The Best Thing About This Place

No one answered when I first knocked on the door of the Victory Inn, the bed-and-breakfast where Much Older Sister, Much Younger Sister, and I were to meet for our first-ever sisters' weekend. I knew it was the right place, because Much Older Sister had put together this shindig and she hoovered up all the organizational skills in the gene pool before MYS and I were even born.

It was dark, though, and after a few seconds I wondered if I had inadvertently rung the doorbell of some OTHER stately mansion in this small town. That's when the porch light flipped on and the door opened.

"Oh!" said the smiling, grey-haired woman who answered. "I expected you at the back door!"

The rest of her greeting was swallowed up in the shrieks and hugs of sisters who haven't seen each other for way too long (okay, it had only been two weeks) but later it struck me that this was the perfect characterization of the inn--it's the kind of place where you're back-door family from the minute you arrive.

I won't bore you with details of the how cleverly the rooms were themed or how gorgeous the antiques were because, well, they were and they were, and you can find pictures of those on the official website. However, I will add this picture which seems to be missing from the beauty shots the inn is using to try to entice you to visit:

Yes. I ate ALL of this for breakfast, carbs be damned. Plus coffee with cream and orange juice. The casserole tasted just like Much Older Sister's favorite meal from childhood and Margaret ran off copies of the recipe for us.

I could go on and on (and already have) about how wonderful this facility was but it strikes me that the thing I liked best about the Victory Inn was that it backed off and let us enjoy each other. We oooohed and aaaaahed over the cute little child's settee in the corner, and mentioned what a great space this would be for a family reunion, and when we needed something from our hosts ("Hey, could you take a picture of us?") they magically appeared. But what we wanted was time with each other.

The best part of the Victory Inn? It was this: