Directly adjacent the bank of the Mississippi
River in Red Wing, Minnesota is where you can find country ambiance, modern
amenities, and baked bread! Round Barn Farm Bed & Breakfast is
interesting in that it was built on designs which were drawn up by renowned
architect Samuel Sloan in 1861...However construction of this property wasn't
completed until 2002. Red Wing, Minnesota is in the country and the Round Barn
Farm keeps things as traditional as they can with canopy beds, European
furniture pieces, and other country touches including homemade bread in their
wood fire kiln out back. All five rooms and suites at the Round Barn Farm are
designed for double occupancy, come with king or queen feather beds, spa tubs,
and wonderful views of the expansive property.
Round Barn Farm Overview: Round
Barn Farm is a five room bed and breakfast which is really more of an
experience than anything else. Red Wing, Minnesota is a lovely little town
which should be appreciated on multiple visits and the Round Barn Farm Bed
& Breakfast has facets to it which require more than a simple 18-24 hour
period. This is the case for most bed and breakfasts which my wife and I visit
however with the Round Barn Farm this is particularly so.
Round Barn Farm Experience: When
one visits the Round Barn Farm the first thing which happens is innkeepers
Robin or Elaine are typically sitting out on the porch waiting for your
arrival. There is then a wonderful walk through where the guest is told where everything
is, given a small tour of the house and the property, and instructed about
bread baking and breakfast and coffee the next morning.
Round Barn Farm Bread:
Bread baking? What's that? Well guests of the Round Barn Farm are allowed to
bake their own loaf of whichever type of bread is on tap before breakfast the
next morning. It is an early rise but well worth the extra time; particularly
if you're there from May through October. Guests during that time period get to
go out back in the stone bread kiln; thrusting their bread into a 520 degree
oven (an oven which had been as hot as 800+ degrees the evening before).
Round Barn Farm Bed: One
half of the bed & breakfast title is obviously the night's sleep we got. My
wife and I slept in a four post canopy bed which was probably a good three feet
from the ground. The bed and the frame are, in this instance, two completely
separate things. The bed, the sheets, and the blankets were all a dream and
were all quite nice. However I have to take issue with the bed frame and the
pillows. Unfortunately for me the pillows at the Round Barn Farm; down pillows;
were very lumpy and lacked support. We had our own pillows in the car and I'm
sure I could have gotten a replacement but the strange thing was that every
time I felt like I couldn't fall asleep on these pillows, I did. So I guess
that's the sign of a real pillow, even if I didn't prefer it.
The bed frame though was another thing. This bed
frame was beautiful; when we were taken on the tour Robin told us all about the
wood and the carving and what a nice old piece it was (and it was!)....However
the bed frame had many interlocking parts which squeaked. My wife's a light
sleeper and I flop. I go from my side to my back and back to my side again.
It's nothing I can control (though my wife seems to think so). Anyway, I'm also
not a small guy; husky; could stand to lose a few pounds. Needless to say when
I'm flopping even a few times and the bed frame is squeaking and my wife's a
light sleeper...I got a couple of kicks throughout the night. The bed frame is
not a reason not to stay at the Round Barn Farm; there are several rooms each
with their own distinct frames which probably don't squeak. But maybe the
innkeepers could do something to cinch up the bed frame we were sleeping in,
even just a little bit, to help reduce squeakage.
Round Barn Farm Breakfast: The
three act breakfast at the Round Barn Farm also deserves attention. The
breakfast at Round Barn Farm comes in three movements; fruit (the day we were
there with their homemade blackberry jam), this wonderful sausage, potatoes,
apples, and cheese quiche, and then dessert! With breakfast! It was quite a lot
of food for so early in the morning. The quiche was not something which I had
been anticipating and was quite tasty. The dessert had chocolate drizzle which
was very rich and almonds, which is one nut I do not prefer. Still, all told,
breakfast was a master stroke. Even after all the coffee we'd had my wife and I
were so spent from the filling breakfast that we went back to the room and
caught a quick nap.
Round Barn Farm Wrap Up: Red
Wing Minnesota may not be the first place on your list of places to visit.
However if you're looking for a small town vacation where you can really get
away from it all or if you happen to be in transit from the Twin Cities,
Wisconsin, Illinois, or elsewhere, the Round Barn Farm is a great stop on your
journey. The Days Inn it's not; however the congenial attitude and welcoming
nature of innkeepers Robin and Elaine Kleffman undoubtedly make even the most
wayward traveler feel they have a place at the Round Barn Farm. The instructive
& well-rehearsed rap of these innkeepers would lead the casual observer to
feel as though that Robin & Elaine had the Round Barn Farm nut figured out.
Like any good research scientist, these two innkeepers learn every day from
their surroundings, their guests, and from the former residents of the Round
Barn Farm property. The beds are lovely, the breakfast is lovely, the bread is
lovely. And all these things will be well appreciated by guests at the Round
Barn Farm. However it's this unvarnished search for the truth and each guest's
individual inclusion in the continued writing of the Kelffman storybook which
keeps a stay at the Round Barn Farm always new and exciting.
www.roundbarnfarm.com
28650 Wildwood Lane
Red Wing, MN 55066-5606
(651) 385-9250
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