Hi Chloe,
I enjoy good hospitality, although I am not particularly wealthy I can pay for quality when I am in the mood. I have done the rougher end as well but I walk with my wife, who enjoys being spoilt (however she can cope with the rough). Location is important, a shrewd business man can spot the place to purchase the property for a business to be successful and by making the correct connections for trade.
I have stayed at many farmhouse B&B's, I hold very critical views on landowners but the places I have felt most welcome are those hosts who understand their immediate terrain and how it interlinks beyond their boundaries. As an ex farmer, I often recognise lack of understanding between host and visitor, which can be quite revealing. You seem to be getting good general advice about internal comforts, but how will your outreach philosophy reflect in the services you have to offer.
We stayed at a village pub in mid Wales, where our host freely offered to run us 30 miles so that we could walk a 10 to 15 mile linear back to his pub. The walk was particularly memorable, he did not charge us for this but when I discussed the route we did, he said that there was a local taxi driver in the village, who could have done the run. I suspect Ray was very high in the local rural mafia, so he was doling out some very valuable advice about possible routes, also providing us with a free verbal passport, which on the one occasion we used it with great effect.
Where Sherperage is possible, local networking could be a valuable asset. This will greatly add to the quality of linear walks, not just with being enroute for a national trail. Having put some time into local authority representation, there is a sad lack of research into the relationship between the hospitality trade and the access network. I following some very high quality stays in a particular Welsh valley both in hotel and self-catering I felt I had to write a risk assessment into the visitors book based on the best routes being high on the valley rim, yet the small farms that had become private dwellings, which originally accessed the hill grazing had approach drives a mile or so long and not enough of these were rights of way. Escape routes were few and the risk if weather change was incompatible with the access network.
Now I like a good wine list and would rather go to the local for a pint, where the draw on the barrel is high enough for good a quality pint. I can remember the ambience of the Waterloo Hotel by the Waterloo Bridge in Betwys y Coed, before it was pulled down, wet waterproofs, steamy boots, buzz of conversation and waiter service. Another era, but a good hotelier will get the ingredients right for other generations, hopefully!
Best of luck