B&B Royal Swans: "Our furnishings? Which consists entirely of upcycled stuff"

A religious fire-glass window from the church of Beauvoorde, door number 27 from the Sion monastery of Lokeren and a 120-year-old bathroom cabinet: these are just some of the many items that dot the rooms of B&B Royal Swans adorn. Caretakers Griet Cappelle and Maarten Van Maele show us around their ecological lodge, near the historic centre of Bruges.

Five rooms pass in total. Each dedicated to a Bruges historical figure. "For example, we dedicated our wheelchair-accessible room to Simon Stevin. He laid the foundations of our decimal system. As in all the other rooms, all the furniture here is working on a second, third or fourth life. For example, the lamp in the bathroom comes from a Roeselare café at the station," Griet shoots out.

 "We recovered as many materials as possible. All the authentic elements we could keep, such as the staircase, are still here today. What we could no longer reuse, we donated away. So we made others happy with the existing doors, gate, old plank floor, bathroom, kitchen and even the old sockets."

In the Jan van Eyck room, we bump into an old door containing a (replica) work of art by the master himself: the portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife. "In that door there was actually a glass part, but it was broken. So we replaced that glass with a foil with a print of the van Eyck painting on it. Because the foil is transparent, it looks like real fire glass. A very nice effect." Griet and Maarten matched the rest of the room furnishings to the colours from the painting.

The building that houses Griet and Maarten's B&B was firmly taken in hand. The renovations took a year. The search for second-hand pieces? That took at least as long. "There is indeed a lot of searching involved," admits Griet. "Especially because everything has to match beautifully. Although I did give my creativity free rein. For instance, I gave many cupboards a new colour, which suddenly made them look completely different."

"Sometimes you do bump into a gem. For instance, I was looking for some matching tapestries. Through Catawiki I found one that depicts Mary of Burgundy with her falcon. That tapestry now adorns the ceiling above the bed in the room we named after her."

Griet and Maarten collected a lot of pieces, so they had plenty of opportunities to match the unique items. Some second-hand furniture did not eventually find a place in the B&B. Still, they are not lost. "I now sell those at the price people are still willing to give for them. We donate the proceeds to one of the charities that buyers can suggest themselves," Griet says.

Each room has its own kitchenette. In each case, Griet and Maarten incorporated it into an old, upgraded cupboard. "This way, the appliances stay out of sight. On the inside, I left some cupboards in their original state. Deliberately, because that way I can show our guests that discarded, ugly furniture really still has a lot of potential. They often consist of solid, solid wooden shelves. Provided a refresh, these are fantastic pieces that don't belong in the container park at all."

In the kitchenette, guests make their own coffee and tea. The coffee grounds? They deposit that in a bucket at the bottom of the cupboard. "We reuse that too. In fact, we supply our coffee grounds to Kopje Zwam. They grow oyster mushrooms in the cellars of St Godelieve Abbey. They use them to produce delicious mushroom burgers. They even grow microgreens on the leftovers".

B&B Royal Swans gets mostly couples over. And that from all corners of the world. Everyone has breakfast in the room or on a private terrace. Romantic in one's own bubble, in other words. "Those who wish can also have breakfast upstairs on the communal sun terrace. There, guests nestle among some bright plants. All native species, by the way. That's how we ensure more biodiversity. Bumblebees do fly past here during breakfast sometimes."

Griet and Maarten serve breakfast completely tailored to their guests. "The guests receive a comprehensive list of all our local products in advance. On it, they indicate what they want to eat the next morning. That way, we avoid food surpluses. Is there anything left over? Then we feed it to the chickens. They then lay eggs that we prepare for the customers," says Maarten proudly.

Perhaps Griet and Maarten's faces look familiar to you. Indeed, their B&B was recently featured in the popular VTM programme 'Met Vier in Bed'.

Royal Swans snatched the top prize there. And how! Griet and Maarten achieved an absolute monster score: they got a whopping 84 berths from the other contestants.

Rewatch the episode via vtmgo.

What else are Griet and Maarten paying attention to? That is the B&B's water and energy consumption. There are cisterns underground. Solar panels adorn the roof. All radiators are fitted with a smart thermostat. LED lights stick in the fittings. There are motion detectors in the corridors. And on all main switches, Griet stuck stickers reminding guests to turn off all lights when they leave the room. "During check-in, we explain everything personally to our guests. But we find that a small reminder, such as a sticker like this, does help," Griet tips.

"We also provide people with a digital summary before they arrive. In it, we urge them to bring their own slippers and refillable drinking bottle, for example," Maarten adds. "Don't have their own drinking bottle? Then they can purchase one here. With the proceeds, we support a charity project that builds water pipes in Africa. At the same time, this way we shrink our own waste mountain. Because running the B&B for a week? In doing so, we only need one rubbish bag and one PMD bag."

Griet and Maarten are not only concerned about their own ecological footprint, but also that of their guests. Therefore, they encourage them to use public transport as much as possible. B&B Royal Swans, for instance, participates in Happy Trip (see box) and guests can park their bikes there for free during their stay. "When our guests come here by train, we pick them up at the station free of charge and treat them to homemade chocolates," says Maarten, who has turned into a hobby patissier.

Via Happy Trip immediately after booking, your guests will receive a personal discount code which allows them to purchase a train ticket for just 14 euro per person. This allows them to travel there and back from any Belgian station to the coast, Bruges or another West Flemish city. As a participating establishment, you offer your customers an extra guest advantage. For them, it is also an additional reason to book a stay with you.

Interested? If so, please contact Steve Desmidt, at : [email protected].

This project was realised with the support of the Province of West Flanders within the 'Beleef West-Vlaanderen' regulations.

This article was taken from Westtoer: Westtoer is fully committed to a sustainable approach in tourism. They support and encourage West Flemish companies to do business in a sustainable way and improve the tourism experience.