up to concentrate on her main job
in the shop.

Meanwhile, the Cokers want to be near to Ollie when he starts school near
Cheltenham next year. “But that doesn’t mean we’ll be giving up the holiday
cottage business,” says Susie. “Our regular guests are genuinely upset that
we are leaving and we’ll miss them too. So we are looking to buy a similar
‘plus one’ set-up again – a main house, with a holiday cottage right next
door.”

• Henmarsh House, with five bedrooms, a two-bedroom cottage and
paddock, is for sale for £1.25 million with Knight Frank (knightfrank.com;
01789 297735).

• Hormond House (hormondhouse.com) is for sale for £595,000 with
Fowey River (foweyriver.co.uk;
01726 833000)

Houses with that extra special appeal

1. Old Tong Farm, at Brenchley, in Kent, is a five-bedroom, five-reception
room, Grade II listed, 16th-century country house set in formal gardens, and
has a separate two-bedroom cottage already used for lettings. It is for sale
for £2.3 million with Strutt Parker (struttandparker.com;
01732 459900).

2. Stubbings Farm House, at Garboldisham, Ling, Norfolk, is a detached Grade
II listed home set in three-quarters of an acre, with The Honeypot, a
detached two-bedroom annex. It is on sale for £449,500 with Fine and Country
(fineandcountry.com; 020 7409
4673).

3. Crantock Plains Farmhouse, near Newquay, in Cornwall, has three bedrooms,
and an adjoining two-bedroom annexe. For sale for £550,000 with Bradleys (bradleys-estate-agents.co.uk;
01637 850500).