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West Dover/ Expatriate Brits Ann and Barry Poulter had enjoyed renovating houses in their spare time, but this was something else: a rundown, 24-room ski lodge and restaurant that catered to the bus group trade. The couple spent three years and several million dollars renovating what a fellow innkeeper termed “a dump” into an almost all-new, fifteen room, generally upscale inn that aforementioned innkeeper calls “the best rooms in the valley.” Certainly the common rooms and eight of the guest rooms rank among the best in this stark white, two-level structure that looked quite unremarkable from the road upon opening in 2003. The interior is another story. “We gutted it and started over – Ann designed and I constructed,” said Barry, a former Manhattan ad agency art director who did much of the renovation work himself. The main entry opens into a foyer with a
wood-paneled bar that proved so inviting it doubles as the reception
area. Across the way is a stunning living room with massive fieldstone
fireplace, plush dark brown sofas and chairs in one section and lighter
furnishings in the front section. Dividers topped by colorful teapots
separate the two sections from each other and from the expansive rear
breakfast room, sunny and elegant with individual tables draped in
yellow and white. It opens onto a lovely back deck overlooking the North
Branch of the Several more small common rooms are scattered here
and there through the various wings of the inn. The most deluxe guest
rooms are six above the main-floor common areas in the South Wing, plus
two in North Wing. All have step-up king or queen canopy or poster beds,
gas or wood-burning fireplaces and modern baths with jacuzzi tubs. Five
have private balconies. Each is individually decorated by Ann, who is
partial to subtle floral wallpapers, 300-count bed linens, down
comforters, Molton Brown toiletries from The Poulters serve a full breakfast, ordered off a
menu. Choices include challah french toast, buttermilk pancakes with
“blueberries we pick ourselves,” eggs any style and the house
specialty, baked eggs in ham crisps. (Sixteen rooms with private baths. Doubles, $145 to $350 in foliage and winter, $135 to $250 rest of year. (802) 464-8303 or (877) 531-4500. Fax (802) 464-3323. E-mail: seasons4@sover.net. For more information: www.thefourseasonsinn.com. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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