Who would have known that when I told Anthony, lets go and have a look at a house that has open day viewings just over 6 years ago, that it would determine our fate and a few days later we signed on the dotted line and agreed to a 5 year contract – Ambrosia B&B was born.

We always day dreamed that one day we’d run a bed & breakfast.

It all starts with an intention, then we talked, then we explore and then it suddenly happened!! Be careful what you wish for 🙂

Both our backgrounds are in hospitality and Jean-Claude, Nathalie’s dad has lived all his working life in the industry, we always thought this might be something that could right for us and our family.

We started Ambrosia B&B in our own house, renting out 3 bedrooms, small affordable single bedrooms and one being able to be converted into a small double. It was a trial to see if it will into our way of living – a way where family comes first and work needs to fit in, be fulfilling and and feel on purpose?

We discovered quickly there was a shortage of good quality bedrooms for great value in Rheinfelden, and especially for solo travelers. Within 3 months we went from 2 to 3 bedrooms and even started contemplating what other rooms could we convert… can we give up our bedroom??? Short answer, no and we stayed with three rooms.

Our clientele ranged from solo business travelers, course attendees and teachers, family visiting, cyclist, kungfu artists, chocolate maker in training from Keny and and and… in the 5 years we got to meet super interesting people from all over the world and it turned into a great experience which showed us, yes, we love running a bed & breakfast.

We always knew our lease might not be extended and we always believed, if it’s right, it will, if it’s not, something else might come up… and it did. 4 years in we found out the owner of the property wanted to sell the house but we quickly knew this would not be something we’d consider… the house wasn’t quite right for us and after 4 years we realised, we did want a bit more of a separation between living and working, especially as the boys are getting older. As much as I love a tidy house, we started missing lazy days, being in pyjamas until late morning and having a mess now and then :).

At that time, there was a new development being built by the Rhein and my dad mentioned, why not contact them to see if they would build a bigger bed & breakfast? By now we knew, there was a need in Rheinfelden for something small and personal. So I called… without much luck. It was a swift no but the idea grew in my head and the moment we found out there is another new development coming, this time right opposite our house, I took no time to contact them. This time the response was very different and after my call with Densa Immobilien, I hang up thinking, that was too good to be true.

The too good to be true feeling persisted as every time we met with them, we left their offices in a daze and pinching ourselves, could this really be true? Did they really say yes to make our dream happen? A bigger bed & breakfast and separate flat? Did they? Oh yes they did!!! And timings were perfect, the build was meant to finish by the time we had to leave the house… or so we thought. However, with most builds, there was oppositions and the build got delayed and it looked like we’d be homeless… however my family stepped it and let us take over their flat while they moved out for 10 months.  And then Covid-19 hit in January and after the initial grumble of the new bed & breakfast not being ready, we quickly changed tunes and became grateful that our opening was delayed by nearly a year.

To open a bed & breakfast at these uncertain times, it’s scary but so far we trusted our gut and the universe looked out for us. We hope it continues and are excited to get the keys to our flat end of September and the bed & breakfast keys beginning of November. And it’s all go go go now as we are planning the opening on Friday 13th November!!!