When you are traveling through New Milford,
Connecticut there are scantly few places for the bed and breakfast aficionado to stay. My wife
and I were fortunate enough to hook up with Innkeeper Bill at the Homestead Inn
in the historic district of New Milford on a recent trip through the area. The
Homestead Inn is 154 years old and gloriously shows off its history. While the
overall impression may have been a little rough around the edges the fact
remains that first impressions are often incorrect. Homestead Inn evoked more
pleasant memories and even though New Milford, Connecticut is a place I'd never
been to before; after our great experience at Homestead Inn, New Milford,
Connecticut will be a place I'll return to often!
The directions to Homestead Inn were a little
confusing. Google maps are typically spot on and they were still
but in this instance, the directions to the parking lot of the Homestead Inn
were a little hard to understand. If you keep your eyes peeled, you'll be out
in front of the Homestead Inn and the directions will take you out back into
their parking lot. If you're quick (not me) you shouldn't have any problems
with the location.
In the description for the Homestead Inn on their
website it says "our 14 guest rooms have recently been redecorated and are
furnished with country antiques and reproductions..." There was an
eclectic balance of old and new in our room on the second of three floors.
There was a little bit of kitsch and the forward ringing progress of technology
(DVD player and WiFi) which reminded us that we were still in the year 2009.
When we first came in downstairs, Innkeeper Bill
heavily relies on the "honor system" at his B&B. He appears to
live in an attached house and is a short phone call away, but his program is
that he has a wide selection of DVD and a coffee tin. Leave a dollar. He has
snacks, sodas, and water available in the fridge and clothes pinned to the
wall; prices are listed; make change. It's not an abrasive feeling at all; it's
actually a very INCLUSIVE feeling. It's like when your dad puts your first TV
in your room and tells you that you can stay up to watch it until X time, but
then you need to go to be. He retreats to his room, never knowing (but always
knowing) whether or not you've obliged his rules. But you do. Because it's this
mutual respect which will go on to forge your relationships, in all spheres, in
the future.
This was the way the entirety of the Homestead
Inn felt; a bed and breakfast that didn't want to get all up your business, but
one that still wanted you to have a good time. We were only there for one
evening, but, creaky floors and
all, we had a good time.
Some may be aghast at the breakfast portion of
the Homestead B&B. But the breakfast at Homestead was very much in keeping
with the theme of the experience. It was a continental and it really was what
you made of it. In their open air dining room there were bananas, oatmeal,
muffins, yogurt, juice, coffee, tea, waffles; whatever you liked! Innkeeper
Bill just wasn't going to hold your hand through the experience.
My wife and I have been to a number of different
style bed and breakfasts over the last couple of years; this most recent trip
to the Homestead Inn Bed and Breakfast is the one which most closely reminded
me of home.
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