What Were We Thinking?

At 10 a.m. on Sept. 15, 2004, we signed the bank papers for our new bed & breakfast in Fredericksburg, TX; the moving van arrived at 11 a.m. that same day with 504 items (household furniture, computers, tools, too many boxes of dishes and books, etc.); and we hosted our first guests the very next day, Sept. 16.

My research for becoming an innkeeper was pretty much limited to my experience growing up as the oldest of six children, more than a decade working as a manager in TV production, owning a charter subscription to “Martha Stewart Living” and reading “Guestward, Ho” on the drive out from Los Angeles.

I’ve never had domestic help. Okay, we did have a gardener in LA., although Domingo was primarily a mow-blow-and-go guy. Now, after almost three years of tending our “scrupulously landscaped” half-acre, I think he was underpaid.

Nonetheless, I was already well versed in washing dishes, cleaning bathrooms, doing laundry and generally taking care of domestic business. It’s just three little cottages, I’m on record having said. How hard could it be?

Out of the mouths of fools…

Fortunately, it was not and still isn’t hard, but boy oh boy is it challenging. It’s also stimulating, exhausting, exasperating, sometimes boring, frequently touching and often just plain fun. And you can’t beat the commute!

I hope to share with you some of our experiences as fledgling innkeepers, as well as a few tips that you might find useful. This is my first blog, so it’s going to be a learning experience for me, as well.

Oh, and Joe says I have to do some marketing, too.

To that end, the January 2007 issue of Southern Living listed Fredericksburg, Texas, as readers’ choice for one of the three best small towns in the U.S. It’s an achingly cute town of around 10,000, with lots of interesting shops, excellent restaurants, and outstanding historical and natural sites.

Our B&B -- The Cottages at Limestone on Main -- is, as the name indicates, located on Main Street. We are just seven blocks from the center of town, and our property consists of our home, a Texas-style Craftsman house, with three separate, limestone cottages in back. We have off-street, lighted parking and a covered pavilion. There’s a barbeque pit available for our guests’ use and two additional outdoor seating areas.

Each private cottage is furnished with a king-size, pillow-top bed, with Egyptian cotton sheets and lots of pillows. The bath has a jetted tub and Speakman showerhead (just like the Waldorf Astoria!). There’s a sitting area with loveseat and color TV (extended cable) and a fully equipped kitchen (stove, fridge, microwave, coffee maker, Fiestaware dishes, glasses and flatware). There’s a pair of rocking chairs on each cottage’s front porch just right for watching the birds, butterflies, squirrels and geckos cavort.

Best of all, each morning we deliver to your cottage, a freshly prepared, four-course gourmet breakfast, often featuring our organically grown veggies and herbs. So many guests requested recipes, we published our first cookbook last December.

Our ranking on TripAdvisor is consistently in the top three and that’s out of a field of more than 350 B&Bs in the immediate area. TripAdvisor.com is a site where travelers post their comments about places they have visited.

We’d love to host you. For more details and photos, please check out our website at:
http://www.cottagesatlimestone.com

Next time, I’ll share some Hill Country gardening tips. Until then, thanks for reading.