Theater, Dinner Downtown, and Other Events

Well, our couples are checking out this morning at the Main Inn.  One of the couples is planning to go to Luray Caverns this afternoon and maybe a winery or two.  We also have two women leaving who are on their way back home to North Carolina.

The Importance of Being Earnest is playing at the theater and one couple enjoyed a performance there.  We usually have several people who are attending the theater on the weekends!  It’s  very nice to work with the theater, and we have a special hospitality rate set up for our guests’ tickets (reserved seating, too!).

Having dinner downtown is always special!  We have SO MANY first-class restaurants, some casual ones, and even several coffee shops and a tea house! Our guests enjoyed Emilio’s, The Mill Street Grill, and Zyndoa this weekend. Others, too, I’m sure — but those were the ones mentioned.  It’s nice to hear the guests comparing notes at the breakfast table with the other guests.  Everyone is always happy to share their experiences and there are so many choices for eating, for theater, art galleries, and even movie theaters downtown! What an amazing downtown we have!

It’s pretty and sunny here today.  Virginia has the most beautiful weather!!  We could use a little more rain this Summer but that’s okay.  I love the sunshine.

Travel the roads safely!

Carolyn

The Staunton Choral Gardens B&B

What a week!

It’s been a very different week — lots of surprises. A lot of unexpected things happened also. It’s amazing because usually we are very busy on weekends and the week days are slower. This past week, it felt as if it were a long, long weekend with lots of people each morning at breakfast and various unexpected happenings. We had between nine and eleven people each morning.

Yesterday a lovely family group arrived for “The Farmhouse.” Very often when I’m checking in guests, especially guests at “The Farmhouse” (for some reason), I feel like I just want to move in with them. Once again, we have such a lovely group of women who are all related to each other. Among them is their wonderful Aunt who is 90 years old. She is so beautiful and lovely. She has sparkling eyes and talked about her recent trip to Disney World and how much fun she had. She is small of frame and fairly jumped out of the car. I felt such a warmth — but also a genuine zest for life — radiating from her, and I just wanted to sit next to her, maybe over a cup of tea, and get her to tell me about her life!

We get a lot of women who book our vacation rental houses!! It’s wonderful. This afternoon we also had a group of three related women who checked into “The Craftsman” house. My husband greeted them so I haven’t met them yet but I think I’ll surprise them with a cake at some point. I’ll call them first and make sure it’s okay to drop by. Wonder what they’d like — chocolate? Or maybe a white cake with coconut frosting? Hmmm. I’ll think about it. They’re going to be here for a week.

It’s a beautiful sunny day here in Virginia. The air is crisp and there’s a slight cool breeze.

Happy travels to all!
Carolyn
The Staunton Choral Gardens B&B

It’s a busy week!

We had eleven for breakfast this morning. That’s lot in the middle of the week. It felt more like a weekend.

We have four sisters in one of the large Suites (the 3 bedroom suite), staying for several nights; and we have a couple whose daughter will be going to Stuart Hall, the private school for girls, which is right across the street. Other relatives of this couple are in the main inn. We also have another couple in the main inn for just two nights. They spent the day hiking. So it was a busy morning at breakfast time.

The parents of the Stuart Hall girl have booked for a month in one of our Suites. It’s great for them because it includes breakfast and they also have a kitchen and even a laundry room. They have a beautiful living room and a dining room also. We give them (or anyone) a special rate of just charging for the weekend and giving them the five weeknights free (based on the 30-day time period for their stay). I think they’re really going to enjoy having their own beautiful Suite (which is really an apartment) and yet being able to come around to the B&B every morning for a wonderful breakfast!

Ashley, our housekeeper, is training to be our Assistant Innkeeper. She is a gem! Since we have so many people this week, it’s great training for her.

Thoughts About Being An Innkeeper

Boy!  Did it rain last night in Staunton.  All of our guests had checked out in the morning (after a busy weekend) and I hope they all made it to their home or next destination before they got caught in the rain.  One family had airline travel scheduled but I think they got out of the area before the rain started.  I hope so!

Four sisters are coming tomorrow for our Sunshine Suite.  That Suite is SO perfect for families, girlfriend getaways — any small groups — since it has three bedrooms.  The Luxury Suite (another large suite)  is ideal for romantic getaways.  There are two original coal fireplaces with the Oak mantels which are so beautiful.  This Luxury Suite even has a formal living room and a formal dining room, an eat-in kitchen, and even laundry.  It’s nice to have these two large suites.  I had always thought a B&B should offer more than just a room. Now we have BOTH — rooms and suites!

What a great group we had this past weekend!  We had two couples traveling together and they were celebrating the mom’s birthday.  It was mom and dad in one car and the young adults were their daughter and son-in-law.  They were just delighted with everything in Staunton and they loved our breakfasts and slept very well, they said!  They booked two rooms in the main inn.  The girlfriend getaway group in the Sunshine Suite really enjoyed everything also.  I took quite a few pictures of them before they left.   The family in one of our vacation rental houses were the ones from California.  They called as they were packing their car and getting ready to leave and said they’d had an amazing time.  They spent a lot of time visiting their mother who lives in Staunton.  I’m SO glad it was a good visit for them.

A very special thing about being an Innkeeper is that you try your best to make someone’s visit the best that it can be.  That’s our goal.  Very often people are traveling because of a special celebration but there are times when something sad has happened.  No matter what the circumstances and why people are traveling and staying with us, we always want to make sure we give them our very best.  We want their room, suite, or vacation rental house to be inviting, clean, and comfortable and we want their breakfasts to be beyond what they expected, and we want to make them feel how much we have enjoyed meeting them.

Happy travels to everyone,

Carolyn

The Staunton Choral Gardens B&B

Another Beautiful Weekend in Staunton, Virginia!

Guests have all finished breakfast. One couple checked out and is on their way back home to Pennsylvania. Everyone else is staying on for the weekend. It is a GREAT day to explore all that Downtown Staunton has to offer!  We have SO much to do here in the downtown area!!  And, of course, there are so many things to also explore throughout the Shenandoah Valley (and Staunton is right in the very center of the Valley so Staunton is the perfect location for visiting MANY places throughout the Valley).

Since there is so much to do in the downtown area of  Staunton, many of our guests just park and walk everywhere for the entire weekend.  They never get in their car again until they’re ready to leave.  You really could spend several days and still have places to explore just in Downtown Staunton.  With all of our art galleries and movie theaters and live theater and shops as well as the many fine restaurants, etc. there is a lot to do downtown.

I’ve arranged SPECIALS for my guests at my favorite day spa (you’ll see the link on my Home Page for these Specials) —  and three ladies who are staying with us this weekend are having massages this afternoon at this day spa. I’m sure they’re going to have a marvelous time and feel very pampered. It’s Breezy Hill Day Spa, and they have the most beautiful building. Gail, the owner, offers wonderful ambiance as well as very relaxing pampering experiences.  In the Winter, you’ll often find a fire in the reception room’s fireplace and sometimes candles.  In the Summer, they have flowers.  There’s always a huge bowl of chocolates.  And you’ll feel SO RELAXED in  a lovely darkened room for your massage. The rooms are large and beautifully decorated in this stunning turn-of-the century house where they’re located.

For breakfast this morning, my guests had Orange Cranberry Muffins made in my new mini-muffin/cupcake maker. I really like it! You can make tasty muffins in just a few minutes without heating the whole kitchen and then serve them nice and warm.  I can just keep making them while I’m doing the rest of the breakfast.  It’s fun . . . and they are SO good!

It’s good traveling weather here in VA — travel safely, everyone!

Carolyn
The Staunton Choral Gardens Bed and Breakfast

Fridays are always a big check-in day!

Sometimes it’s interesting to think that people are driving from all parts . . . heading toward Staunton, VA. We already have a family of six in one of our vacation rental houses. They came in a couple of days ago (from California) and will be here a few more days. But right now we have a couple driving down from Pennsylvania and we have a “girlfriend getaway” group coming from various places. They’ve booked The Sunshine Suite, which is ideal because it has three bedrooms plus a sitting room plus a kitchen and even a private covered back porch. They’ll walk around the corner from that building and come into the main house for breakfast. I always thought it would be perfect to have nice LARGE suites for people — and it is!!!

Safe and happy travels to all,
Carolyn
The Staunton Choral Gardens B&B

Even Innkeepers need a getaway!

We just got back from a couple of days in Bedford, VA, a charming little city about 2 hours from Staunton. We have a rental house there so we had to meet with a contractor about getting some work done at the rental house. We stayed at a B&B right on Longwood, the main street. It’s called Almost Home B&B, aptly named because you DO feel like you could almost be home. Plus Suzanne, the innkeeper, is a wonderful cook. So I guess you’d be “almost home” — BUT with a personal chef (for breakfast, that is). Now that’s not bad!  And her breakfasts are enough to carry you through until dinner.

We love the little downtown area of Bedford which they call Centertown. Be sure to have lunch at the Artisan Cafe.  There aren’t a lot of restaurants to chose from for dinner.  One of the local favorites is in the old train station.  It’s called Liberty Station Restaurant.

I guess we’re spoiled with all the many wonderful restaurants here in Staunton because we have SO MANY choices here for lunch and dinner. Our favorite places for lunch in Staunton are probably Byer’s Street Bistro, Cranberry’s, and The Pampered Palate. For dinner, they are about ten favorites — everything from Italian to Mexican to Indian as well as two grills and a gourmet pizza place, an ice cream place, and even two New York chefs.  There are several others too — all downtown.  Out by the interstate are the usual chain restaurants and there are also plenty of them. Just come and stay for a few days so you’ll have time to try several different eating places.

We love Bedford but it’s always nice to be back in Staunton. Come and visit us and we’ll try to make you feel at home and serve you very good breakfasts also (just like we experienced for the last couple of days).  We’ll take good care of you!

Happy travels everyone!

Carolyn
The Staunton Choral Gardens B&B

LOVE SUMMERS HERE IN THE BEAUTIFUL SHENANDOAH VALLEY

Woke up at 7:00 with crispy morning air coming in through the window. Even though it’s been hot during the day sometimes the morning temperatures are very pleasant. In fact, some of the time it’s preferable to turn off the a.c. at night and sleep with the windows open — and some of our guests also like to do that.

Everyone is checking out today. We served an early breakfast at 8:00 to a family of four who said they had a great mini-vacation and are back to work today. She’s a lawyer and he does some kind of work in banking. The family laughed and said they’d been trying to figure out what he does for years. The teenagers were so nice as well. They ate EVERYTHING! Sometimes kids don’t eat the more sophisticated dishes. They didn’t want to try the healthy green smoothie, though. The parents loved it. This morning I added banana to it as well as a whole mango and a huge handful of fresh organic baby spinach. You first put into the VitaMix a large glass of water and then the mango, banana, and spinach . . . and it really is quite good.

The three Englishmen are also checking out of “The Craftsman-Style” vacation rental house today.  After eight nights here in Staunton at one of our vacation rental houses, they’re off to explore other parts of the U.S.

Hope everyone has a happy traveling day!

Carolyn
The Staunton Choral Gardens B&B

Sunday breakfast at the B&B

This morning the guests had Cinnamon Apple Muffins. The first course was baked fruits topped with organic granola, basically, and on the plate as well was vanilla/cinnamon yogurt and fresh mint. The main course was turkey bacon, scrambled eggs with cream cheese (and a little Half and Half and even a tiny bit of water, which helps to make them light and fluffy), along with a wonderful whole grain bread.  We serve the eggs with fresh herbs of basil and chives scattered over the eggs and we always try to have flowers on our plates (usually pansies).

Our guests (who were staying at The Farmhouse Vacation Rental)  are on their way back to Chicago and called around 9:00 to let us know they’d left. How thoughtful they were — they turned the a.c. to 80 degrees and did some other things to set the place right. That was really wonderful of them. This is their second weekly visit this year and I hope we get to see them again. What a nice family!

We haven’t heard from the three Englishmen at The Craftsman Vacation Rental House. I know they were planning to bike each day and eat out so I think they mainly just slept at the house. I’m sure they’re having a wonderful time on the beautiful country roads around here. I’ll have to check with them and find out all the different places they found to bike ride.  We are in the very center of the Shenandoah Valley and not far from the Blue Ride Parkway and Skyline Drive  so they probably went far and wide as well as biking along the Augusta County roads around Staunton.

Which reminds me — the other day a couple was up on the Parkway and right in front of them a baby cub came tumbling down from a tree! They said they didn’t stick around to see where Momma Bear was!

Happy travels to all. It’s a beautiful day here in Staunton.

Carolyn
The Staunton Choral Gardens B&B

Another Busy B&B Weekend

It’s the start of a busy weekend. We have Butch and Cassidy checking in today (two dogs). They’re bringing their owners. Some more family members are coming too and they’re all meeting here. We hope they’re going to have a wonderful weekend. They’ve booked several rooms. And in our Suites Building, we have another group coming. They are planning to attend several performances at the Shakespeare Theater this weekend. Should be GREAT! A huge percentage of our guests attend the theater. In fact, many people come to Staunton just for the theater!!

I have a new recipe to try — Pumpkin-Cranberry Muffins. I like to search Google for healthy recipes and this one sounded interesting. I checked the reviews and they were ALL good!!

Hope your day is bright and sunny. It’s lightly raining here this morning.

Happy travels,
Carolyn

The Staunton Choral Gardens B&B