Bedlam & Breakfast at a Devon Seaside Guesthouse by Sharley Scott - Book Tour
Bedlam
& Breakfast at a Devon Seaside Guesthouse
Katie is
desperate to leave her stressful job, so she doesn’t think too hard about
moving to Devon to run a B&B, even if it means uprooting her family. She is
certain that she and Jason have a strong and loving relationship which can
weather any storm.
Hooked by the beauty of Torringham with its quaint harbour and stunning coastline, they purchase Flotsam Guesthouse which needs more than a lick of paint to keep it afloat. Soon, Katie finds that renovating and running a guesthouse is taking its toll, especially when dealing with challenging guests and madcap neighbours, Shona and Kim. Katie comes to learn that trouble is afoot whenever Shona begs a favour.
However, when her adored daughter moves back to their old hometown, she wonders if they’ve made a huge mistake, especially when cracks begin to show in her marriage.
Her seaside idyll is crumbling along with her relationship. Should she let Flotsam Guesthouse founder while she salvages her marriage? Katie needs to decide where her priorities lie. The only issue is, she doesn’t know.
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Excerpt
In an attempt to widen her friendship group, Katie has agreed to go on a walk with a group of nature lovers. While the walk is scenic, it a long walk and steep in places. One of the group has brought her dog, Bessie, who is deaf.
In an attempt to widen her friendship group, Katie has agreed to go on a walk with a group of nature lovers. While the walk is scenic, it a long walk and steep in places. One of the group has brought her dog, Bessie, who is deaf.
Below us lay a strip of beach
bordered by a small lake the colour of spring leaves on one side and a
glittering Mediterranean-blue sea on the other. White-tipped waves rolled onto
the beach, but in the centre there was a strip so clear I fancied even from this
distance I could see individual pebbles shimmering beneath the water.
The steep incline meant we all but
raced down the hill. A stumbling Laura made it to the beach first, having been
dragged by Bessie who dashed to lap from a little stream that ran from the
pond. The trickle was like Chinese water torture to a woman with a full
bladder, especially with the waves rushing over the pebbles. I scanned the
area, hoping to find a large rock I could hide behind but no such luck. A
forest of reeds surrounded the algae-filled pond water, enclosed at the rear by
a wire fence which marked the boundaries of a field set within the valley bowl.
My only option was to ask everyone to turn around and set myself beside the
rock face or climb back up and find a copse.
While the rest of the group littered
the shingle with rucksacks, upturned shoes and scattered socks, I headed over
to Josie and Laura who stood with Bessie.
“So much for a nature watch. They’ll
frighten everything away with that noise.” Josie shook her head as her
bare-footed friends tiptoed, yelping and laughing, over the pebbles.
Laura smiled. “I could do with a cool
off too. Poor Bessie’s wilting.”
Bessie’s steam engine puffs rose
above the excited squeals and drool ran from her lolling tongue.
“First I need a pee.” Laura crossed
her legs as if to emphasise her point.
“Me too.”
“Me three,” I said, grateful they’d
beaten me to it.
Laura took Bessie over to a pointed
rock where she hooked her lead. She patted Bessie’s head and held out her hand.
Stay. “Won’t be a mo, then we can paddle,” she said, even though Bessie
couldn’t hear her.
We hurried away to a corner of the
beach where we would be in full view of hikers heading towards Torringham but
hidden from anyone going the other way. Hobson’s choice, as no matter where we
positioned ourselves we’d be on view.
Laura and I stood side-by-side acting as a barrier from prying eyes as
Josie relieved herself. The noise made me ever more desperate and I begged to
be next.
When it came to Laura’s turn, she
groaned. “Why, oh why, did I think dungaree shorts were a good idea? How I’m
going to do this, I don’t know.”
I chuckled. Facing away, I couldn’t
see what she was up to, but I could hear the chink of shingle and grunting and
guessed she’d decided to take her dungarees off rather than risk splashing
them. Josie rolled her eyes and we giggled silently at each other. It felt like
forever before I heard Laura peeing and even longer until her knees cracked and
she announced she was done.
“Finally!” Josie said. “I thought
you’d settled in for the duration.”
Just two hardy women remained
calf-deep in the water, chatting. The rest had decamped to the beach, where
they unloaded cameras and food from their rucksacks.
“Bessie?” Laura said.
I looked over to where we’d left Bessie,
but she wasn’t there.
This time Laura shouted louder, panic
clear in her voice. “Bessie! Has anyone seen Bessie?”
She rushed over to where she’d left
her dog and stood frantically scouring the beach. Josie and I hurried over. I
couldn’t see Bessie racing up the hills on either side, nor was she near the
lake. I couldn’t imagine she’d gone through the reeds, not with all that algae.
Which left…
“She’s in the sea!” One of the
paddling women pointed to a black and white head about thirty feet from shore.
“Bessie, Bessie!” The women chorused
but, of course, the dog kept heading out to sea with the same determined air
she’d shown when walking here.
Laura sprinted to the water’s edge
and threw off her shoes. Ignoring calls to wait, she hurdled the surf until it
reached her waist when she dived in. Her head bobbed up and her arm curled into
the water, then the other. Thankfully she didn’t have to battle the waves as
she swam through a calm channel. Strangely, Bessie’s pace seemed to match
Laura’s. About forty yards out, Laura turned and waved to us. Except she wasn’t
waving, she was calling for help. And, although she’d stopped swimming, she
appeared to be moving further away.
Oh no! Was this the riptide I’d heard
about? I pulled my mobile from my rucksack, dismayed to see no signal. Josie
did the same, as did a few of the other women. Their worried looks told me all
I needed to know.
Author Bio
While 'Bedlam
& Breakfast at a Devon Seaside Guesthouse' is fictional, I am a guesthouse
owner. Thankfully, we have been blessed with lots of amazing and kind-hearted
guests, who are nothing like some of the characters featured in this novel and
the subsequent books in the series. I would be a lot greyer if they were.
Likewise, Jason is quite different to my husband, who I sometimes nickname Victor Meldrew. He is lovely though and has a fab sense of humour, although some of his dryness has rubbed off on Jason.
Bedlam & Breakfast is set in South Devon, in the fictional town of Torringham, which is loosely based on Brixham. If you've been to Brixham you may recognise some of the local features, including the seals, fishing industry and the fantastic lifeboat crew, but the businesses, people and a number of settings are fictionalised.
The same applies to the B&B owners featured. Many guesthouse owners undertake work when they move into a property and our current B&B was not an exception. While, thankfully, our previous owners were nothing like Jim and Maureen, this also means we don’t get to live next door to the fabulous Shona and Kim. But we do have many lovely B&B friends. B&Bers are a wonderful and hardworking bunch, although the ones we know have a perchant for parties in the low season. That's why I had to end Bedlam & Breakfast at a party.
Likewise, Jason is quite different to my husband, who I sometimes nickname Victor Meldrew. He is lovely though and has a fab sense of humour, although some of his dryness has rubbed off on Jason.
Bedlam & Breakfast is set in South Devon, in the fictional town of Torringham, which is loosely based on Brixham. If you've been to Brixham you may recognise some of the local features, including the seals, fishing industry and the fantastic lifeboat crew, but the businesses, people and a number of settings are fictionalised.
The same applies to the B&B owners featured. Many guesthouse owners undertake work when they move into a property and our current B&B was not an exception. While, thankfully, our previous owners were nothing like Jim and Maureen, this also means we don’t get to live next door to the fabulous Shona and Kim. But we do have many lovely B&B friends. B&Bers are a wonderful and hardworking bunch, although the ones we know have a perchant for parties in the low season. That's why I had to end Bedlam & Breakfast at a party.
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