What we call "chambre d'hôte", in France, is named "Bed&Breakfast" by the British. Our "chambre d'hôtes" and "maison d'hôtes" are a lot more than plain business concepts as "B&B".
The litteral translation for "hôte" is "guest". However, an "hôte" is, usually, not a "paying guest". Our "hôtes" our the heirs of the Medieval Tradition. Whenever King Arthur, Lancelot and others famous knights-travelers from our region "knocked the door" of any noble house such as Bois-Briant (the name ended with a T by that time...) they would instantly become "Hôtes" of the owner. This hospitality tradition was one of the inner qualities of this Medieval Social System. Castle owners had all rights on the area they were responsible for. As a counterpart, they had an obligation (among others) to protect overnight the travellers against anything that could harm them. This obligation included feeding their horses and servants, accomodating all of them and inviting the traveler to share with the owner of the place the ongoing rites (including meals and fests). These medieval traditions are, still, well alive, in Bois-Briant where we inherited from our families both traditions of "table d'hote" and "place du pauvre" ("poor man seat") at the family table. This "place du pauvre" tradition is quite lively in French rural areas. It consists in, always, keeping an empty seat, and a full meal, for anyone who would call for it from outside. This tradition is close to the one that says the foreign visitor should seat at the right of the owner's wife...
