The hospitality skills of the owners of two Norfolk bed and breakfast establishments will be put to the test next week, when they appear on the Channel 4 reality show Four in a Bed.

The long-running programme sees four B&B owners taking turns to spend a night at their fellow competitors' homes, before anonymously rating each one in categories including food, cleanliness and friendliness.

Guests, who are also taken on trips out to local attractions, then pay the host what they consider a fair amount for their stay, with the B&B rated best value for money winning the show.

Christine Hendry and Ian Abernethy, who opened Sheringham B&B Picaroons after moving to north Norfolk from Kent, signed up for the show as a way of "having an adventure and seeing how other people do things."

However, they said that while taking part had been a positive experience, with an eight-strong TV crew following their every move over two weeks, it was not the relaxing break they had hoped for.

"It was all early starts and late finishes," Mrs Hendry explained. "But it was a fast-paced, roller coaster experience and it was fascinating to meet the other owners and compare our approaches."

While they opted to take their guests for a trip on the North Norfolk Railway, Steph and Alan Flight, who opened their B&B in Denton, near Bungay, a year ago, chose a visit to the Suffolk and Norfolk Aviation Centre, at Flixton.

The couple, who also moved to the county from Kent, said they enjoyed taking part in the show, in spite of a breakfast mishap that led to their guests' orders being mixed up.

"It was nerve-wracking and I have to say I'm not looking forward to the programme being shown as I know they will home in on the embarrassing parts," Mrs Flight said. "But, although I was reluctant to take part and had to be persuaded by Alan, in actual fact I was really glad we did it."

The efforts of the two Norfolk couples, and those of their fellow competitors - two pairs of B&B owners from Devon, will be shown over five days, starting on Monday, September 30.

But with entrants sworn to secrecy by Four in a Bed producers Studio Lambert, the couples are keeping tight-lipped about how they fared.

"We are desperate to let everybody know what happened, but we haven't been able to tell anyone, not even our mums," Mrs Hendry said.