Bed and Breakfast establishments

They can be as varied in their accomodation/amenities as motels, from 1 star to 5 star. Generally, they are a much "homier" atmosphere, with some B&B's guests sitting down to eat with the live-in guest family. Some allow only access to your guest room (which may share a bathroom with other guest rooms) and some allow you open access to the entire home with free use of kitchen, library, games rooms, ets and open use of the surrounding grounds such as swimming pools, river/lake access, etc. Much depends on the home itself, with some B&Bs being restored century homes/manors/mansions with traditional minimalist offerings, some being modern homes with modern amenities, some offering meal service (breakfast only, or gourmet home-cooked dinners), others not.

We've stayed at many and most have been an enjoyable experience.

We are planning on opening a B&B within the next year (in our restored 1890 Victorian home)

Do a search in your area for directories of B&Bs - many advertise on these directories with links to their guestbooks to view customer ratings. Much of the B&B business is word of mouth and repeat business.

I've stayed in many B&B's and they are great.  In regards to staying in one for an IM, it's definetly a good thought.  Many people I know rent Condo's and the such.  No real difference.

Go for it.

Again, it depends on the individual establishment. Some offer gourmet meals cooked to their guests specifications (breakfast, lunch and supper) or else offer limited selections from a small menu, many only offer a continental breakfast with coffee, juice, muffins served with the morning paper, and others offer no meal service. The term Bed & Breakfast can be a misnomer with the number of places that don't cater food at all, but like I said, most, at minimum, will provide coffee, muffinc, etc. Where I'm located, guests are not permitted to have access to cooking/food preparation areas of the house, but I've stayed in B&Bs that allowed guests open access to the kitchen to cook up our own breakfasts and raid the fridge at night   Many B&Bs who do offer meals/food service leave it optional  to the guest upon booking, and prices are adjusted accordingly. Even if you opt to pay extra for meals where it is available, it is no big deal to change your mind and decide to go out for a meal instead, but it would be courteous to notify the host ahead of time.

 The idea with many places is that a B&B is more of a "flop house" to spend the night and take leave in the morning. Check-in times can be quite late in the day, 3 or 4 pm or later, sometimes after the host family has had their evening meal, and even though you have booked to stay, say a week at a time, there may be a portion of the day you will be expected to vacate, either for the hosts to clean or even for their own personal family reasons, since many, if not most hosts live in the B&B. Again, each establishment is different and it is between you and the host to determine such things. Everyone I've ever stayed at has been very, very accomodating; it's the nature of the business they are in, to be friendly, open, social people and they are in the business of making guests happy, much more so than a motel, beacuse you are actually a guest in their home.

I've also stayed in very large B&Bs (think Victorian mansions), which would have been more aptly described as an Inn, that had up to a dozen guest rooms upstairs but also had a full restaurant/dining area/bar downstairs, so the effect was a small, quaint, homey motel.

The whole B&B experience is very cool, but it is not for everyone.