IF there ever is a good time to open your house as a B&B, six weeks before you go into labour probably isn't it. Suggest this to Eithne Corkery, however, as she nurses her four day old daughter Leagh, and she laughs.
"We had some lovely people staying the weekend Leagh was born, and I said to them, on the Friday night that if I wasn't serving breakfast next morning, they'd know where to find me. Sure enough, that night I went into labour and when they came down for breakfast, there was my husband Paddy serving the eggs with a big grin on his face. They were really delighted - we've been getting calls from people who had been staying while I was pregnant, to find out whether we had a boy or a girl. We've been really lucky with the people who have come to stay."
Their house on the Swords Road in Dublin became the Airport Lodge at the end of April, after a four star recommendation rating from Quality Approved, the body which last year took over from Bord Failte in the assessment of prospective B&Bs. From the outside it looks fairly similar to most of the other semi-ds on the street, but inside it is vast, and decorated with the touch of a professional.
"We extended it about four years ago, and then last summer we thought about maybe using three of the bedrooms for bed and breakfast. We started work on the en suites about six months ago, hoping we'd be ready for this season; being pregnant didn't really change what we wanted to do with the house. She's such a quiet little baby, and I have had a lot of support from my family, who live locally, and of course, Paddy. Paddy has been brilliant."
Her husband is on shift work as an aircraft mechanic at Dublin Airport and so is often at home to help during the day. The couple has another child, two and a half year old Kelly.
"The mornings are the most hectic: getting the breakfasts, and then sorting out the towels, the sheets and doing the laundry. But Kelly is just starting playschool, and Leagh sleeps so much at this stage, that I'll have all the time I need.
"From the start Kelly has got on very well with the guests. She really enjoys having new people in the house, though we live on an entirely separate floor to the guests. We have a TV and a coffee maker in each room, but we've found that foreign guests, especially, like to come into the family room and watch a film with us, or just chat. We light the turf fire, and it's great. So far, all the people we've had have been wonderful, and I have to say we're pretty happy with the way everything's working out."
If there are easier things to do in tandem with nursing a new born, the Corkerys seem happily unaware of it - opening a B&B at the height of the tourist season fits neatly between weaning the baby onto solids and play school.
THE combination of a business opportunity and proximity prompted Corinne Giacometti to open her house to the B&B market. An interior decorator by trade, she found herself wanting to incorporate her work with something that would enable her to work at home, where her husband, Alain, bases his architecture practice. While their eldest child is about to go to college, probably abroad, they have two daughters at home, the youngest of whom is eight.
The family live in a large, rambling house in Dalkey, Co Dublin, overlooking the sea. With eight bedrooms, the chances of even noticing the guests are slight. While there is a separate drawing room for visitors, neither it nor the rooms are furnished with television, the family preferring guests to go out as much as possible.
The house is a Loftus Robinson original, and therefore operates under the auspices of Hidden Ireland, with approval from Historic Homes. So, the guests are sent to the Giacomettis via Hidden Ireland, rather than simply arriving on the doorstep. Their one experience of taking someone on spec was fairly unfortunate, involving a Swiss woman who considered small talk to be a direct infringement of her civil rights, and made her feelings on the subject very clear.
"That was particularly extreme, but it made us reconsider taking people without having them recommended. When we first considered opening the house to guests, I did have a few sleepless nights about security, with kids in the house. But it's been so enjoyable so far. Alain is French, despite our Italian sounding surname, and so for years we have had his family coming over from France - we knew we could cater for guests.
"It's nice; there's a certain stimulus in having different nationalities in the house - we've had Scottish guests, South African, American and Portuguese, and in a way it's like having house guests without the responsibility of having to take them out or entertain them. We've had our near misses though: our very first guest, about six weeks ago, was a lovely guy but when he went to use the phone, he sat on an antique chair which completely fell apart under him. Luckily, he saw the funny side."
Whatever about the funny side, bed and breakfast certainly has a lucrative one. The Giacomettis needed to do little more than light decorating to prepare their house for their targeted market, and so for £35 per person sharing, the profit margin would seem tidy.
"It is good from that point of view," Corinne Giacometti agrees. The view over the harbour from the front bedroom is breathtaking, and certainly the family seems as optimistic about the business's future as the Corkerys.
With less than three months business behind them, each family appears to have found a niche in the market with considerable ease. So much so that it almost makes you think of clearing out your spare room - and your family - and making your house finally pay its own way. Almost.
