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Chestertown The thoughtful comments in the guest books in each room testify glowingly that innkeepers Michael and Danielle Hanscom do things right. Theirs is one of the more comfortable and elegant B&Bs in which we've stayed. On 35 acres of plantation-like property about a mile out High Street (Route 20) south of town, the imposing three-story brick Italianate Greek Revival commands a hilltop set back from the road. Two gliders swing toward each other and an array of wicker chairs from either end of the pillared front veranda. Inside the 1860 house, listed on the National Register, are a majestic living room with twelve-foot ceilings, high bookshelves, Sheraton furniture and antique oriental carpets; a brick and paneled guest parlor and TV room (TVs also are available in guest rooms); a fireplaced dining room with peach draperies matching the wallpaper and four tables beneath a crystal chandelier, and solid walnut baseboards and doors that never suffered the humiliation of paint. What restoration needed to be done was ably handled during the six months prior to their 1987 opening by Mike, who had restored Victorian homes in San Francisco. Danielle, a former flight attendant with Swissair, oversaw the decorating. Lately she has refurnished the living room various Sheraton arm chairs and an upholstered settee, all specially commissioned and then handcarved by a noted local cabinet maker. There’s also an exquisite 1860 Swiss secretary made for her great-great grandparents. The ten air-conditioned guest rooms and suites are classics. Each has a private bath and a queen or twin beds that can be put together as a king, and eight have fireplaces or Franklin stoves. They are tastefully decorated with period and reproduction antiques, many of them from Switzerland. Rooms are perfect down to the smallest details: plump pillows, duvet comforters, thick towels, night lights in the bathrooms, brass shoe horns on the closet doors. The bowl on our dresser in the Blue Room matched the blue and white wallpaper; a bird and butterfly from the stunning wallpaper pattern in the bathroom had been painstakingly cut out and pasted on the vanity. Most of the paintings in the house were done by Danielle's grandfather, an artist in Switzerland. All rooms, with the exception of the Mezzanine Suite that is more cozy, are unusually airy and spacious. Even the two guest rooms on the third floor are surprisingly high-ceilinged and big for their location, each measuring twenty by twenty feet. Choice new accommodations include the Fairy Hill Suite with a ground-floor sitting room and an upstairs bedroom notable for a Swiss cherry armoire and an antique chimney cupboard, and the renovated 19th-century Smoke House, now a high-ceilinged, beamed bedroom with couch, fireplace and an 1860 walnut armoire. The premier lodgings were fashioned in 1995 from an old horse barn out back. Now known as the Garden Cottage, it has two extra-large rooms, each with sitting area, fireplace, TV, private patio and double whirlpool tub with separate shower. Oriental rugs cover the shiny, random-width cherry floors. The East Room, furnished in Victorian style, has a king bed, while the West Room has a queen canopy bed and Colonial décor. The Hanscoms, who live with their young daughters in an outbuilding on the property, offer afternoon refreshments and wine or sherry in the evening. Breakfast in their beautiful dining room starts with orange juice, fresh fruit and sticky buns. Our entrée was a delicate puffed pancake with a fresh plum sauce. Others could be french toast, blueberry pancakes, waffles or sausage, and cheese and green pepper quiche. Eight rooms and two suites with private baths. Doubles, $105 to $225. Suites, $155 to $195. Two-night minimum on weekends. (410) 778-1860 or (866) 305-1860. Fax (410) 778-1805. E-mail: innkeeper@bramptoninn.com For more information: www.bramptoninn.com and www.kentcounty.com Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places / Mid-Atlantic, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2003. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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