Many Bed and Breakfast owners labor long and hard to create fabulous gardens for their guest to enjoy—especially the garden lovers. This contributes to the unique experience of the bed and breakfast stay. Here are three worth visiting:
Winner of the 2005 Best of Gardens prize given by the Anchorage Botanical Garden, the Alaskan Frontier Gardens Bed and Breakfast is a wilderness garden retreat. Set in a custom cedar house among the pines close to Chugach State Park, this B&B’s lush lawns are edged by gardens filled with 8 foot tall delphiniums in various shades of purples, blues, and pinks. (Guests are encouraged to relax and enjoy the stars and Northern Lights from the Alaskan Frontier’s large decks and eight-person hot tub). Inside, soft plush linens float over the finest mattress sets in the guestrooms; with fluffy pillows and European goose down comforters secured inside luxurious duvet covers and shams. As for breakfast? Guests awaken to the aroma of Belgian waffles with rum peaches, Amaretto French toast, Alaskan blueberry pancakes, a variety of Alaskan syrups, reindeer sausage, gourmet coffee, herbal teas, fresh seasonal fruit, cereals and juice. Yum!
California’s Solvang Garden Lodge is located in the Dane-settled village of Solvang, which some have described as being ‘more Danish than Denmark’! Certainly this B&B is the epitome of old world charm; including its wonderful gardens that surround the Lodge with constant color. Thanks to the warm weather of this area – which is why the Danes called it Solvang, for “Sunny Field” – flowers thrive; gracing this B&B with stunning roses and lilies. There’s even an orchard!
Add a waterfall and pond to this fairy-tale setting and the Solvang Garden Lodge is a perfect escape.
Imagine lush fields during summertime, and blazing leaf colors in fall; accompanied by apple harvests, corn mazes, and pumpkin patches. Throw in wonderful rows of tulips, daffodils, and irises during the mild Washington state springs, and voila: You’ve captured the essence of the Queen of the Valley Inn Bed and Breakfast. Located on Mount Vernon near the Pacific Coast, the Queen lives in a 1900-era three-story "American Foursquare" farmhouse. Renovated in 2004, this B&B offers period-decorated bedrooms and great breakfasts on its sun porch. “The Queen never serves Spam, processed cheese-food, or any form of soup from a can,” declares its website. “Our proper breakfasts feature locally grown produce and seasonal specialties from the Skagit Valley and around the northwest. You call it breakfast. We call it 'love on a plate'.” By the way, even when the Queen’s gardens are blanketed in snow, this B&B i9s a great place to bird-watch
bald eagles, snow geese, and trumpeter swans.
Alaskan Frontier Gardens
PO Box 24-1881
Hillside & Alatna
Anchorage, AK 99524-1881
Web: www.iloveinns.com/bed_and_breakfasts/alaska/alaskanfrontiergardens.htm
Solvang Gardens Lodge
293 Alisal Road
Solvang, CA 93463
Web: www.iloveinns.com/bed_and_breakfasts/california/solvanggardenslodge.htm
Queen of the Valley Inn
12757 Chilberg Rd
Mount Vernon, WA 98273-7188
Web: www.iloveinns.com/bed_and_breakfasts/washington/rainbow.htm
Still undecided? Go to www.iloveinns.com and browse through the 19,000 B&Bs and country inns that specialize in other events that may interest you. Many of the properties listed above are also in the best-selling bed and breakfast guidebook Bed & Breakfasts and Country Inns with a Buy-One-Night-Get-One-Night-Free Certificate.
About American Historic Inns and iLoveInns.com
American Historic Inns, Inc. (www.iloveinns.com), founded in 1981, is the leading publisher of bed & breakfast guidebooks, with more than 2.5 million bed & breakfast guidebooks sold, and runs iLoveInns.com, a top bed & breakfast and country inns directory.
Note: For photos or interviews, please contact Barbara Naylon at 949-497-2232, ext. 305
