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Cape Cod “I can't abide empty spaces,” says Bill Putman, who has filled every available space, and then some, at this eclectic B&B full of personality. Part of the personality comes from Bill, an outgoing, marketing type who proudly displays his varied collections throughout the former sea captain’s house. But most comes from the inn and its furnishings. Start with the 32-foot-long living room, comfortable as can be and now a jungle of hanging plants because, Bill says, “the only empty spaces left are on the ceiling.” The room is notable for brass birds on the mantel and inanimate wildlife everywhere, a remarkable tapestry of animals done by his late wife and large parrots from Pavo Real. Parrots, a theme repeated in many rooms, adorn the chandeliers in the 20-by-40-foot dining room, which has a fantastic collection of mugs depicting different fruits to coordinate with the fruit du jour china. Here guests gather at two tables for a full breakfast with perhaps cheese omelets or blueberry pancakes. Bill does the cooking – “I learned quickly,” says he, although he did defer once to a skeptical guest, Dinah Shore. The theme is elephants in Room 3 with a queensize poster bed and working fireplace – they turn up inside the shutters, on the windows, on the mantel. Room 6 is the rabbit room, with a kingsize bed and bunnies all around. Room 8 is simply wild: beneath the cathedral ceiling is a loft that’s a jungle of plants and animals, including a purple rhinoceros. Animals are appliquéd all over the walls, the queensize bed is purple, the floor is painted green, and somehow it all works. Birds and butterflies hang from the vaulted ceiling in Room 10, the largest and brightest, which has its own little patio bedecked with spirea. The latest and largest accommodations are in the old Barn Annex, which Bill rebuilt as his house but now shares with guests in a large bedroom and a two-room family suite. The open main floor holds a guest living room with the inn’s only TV, the innkeeper’s bedroom that’s home for six cats he calls “the children” (except when he vacates it for guests), and his office named Hyannis Port. The open kitchen is stocked with 230 different single-malt Scotches – more than we’ve seen in any one place in Scotland, and he professes never to have even been to Scotland. Winter weeknight guests are invited to sample a few. Otherwise, Bill serves complimentary wine in front of the roaring fireplace in winter and on the breezy porches in summer beside an outdoor hot tub. The wine hour is “from 5:30 to 7:30 or whenever – that’s p.m., but we are flexible,” he stresses. Bill, a former race-car driver, displays the hoods of his race car and Paul Newman’s on the upstairs landing in the main house and racing photos in a long upstairs hallway. That’s mere prelude to the ten bright red race cars parked in the garage area, including a newly restored 1967 right-hand drive Bentley that he commandeers to shuttle guests. “I wanted to create a place where you feel at
home,” Bill says. Although it’s not like any home we know, we’d
feel quite at home as guests. Ten rooms and two suites with private baths.
Mid-June to late September: doubles, $180 to $250, suites $250 to $300.
Off-season: doubles $110 to $200; suites $200 to $250. (508) 778-4999 or (800) 637-1649. Fax (508) 790-1342. E-mail: simmonsinn@aol.com For more information: www.simmonshomesteadinn.com
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