Encyclopedia of Me ~ B is for...

Bed & Breakfast

I've always thought it would be fun to run my very own Bed & Breakfast. Tom tells me that I'm just in love with the romance of it all and that I wouldn't be too much in love with scrubbing bathrooms and cleaning up after strangers day in and day out! I think he's probably right. But still, when the local community college offered a course last year in How to Run Your Own B&B, I looked longingly at the description and thought it would be interesting to sit in on the class, although I didn't follow through.

Tom and I have stayed at some wonderful B&Bs and some that I wouldn't readily recommend. My favorite one of all time is Blue Mountain Mist Country Inn located in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, near Gatlingburg, a little mountain town we vacationed in every year of my life growing up. Other favorites are Mast Farm Inn near Valle Crucis, North Carolina, and Brierely Hill in Lexington, Virginia. So many memories are associated with each place we've stayed because of the things going on in our lives at the time....dropping a son off at college for the first time, waiting for a phone call that would determine where Tom's next job would be, thinking about possible surgery, or just needing some quiet time away to relax.

I take notes and pictures of places we've been...you know, just in case I need to review them for my own place one day. I've even come up with a name, and I refer to our home as, "Here on This Ridge Bed & Breakfast."

I was talking to a friend awhile back who said she and her husband had thought through a list of questions a Christian entrepreneur would need to discuss ahead of time before starting a Bed & Breakfast. I really benefitted in listening to what she had to say. For example: What do you do if an unmarried couple wants to stay under your roof? What about two males or two females wanting to stay the night? Will you allow guests to bring alcoholic beverages into your home? What happens when the folks staying with you aren't the kindred spirits you had envisioned your romantic B&B taking in?

Hmm...in all my dreaming, I hadn't once thought about questions like these. I had only been collecting recipes for Stuffed French Toast and specialty muffins and mentally putting fresh-cut flowers in all the rooms, along with a guest book, of course!

She suggested to me that the Lord has already fulfilled my dream and given us a B&B...a home open for hospitality to the saints visiting us or passing through who need a place to stay. We can hand-pick our guests and the times we're available for them to visit rather than being burnt out with operating a full-time Inn.

Five years ago when our family moved to the Shenandoah Valley, we put together a brochure and mailed it to all of our friends. I recently ran across it while cleaning out some old papers at my mom's, and I'm posting a copy on the continuation page. I really like living the life of an Innkeeper and being a hostess who's used of the Lord to bless other people who visit here. After enjoying our guests so much this year and last summer, I'm beginning to think we already have the best kind of B&B!

~Deb

Comments

[Susan]

I'm sure you do have a lovely B&B already! I for one would sure love to stay there! ;) Love your brochure; that's a unique way to invite people to come and visit.

[Tammy S.]

Deb, what a cute brochure! I wish that our house were big enough for a guest room, but we do pull out an air mattress for our (infrequent) guests! What hospitality you show! I agree, you would face difficult decisions if you were to run a B&B.

[Dorothy]

That brochure is so great! I can't wait to come stay at "Here On This Ridge" Bed and Breakfast! Sarah and I will definitely be there in November while the fellas are hunting. Sarah is excited about playing Scrabble with us, Deb. :-) Will let you know as the day gets closer to that time exactly what days we can come, okay? I will look forward to the "dessert" part of the stay...turtle trifle sounds incredible!

[Cheryl Serven]

So very, very true. What a great blessing to open your home to "traveling saints", those you know and those who have been recomended to you by others you do know. The Lord has allowed us the wonderful opportunity to relax a while at the "Here on the Ridge" B & B. Wonderful companionship, delicious food, encouraging conversations, and delightful walks in the garden!! Our God is good to refresh us with the fellowship of other believers as He allows our paths to cross.

Thanks, Girottis, for being an encouragement to us all as we grow in the graces of practicing hospitality.

[Tammy]

My goal while we are living in Wake Forest is to make it to your house.

The brochure is cute.

[Sherri]

You certainly DO have the best kind of bed & breakfast! So much better than any "professional" B&B we've stayed in. The food, accommodations, and proprietors can't be beat!

I've romanticized the position of breakfast hostess in hotels with continental or full breakfasts. I wished I could be the one to greet and serve patrons at the breakfast buffet. Then one morning it dawned on me that that's exactly what I am to my own family each morning as Keith and the children prepare to whisk away to work and college classes. I love fixing their breakfast, preparing their lunches, and sending them out the door with a kiss and hug. No hotel could offer such a job with eternal compensation. What a blessing to have family and the body of Christ for meaningful service in Christ's kingdom!

Come to our B&B when you're visiting the midwest!

[Jenny H]

Hmmm, stuffed French Toast? I've never heard of this before, but it sounds yummy.....off to find recipes.

[Susan Ramey Cleveland]

My husband and I love Gatlinburg. We always stay in a cabin with a fireplace, hot tub on the balcony, and a view of the mountains.
I love how your friend explained your home and hospitality as a B&B. That's lovely.

[Dorothy]

Deb, we have wanted to stay at the Brierely B&B for years! Was it wonderful? Do you remember which room you stayed in? Jay and I would probably pick that red room! He likes to stay in rooms that are so different from our usual settings at home.

[Leslie Wagner]

Oh Deb! I thought I would love to have a B&B too. I agree with your thoughts regarding the cleaning of the bathrooms too. I also pondered through some of those puzzling thoughts regarding unusual circumstances with potential B&B guests.
I can assure your friends who read your blog that your house is the best kind of B&B and it is truly full of hospitality!

[Debi]

Deb~
What a lovely idea....the brochure you made and sent out!! And I agree with Leslie...who wouldn't want to stay in your home?

[Courtney, Jer.33:3]

I remember getting one of those brochures!! :) You are so right about the cons you mentioned about having a bed and breakfast. Most people would be too caught up in the glammor of the idea to think of the things that reality would bring us.