This inn reveals its character slowly and subtly. It’s an abundantly lived-in place that is deeply appreciated by its owner, Gwen North. She was raised by her par-ents in this half-Colonial, half-Victorian farmhouse on the outskirts of Laurel be-fore she flew the coop for New York. During that absence she came to realize that her heart lay back at home. Says Gwen, “When you stay in the same place all your life, you stop seeing what’s there.”
What’s here is a red-shutter country house that stands beside a creek lined with daylilies in spring. As pleasant as its exterior is, the inside is even better. The Colonial section, built between 1760 and 1780 by a Captain Lewis of Bethel, remained in the Lewis family for 100 years. Its front parlor and back kitchen have wood-plank floors and the snug, slightly off-kilter feeling of a boat. Breakfast, highlighted by Scotch eggs and homegrown fruit, is served beside a wood-burning stove.
A steep, narrow staircase takes guests to the inn’s two Colonial rooms; the one called Naomi (for Gwen’s mother) has a fireplace, a lace-canopy double bed, and a walnut rocker. Three bedrooms in the Victorian section, added in the late 1800s, have views of the garden and are filled with a soothing collection of an-tique furnishings, including a Victorian spool bed and Belgian cathedral chairs. |