When Anne and Joe Fosbre bought this house in the late ‘70s, it was a 35-year-old cinder-block cow barn. Joe and their three sons transformed it into an extremely long home, and when the kids were grown, the couple opened it as a B&B.
From the Hunt Room’s dark four-poster and hunt print—covered walls to the pan-eled biffiard room with game table, Holly Thorn feels like an English country manor house. The Fosbres go to En-gland once a year and often bring furniture back with them. Anne’s collection of monk mugs, statues, and chairs—which now includes a rabbi mug—fills a wall and corner in the dining area. The great room, big enough to have two fireplaces and two staircases stretching to the second-floor balcony, has different areas for sitting, eating, and playing the grand piano. Other fireplaces grace the suite and the upstairs gathering room, which has deep-red walls, parquet floors, antique wicker and other traditional furnishings, a TV with VCR, and plenty of books, games, and snacks to while away the time. Those visitors determined to work despite the availability of more pleasant pursuits can hunker down at desks provided in each bedroom.
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