Running a Guest House on Plymouth Hoe, Devon
I was bored with the rat race and commuting to my job as a college administrator, and my husband was made redundant after 23 years working for the same company. So we felt that it was time for us to have a complete change of scenery and career, so we decided that buying a guest house would be the right move for us.
The next main decision was where we would like it to be situated; both as a business venture and as somewhere we would like to live. We had lived in the Midlands for all our lives and we felt that it would really nice to escape to the country or be close to the sea. 
In choosing Plymouth I feel we have both of these. Devon and Cornwall has some lovely beaches and spectacular countryside with beautiful views to be found in Dartmoor and Exmoor. Plymouth is in an ideal spot right on the border of the two counties.
We chose The Seymour Guest House mainly for its position within Plymouth. It needed some work doing on it to bring it up to the standard we wanted, but it was in a very ideal spot. The lovely green parkland of The Hoe is directly in front of the house and the sea front, city centre and historic Barbican a few minutes stroll away. We have now been awarded a 4star rating by Visit Britain and we love living in Plymouth and running a Plymouth Hoe Guest House.
Our guests come to Plymouth for all sorts of reasons and from all sorts of places. I have a list on the wall in my kitchen of all the countries we have had visitors from. It is getting very long, with some unusual places such as Peru and Tasmania. Some people come to Plymouth for its history, wanting to see the Mayflower steps from where the pilgrims sailed to the new world, or the Hoe to see where Francis Drake played bowls before setting sail up Plymouth Sound to defeat the Spanish Armada.
Others come for business reasons, working in our busy city centre or to visit relatives, some in our military bases or students at our University. It is a shame that some guests only stay one night as they are only passing through travelling on to Cornwall or boarding a ferry to France or Spain from our international ferry port. They do not stay long enough to see all the interesting things that Plymouth has to offer or to see the lovely sea front littered with a great variety of boats.
Many good events take place in Plymouth throughout the year, such as the Jazz Festival that takes place in the spring and a three day Firework Championship competition that take place in August. There are also many sailing events that either pass through or start from Plymouth. This year we are lucky enough to be holding the second stage of the Americas Cup.
At the moment we have the replica of HMS Bounty moored in the Barbican and The Plymouth Wheel (a smaller version of the London Eye) on the Hoe. The Barbican has a very cosmopolitan atmosphere during summer months. When the sun is shining people sit in the open air cafes watching the world go by. Here you will find restaurants serving every nationality of cuisine. From traditional fish and chip shops to Spanish tapas bars, all tastes are catered for. Or families will be sat on the grassy Hoe looking out over the lovely wide sweeping bay of Plymouth Sound.
A lot of our guests say what a nice place they think Plymouth is. Often they have never travelled to here before and hopefully they will come back and stay again. As I feel Plymouth is a great place to visit and to own a guest house.
Karen and Ray Cooke runs the Seymour Guest House on Plymouth Hoe.
Seymour Guest House: 211 Citadel Road East, The Hoe, Plymouth.
Telephone: 01752 667002 for bookings.
