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Lambertville/ Three deer were grazing in the back yard the day we revisited this pastoral retreat. “There are lots more,” said Terry Ann Anderson, owner and innkeeper with her husband Rich. "They ate every chrysanthemum and daisy off our porch this fall. We also have a brood of wild turkeys, rabbits and big fat groundhogs." Plus a handful of alpacas, llama-like animals from Peru. The animals are appropriate at this opulent manor house, sequestered atop a wooded hill beyond a high-rent residential area on the southeast edge of Lambertville. It was once a working farm, and the restored gardens put in by former owner Edgar W. Hunt, an internationally known attorney, are quite spectacular in season. The inside of the house borders on the spectacular as well, as you’d expect from a site that was a designer show house when it opened as a B&B. The Andersons, who moved here from northern New Jersey, have enhanced eight original guest rooms and added four luxury suites in a restored barn. In the main house, all but one have king or queensize beds and plump seating, and four have fireplaces. Each is awash in splashy fabrics, all Schumacher or Colfax & Fowler. The smallest room has space enough only for a double bed and two chairs. The rear Tapestry Room is bigger with tapestry fabrics, kingsize bed, a large bath with clawfoot tub and its own balcony. We liked the looks of the Hunt Room master suite, where the covers and canopy on the step-up queen bed match the gently swagged curtains, and the chairs and the oriental carpet pick up the theme. Guests relax in the wonderful sunken main-floor sun porch, with windows on three sides and floors, fireplace and walls of fieldstone. Warmth and color come from ficus trees and four leather loveseats angled around a huge glass cocktail table. The splashy sun porch makes the attractive living room pale in comparison. Breakfast is served by candlelight at six tables for two in the 1820 dining room that was the original room in the house (the wings were added by attorney Hunt in 1927). Terry offers fresh fruit, cereals and plenty of homemade pastries. The hot entrée might be challah bread french toast with sausage or, at our visit, vegetable quiche with bacon and home fries. In the afternoon, cream sherry awaits in the butler's pantry, where tea, coffee and snacks also are available. The Andersons have completed their long-planned
expansion, joining a carriage house connected by a courtyard to a
restored 1800 barn. The carriage house contains a party facility for
business and social functions. Much larger is the barn, with a
conference/board room and four luxury suites, each more showy than the
last. We were happily ensconced in one of two on the main floor with
queen beds, sitting rooms with loveseats, TVs in armoires, corner gas
fireplaces, guest convenience areas with refrigerator and microwave, and
baths with jetted tubs and body showers. French doors open onto small
patios, from which we enjoyed watching the alpacas go through their
workouts. Upstairs are two larger, two-level suites. One has a
see-through fireplace facing both a living room with TV and a bath area
with a large whirlpool tub beneath a brass chandelier in the corner, a
bathroom with two-person shower and a spiral staircase to a loft with a
Shaker queensize poster bed and another TV in a cabinet. The crowning
glory is Suite 4, “Madelana’s Ooh La La,” with the same features
but with something called a stereo steam room in the shower. The
surround-sound stereo or CD music lulls guests as they steam and bake. Eight rooms and four suites with private baths.
Doubles, $189 to $379 weekends, $135 to $299 midweek. For more information: www.chimneyhillinn.com
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