Spring! or next best thing

After what has felt like a rather long winter we think that spring is starting to arrive. I still hesitate to hide the snow blower, as I know it will snow as soon as I do.

I’ve built a new bike (I can always find room for one more) and Hilary and I managed a pleasant 10 miles this afternoon. We reached the mid 50’s and it really did feel springlike.

With the change of seasons I’m beginning the planning of Mexican food stuff for the incredible (not that I’m biased) Cinco de Mayo dinner I co-chef with Jonathan from the Oxford house. If anyone wants to visit Mexico (not the one in Maine) this is the cheapest way to do it. Just book soon (dinner reservations: (800) 261-7206)  if you want to see what we create; last year it more than sold out.

I’m also prepping for our chocolate road trip and cheese specials (just out on our latest newsletter that Hilary recently sent – package information can be found here).  If you want to experience chocolate from tree to candy this is the way to do it.

Happy New Year, … I think

Its been a busy month.  Derrek and I got back from England just before the New Year and since then its been a long round of conferences, office work and shovelling snow!  Not to mention trying to stay warm.  I don’t know what all this Global Warming thing is about, but so far this year, its been a good old traditional New England winter – cold!!

Its very obvious to most of us innkeepers up here that the effects of the economy have hit.  Despite some great winter weather that normally would have attracted guests from all points south of here, its been abnormally quiet.  The locals (that’s us) can get into restaurants, onto ski lifts and drive down the road, all without waiting in line, even on a Saturday.  So if you’re done with the gloomy news and are in a position to come and spend some quality time in our neighborhood, do it!  You’ll get some awesome snow conditions with more than a few great deals too.  Check out what we have here.

Looking ahead, Derrek and Jonathan (from the Oxford House Inn) are planning their second annual Cinco de Mayo Fiesta.  What started out last year as a bit of a culinary giggle for about 20 of our friends and neighbors, ended up packing out the dining room with 75 bona fide reservations on an otherwise quiet Monday night.  Such was the success that they’re doing it again, except that this year its on a Tuesday.  So mark your calendars and get your reservations in (Oxford House Inn 800 261-7206) for a night of probably the best authentic Mexican food anywhere in the North East.  The Admiral Peary House will of course, be open too for bed and breakfast, should you want to stay overnight and congratulate Derrek personally at breakfast the next morning!

Anyway, its nearly February so I have to run.  Don’t forget Valentine’s – its on a weekend this year – so no excuses for not paying attention!  And if you’re looking for something a bit out of the ordinary and creative – give us a call.  We can usually help put something together that’ll surprise and delight!

Innkeepers do get vacations … eventually!

So after waiting for over a year, we finally escaped for our annual holiday to visit family and wander the English countryside.

Our first two days were spent in London. Hilary surprised me with tickets to see the revival of ‘Oliver’ at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. And for those who know of Rowan Atkinson from “Black Adder” and “Mr. Bean”, he played a brilliant Fagin. We also wandered through parts of the British Museum to see some family silver. While there I came face to face with the Rosetta Stone. I had no idea it was in London and sitting in a large glass case in the museum. The next day we went to see the crown jewels and see where Sir Walter Raleigh was imprisoned in the Tower of London.

From London we headed to Yorkshire and despite the worst storm of their winter season we really enjoyed our short stay there. Our innkeepers, Simon and Jane, at the Thorney Mire Barn B&B were perfect and we highly recommend staying there if you ever find yourself in Wensleydale. You’ll be pampered! We toured the Wensleydale Creamery (where they make the favorite cheese of Wallace from “Wallace and Grommit”), then moved on to the Black Sheep Brewery to see how they make really good beer. That little visit has now resulted in my first batch of home brew!

From Yorkshire we went back to the middle of the country to spend Christmas with Hilary’s family. Much food was eaten, Christmas crackers pulled, gifts unwrapped, children filled with chocolate, and generally a wonderful Christmas was enjoyed by all.

From Christmas we headed to Plymouth in Devon to find my ancestral roots. Aside from the wind and cold we found some of the significant roots of the Bickford family, to which I am related through my grandmother.

I really enjoyed eating and drinking my way across England. This turned out to be such a fun packed trip that we’re now both ready for another one, but somewhere warm and beach-like.

Kangaroos and Cookie Tour

So what do Kangaroos and our annual cookie tour have in common? Our theme this year was ‘Holidays around the World’, so I thought we should be a little different and showcase Australia. Using a Rolf Harris song, “Six White Boomers”, some seriously demented imagination, a bunch of odds and ends, and Hilary’s focus we created six white kangaroos pulling Santa’s sleigh. This is because of the terrible heat in Australia at Christmas and reindeer need to rest. So Santa gets pulled around by six white old man kangaroos. We also hosted a gingerbread creation, funny enough it also fit into the theme and we created, “Christmas at Ayers Rock”. The video of the making of this can be found on our site here or on “You Tube” (search for ‘christmas at ayers rock’). We then spent the weekend in shorts and standard aussie bush clothes… as a side note, it was quite chilly bringing in firewood. We enjoyed as we always do the cookie tour. Thanks to everyone that came by.

Winter is Coming to a Bed and Breakfast near you ….

I knew it had been a long while since my last post, but when I looked this morning and found I hadn’t written in 2 months, I was astonished!  The time has certainly flown.  As those of you who’ve been following us for a while will know, the fall season is our absolute busiest and we have very little time during October to do anything more than look after our guests.  However, there’s no real excuse for November, especially this one as we haven’t even been away!  We have been busy though; me with some Business Planning contracts and collaborating on the book, “Running a Bed & Breakfast for Dummies”, which is being written by my friend Mary White to be published in April, and Derrek doing his thing at his full-time job and acting as tour-guide for his visiting parents.

Our first real snow came last week and Fryeburg is white and looking like winter, unlike North Conway where you can still see grass!  Most of us up here are hoping for good skiing weather again this season, though we’re not sure we want quite as much of the white stuff as last year.  Great Glen Trails opened for the season just before Thanksgiving and Bretton Woods has about 25% of its terrain available, so the skiing has started!  Other expected opening days are Cranmore – Dec 6th and Shawnee Peak – Dec 13th.

The next big event here is the annual Inn-to-Inn Cookie Tour on December 13th/14th.  As always, we’ve come up with some unique ideas for the theme this year which is “Holidays around the World” and as usual, we’re having to work hard to make sure it happens!  Things are kind of under wraps until the day, so I’m not going to tell you what it is – you’ll just have to come and see us   If you enjoy touring inns and seeing all the decorations, not to mention the free cookies and candy from each inn, give us a call.  We have one room left for the weekend!  Or, if you can’t stay, there are some limited day tickets available by calling 800-233-8309.