As of mid-May we still have a few daffodils in bloom though they are becoming increasing crowded out by our perennial favorites, bee balm, cosmos and clematis. We are working on expanding our herb garden plot on the south side of the Inn just in time to add fresh herbs to our breakfast menu. We know that in most parts south of here your flora and fauna are already in early summer mode. Here, things are just a little more delayed – kind of like fine wine!

The skis have been safely tucked away until next winter, the bike tires are now re-inflated, and the golf clubs are out again. George has been out golfing several rounds already at the Stowe Country Club and can tell you that the greens are running fast and true, the fairways are firming up and the views from all over the course are still amazing. And don’t forget about the great hiking near the Brass Lantern Inn.

If you have never been to Vermont or never during this time of year consider our special “Spring into Summer Mid-Week Special” as our personal invitation to the Brass Lantern Inn:

Special Discount for all reservations made by Friday, June 14th, 2012 – Good for phone-in reservations AND online reservations from our reservations page!

Stay two nights between Sunday and Wednesday and receive a discount of 35% off of your third consecutive night stay. This offer is valid from May 6th through June 28th, 2012.

With this great offer you receive all of our exceptional amenities and services here at the Brass Lantern Inn including:
• Full “Vermont Fresh” Breakfast each morning
• Afternoon cookies and tea/lemonade enjoyed on our back porch or patio with spectacular views of Mt. Mansfield
• Indulge in our outdoor hot tub also with those views of Mt. Mansfield
• Free WiFi throughout the Inn

So, what are you waiting for…? Please feel free to call us or complete your reservation online. For online reservations go to our “reservation page” and click on “packages” and locate the “Spring into Summer Mid-Week Special.”We look forward to welcoming you to the beautiful Green Mountain State of Vermont!

This offer can not be combined with any previous or current offers/discounts and is not valid for stays in the Sugarloaf Mountain or Roundtop Mountain Rooms. No black out dates within the time period listed above, however, offer is pending availability.

Stick season allows me to jump on my bike for a brisk ride on our paved Rec. Path without the need to constantly call out, “on your left” as we do in the summer and fall (and hope those ahead of me a., hear it and b., understand that statement) and now experience this ride as if I were on my personal trail. The cool crisp air as I ride along the trail certainly gives me pause to consider how many more trips I can get in before this trail becomes a cross-country ski trail? And then, when I get a glimpse of the mountain and see the upper ski trails coated with the first layers of snow (both natural and with a little help from the snow guns) I know it will just be a matter of weeks till I am gliding down those trails on skis. Winter, bring it on, please.

Our hiking trails in Stick Season yield views and vistas previously shrouded by our dense forest of trees. The openness of the forest may also provide you with a glimpse of deer, moose or even a bear, though most likely those bears are beginning to settle in somewhere deep in the forest for their long hibernation. And I am thinking, why would I want to hibernate when one of the best seasons of the year is about to begin? Yes, winter.

At this time of year it is definitely easier to find a table at one of our amazing restaurants and the slower pace gives us the opportunity to catch up on the latest local news with our restaurant owner friends. The town and businesses are busily preparing for the holiday season, pulling out the Christmas lights, ordering the garland and wreaths and even, in my case, putting a fresh coat of paint on the front door (lots of traffic through that door this year and the door was starting to show some wear and tear).

The firewood is all stacked, and the first fire in the main living room fireplace has been set. Guests are now happily congregating around the hearth with a glass of wine, some Cabot Cheese and crackers and enjoying the opportunity to share stories with other guests and with us Innkeepers.

So, the nesting instinct is in full swing here in Stowe, Vermont and we would be happy to share this quiet time with you. And, if you have managed to get all the way to this point in this lengthy blog, we offer you a deal as a reward – take 10% off any room any night. This discount on top of our already discounted quiet season rates, is based on a two night minimum stay and valid until Thursday, Dec. 14, 2011. This special offer is good only for phone reservations directly with us and other restrictions may apply. Call us to confirm availability and don’t forget to tell us you read this in our blog!

Happy Stick Season!

Stowe seemed to be an oasis as less than 15 miles to the south, our neighbors in Waterbury suffered significant damage to homes, public infrastructures, and businesses. All the while, Stowe appears to have survived the storm relatively unscathed.

In Waterbury, one of our favorite restaurants, The Alchemist, is reported to be a total loss and has closed indefinitely. We know how well liked this restaurant was so we know that they will return. It will just take time and unfortunately a lot of hard work on the part of the owners to bring this great restaurant back to this great community.

While The Alchemist has had to close, other favorite Waterbury restaurants of ours such as Hen of the Wood, have been fortunately spared any significant damage. We had dinner at Hen of the Wood last night and had a wonderful evening.

We want to help our neighbors in Waterbury. There are a couple of immediate things we can and will be doing:

1. Support those businesses that are still open. While it is tragic for the loss of business for those who were flooded out, there are other businesses, especially restaurants, that still want to pay their staff and serve wonderful dinners. If we stop patronizing those who remain open the devastation to the business community expands.
2. We will be donating 5% of our gross revenues for all room sales from Sept. 1 through Sept. 15 to the United Way managed Vermont Disaster Relief Fund, www.vermont211.org, and we encourage other business owners in Stowe to join us with similar offers and efforts.

We know how fortunate we are here in Stowe when we see and read the reports of such significant losses in areas as close to us as Waterbury. We wish we could do even more as we know our neighbors in Waterbury, Morrisville, Jeffersonville, Hardwick and others would do what they could for us if the situation was reversed. Our prayers and thoughts are with all of our Vermont Neighbors during this time of clean up and re-build.

The Green Mountain State of Vermont is overall in great shape. While there are some tragic conditions spread throughout the state (mostly in southern Vermont) we feel like we live in an oasis here in Stowe, Vermont. The extent of our damage at the Brass Lantern Inn – 1. One sunflower blown over – restaked with a bamboo pole left over in the garage and now the sunflower seems happy to be facing the sun again, 2. One wall planter/container blown off the wall and cracked, decided, or rather rationalized, that the new crack “adds some character to the container” so now back on the wall, 3. Small puddle of water inside the doorway to hot tub deck (door faces the typical wind direction), shop vacuum and dehumidifier and the situation is resolved. That is the full extent of the damage. Thank goodness and this rain helps keep our valleys and mountains green.

We very much appreciate the thoughts, concerns and prayers of many of our past guests and those yet to come. We know we “dodged a bullet” and want you all to know that we are ok, especially for our guests that are planning to be here in the next month or so and especially for our Signature Fall Foliage Season guests.

Please feel free to contact us if you still have questions, concerns or stories of how you survived Irene. We would love to post the stories on our Brass Lantern Inn Facebook page.

By the way, become a Friend of ours on Facebook, and drop us a comment on our Brass Lantern Inn Facebook Page regarding how you survived Irene OR something special regarding your own hometown and we will give you a 12% discount on a two night or more stay (offer expires 12/31, discount applies to all rooms except Roundtop Mtn. and Sugarloaf Mtn., not valid during holidays, special events or Fall Foliage). And of course in true Facebook fashion if you let your Friends know about this deal, everyone wins!

Thanks again everyone for your concerns. Beautiful day here, think I will go golfing.

There are a few general questions we typically hear from our guests and one that will instantly bring a smile to our face is, “So, are you semi-retired?” While it is certainly and most likely a popular belief that most B&B Innkeepers are semi-retired, the truth is that this Innkeeping gig is definitely not the lifestyle of the Gentle Farmer. Honestly, it is my hope that my semi-retirement includes a bit less work (especially paperwork) than what we currently accept as part of the deal to maintain this wonderful lifestyle.

And “work” has an entirely different meaning in this “Chapter 2” phase of our lives. In my corporate days I didn’t necessarily perceive a time clock but I did have a clear sense of work time and non work time. Sunday evenings in particular were dreadful to me as my head began to think about the meetings and pending deadlines of the coming work week. Now, I get so absorbed in the everday life and process of operating this Inn that I find myself looking at the newspapers in the living room to confirm the day of the week, seriously. I think that is pretty cool. The trade off; as it has become obvious to us in our short tenure as Innkeepers, there is a profound sense of realization that there just isn’t enough time in the day to do everything you want to do. But, truthfully, isn’t that the same for most of us anyway? And all things considered I am happy to be filling my days as an Innkeeper than anything else I can dream up.

So, in my semi-retirement life plan, I would be hiking more trails, hitting more golf balls, tacking and jibbing more on my sailboat “Oh Chessie” on Lake Champlain, bicycling many more miles through our beautiful valleys of cornfield and dairy cows, skiing trails such as Nosedive and Perry Merrill at Stowe Mountain on a much more frequent basis, and snowshoeing and/or x-country skiing along the Catamount Trail right after that perfect snowfall. Essentially, semi-retirement would appear to allow me the opportunity to become completely and totally absorbed in this amazing landscape of Stowe, Vermont.

Hmmmm, semi-retirement would be a great thing here in Stowe.

With a generous glass (or two…) of Chardonnay, some Extra Sharp Cheddar Cabot Cheese, French bread with a little prosciutto, live music, in this case, from “Crooked Still” (folk/bluegrass “with a contemporary twist”) and wonderful weather, I found myself absorbed with the ever changing natural light of the background scenery and keeping only an ear on the great music.  It is amazing how quickly and dramatically the light changes the sense of depth and scale of the Sterling Mountain Range.  As any amateur photographer can easily attest, it is impossible to capture that sense with a photograph, no matter how fancy of a camera you may or may not have. Ok, and maybe that glass of Chardonnay had some effect as well…

At this concert we shared the evening with some good friends that happen to also be Innkeepers in this small New England town.  Like most people, our community of friends and neighbors  is also closely tied with our type of business and profession which in our current station in life happens to be Innkeeping.  We all have a feeling of deep appreciation for where we live and the opportunities we have at this point in our lives to participate in this lifestyle.

Last night, the sunset from our back porch was as dramatic as last night but without the live music.  Instead, we shared that moment of the sun slipping behind “the slumbering man” (Mt. Mansfield) with some wonderful guests from Boston as they played a rousing game of scrabble on a blanket stretched out on the floor.  The sun going down behind Mt. Mansfield, highlighted by streams of light through the distant thunderhead clouds, again memorable, but so very difficult to fully capture or permanently record.  Good thing we can see this event repeated many times over in a typical summer! 

Summer in Stowe, Vermont, filled with great memories….  Why not come on up to Stowe and create your own here at the Brass Lantern Inn?

As with any business, profession or vocation that you love, you should find it easy to literally pour yourself into the day to day operations and to a great extent, blissfully lose track of time. It is very easy to do, I know from personal experience now as an Innkeeper!

So, here is how we insert some Vermont time into our day with some of our/my favorite Outdoor Pursuits -

Bicycling – the Rec. Path is just a 1/4 mile away and provides a wonderful lunch hour break. The trail is 5.5 miles one way and typically I can make that roundtrip of 11 miles or so well under an hour, unless of course I stop to take photos and get distracted by the ever changing scenery along the Path.

Hiking – there are several short hikes within minutes of our Inn – Moss Glen Falls is one of our favorites and an easy one to slip out of the Inn and enjoy.

Golf – unbelievably beautiful vistas from every hole of the Stowe Country Club. The SCC is not a fussy, high brow kind of place but one where I am likely to see a neighbor a fellow Rotarian, our own guests or get partnered with a tourist and have a great time and a good conversation over a Trapp Lager at the 19th hole. It feels more like a club that happens to be in in the country.

Sailing – ok, I have to admit, I do miss the Chesapeake Bay (our former home of 20+ years). Stowe, VT is a heck of a long way from our other favorite town, Oxford, Maryland, where we used to spend some great family time in the summer sailing our 19′ Mariner. “Oh Chessie,” though most would consider as a small sailboat (at least by Chesapeake Bay standards), is still a bit big for most of the bodies of water near us. While Lake Champlain is really only about 50 mins. away, typically it is difficult to fit this into the time schedule of a Innkeepers life. And Lake Memphramagog is just 60 mins. north along the border with Canada, that too is even more difficult to squeeze in.

As most of us inherently know, of all of thie “things” we can possess, time is probably the most precious (though I guess one could argue or question whether or not you can actually possess time). We typically do not know how much time is left in our personal account and unless you have “hit the lottery” or “have other means” we all of course have to “make a living” and consequently have to strike some realistic balance in our pursuit of happiness and surviving.

That is why it is so critically clear to this dreamer, now Innkeeper, that prior to creating this Chapter 2 in my/our life I had better find a balance in my life for the things “I have to do” and the things I truly “want to do.” And if you are really lucky, as I believe I am, by witness of being here in Stowe, Vermont, you find a way to do both. I am still challenged with that pursuit to find that balance each and every day and can’t imagine it any other way.

We look forward to helping you find your passion or perhaps retreat here in Stowe and hope you feel comfortable while here to share your Stowe experiences with us on the back porch at the end of the day. Happy Trails All. George

We tell our guests, with a very sincere smile, “perhaps you would like to take the Brass Lantern Inn on a test drive.” “We would be happy to let you step in and get the experience of what it is like to own and operate a B&B” here in Stowe where there are numerous choices for owning and operating a Stowe Vermont Lodging experience.

Even our local banker, when completing the final loan approval documents, asked me this one final question “This isn’t the Bob Newhart syndrome is it?!” And if you are too young to know that reference just Google it. I’m sure the local bankers have seen these corporate type burn-outs looking for utopia here in Stowe, Vermont, many times over. Perhaps even a place like ours in the form of a romantic and historic farmhouse. And perhaps there have even been a few, or maybe, unfortunately, more than a few who never fully understood the risk of this type of business and somewhere in pursuit of the dream they lost track of reality. You have to do your homework.

And we did our homework. Among the many “due diligence” items the number one item was attending a three day seminar for “Aspiring Innkeepers,” through the B&B Team, www.bbteam.com . The setting for this seminar was at a beautiful Bed & Breakfast, the Captain Jefferds Inn, in the picturesque coastal resort town (and summer home of George Bush) Kennebunkport, Maine. The B&B Team, which at the time included Peter, Rick and Jan gave us an amazing level of personalized service from this first seminar to our initial searches of B&B’s for sale through in-depth due diligence analysis of the purchase of the Brass Lantern Inn. Completing your homework is essential. Remember what your high school teachers told you about completing your homework assignments? They were right.

Make no mistake, this isn’t a hobby or a side venture, it is a business that we have developed, work on daily to maintain and is the basis of the support our family. It is our livelihood. And it is through this business that we now have the luxury to call Stowe, Vermont our home, with a commute that requires only a walk down our hallway and the incredible opportunity to welcome guests to this beautiful area, guests that quickly become our new friends. And as you would imagine, it is the opportunity to meet incredible people from around the world that becomes the real reward of this business/lifestyle.

So, you still want to be an Innkeeper? Give us a call, we would love to chat about it and perhaps even give you a chance to take her out for a spin around the block.

It appears that in this country, and the world for that matter, we seem to have lost the sense of what “service” stands for. I’m sure we can all share some horror story or two regarding air travel or trying to return some defective product to a store.

As Innkeepers our “product” can certainly be defined by our physical building and grounds. We work hard to provide a level of comfort and atmosphere in our Inn at a level we hope is above expectation. Service is also something that is expected to be part of the overall experience of a stay in a Bed and Breakfast. And it is the service “with a personal touch” that you will find in most Bed and Breakfast’s and one that we can promise you will find at the Brass Lantern Inn.

A couple of examples of the two extremes of Service –

The Bad –

Fourteen months ago I purchased a new yard tractor at a local store (affiliated with a huge, national chain of stores). On June 19th, while mowing our 1.5 acre yard, the tractor began to run very rough, as if it was ready to shut down. This rough running occurred whenever I engaged the mower deck. It seemed to run better, but not like new, when the mower deck was disengaged. That’s great, but I needed to mow the grass, not use it to pick up a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk at the corner store.

I called the number listed with the Two Year, Unlimited Warranty. By the fourth person on the line I felt like I had shared the symptoms of my problem sufficiently to at least have someone give me some idea of the severity of the issue and even offer a potential resolution. After confirming that yes, I am the owner, and no, I have not been abusing the machine, the service representative explained that the first chance that a repair person could be out to “look at the tractor” was July 23rd, a full 5 weeks away. And the service representative seemed to be telling me this with a straight face. I’m sure they were just following the corporate line on this kind of issue. I needed to speak with someone of a higher pay grade.

After more phone calls and here is the real motivator, posting my situation with blow by blow detail on this national chain’s Forum/Discussion Board the July 23 appointment was changed to June 25th. It is amazing how powerful the internet can be…

And, as anyone who has been in this situation could script – Repair person comes out this past Saturday, opens the hood of the tractor, listens to the rough running, pulls at a few wires and says, “yep, you need a new ‘coil’.” I then say, “great, do you have the part in your truck (with my fingers crossed?” Repair Person, “No, sorry, it is a ‘Special Part’ that we will have to ‘expedite’ delivery.” So of course I ask, “when do you anticipate delivery of the part.” “Well, my computer here says it will be, July 25….” Lovely, so what am I supposed to do with my yard for the next four weeks? I think I will see if a local farmer has some sheep that they could lend me.

In my book that is not service. That is meeting the absolute minimum of a warranty agreement. Period. Ultimately, this has left such a negative impression on me that I can promise you that I will do my best to never, ever purchase anything from the company ever again.

And for a positive example –

Our family had plans to go on a spring vacation to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, just outside of St. Michael’s in particular. Online, we saw a rental house listed through a local realtor that appeared to meet our needs; bedroom space for our immediate family and a dock for our sailboat. Deposit submitted, confirmation receipt from the Realtor and we began to packing for our vacation.

About two weeks prior to our planned arrival, we receive an e-mail from the Realtor, “sorry, the owner of the house can not honor the originally agreed reservation.” No explanation provided. I called the Realtor to discuss. Turns out that the owner of the house neglected to tell his wife about our reservation request (that included Easter Weekend) and they had plans for a family gathering there themselves.

The Realtor explained that he would do everything he could to provide us with a comparable house. He really was on it immediately. After a few options we were presented with a wonderful house (larger than our original reservation) and at no additional cost. It was most likely a better house in the end and the Realtor never discussed or presented any issues of additional payment due.

We had a great vacation as a result of great service. And if poor service warrants a review, then good service does as well. I posted our story on the rental web site to show others that this Realtor provided an excellent level of service. We sincerely hope that others that may be considering a stay through this agent see that service is a key component of their business model.

We hope to provide our guests with that “ah, this is just the getaway that we needed!” kind of experience. Given the chance we will show you our level of Service. And if you are still skeptical and you have a moment, check out what others have to say about our level of service on TripAdvisor.com.

We had also found (from reviews on TripAdvisor and others) that guests had posted comments such as, “We had no idea this Inn and Stowe was as beautiful as it really is.” Well, we hope that this new web site changes that perception.

We also are aware that “everyone has a blog” a “twitter” “FB” and whole host of ways to share and diseminate information. While not a writer by profession we hope that this site will keep you abreast of not only our Four Seasons (which really are 12 – one for each month) but special packages and yes, some discounts that we can offer throughout the year.

Thank you for considering a stay here at the Brass Lantern Inn!