“This should be fun,”
I thought to myself as I pulled into a near-empty parking lot beside a beautiful 1800s, southern-styled house in Buckeystown, Maryland. Autumn in the mountains and valleys of Appalachia tends to attract many people from all over the world, and you wind up meeting a lot of people who you wouldn’t expect to encounter in the middle of Western Maryland.
I’ve wanted to plan some sort of fun getaway to a B-&-B, but I had never actually been to a bed and breakfast before. Then I found out I would have the honor in participating in a close friend’s wedding day.
Enter: my friend, Charlotte. She had selected Frederick Inn Bed & Breakfast as her pre-wedding base of operations, which matched her personal style quite well. The Inn’s style is very old time-y chic: from it’s architecture to it’s room set up, all of the little touches of old-fashioned flair create an atmosphere of vintage sophistication.
Pat, the awesome lady who runs the Inn with her husband, gave me the run down on the place upon arrival. I would have my own set of keys to the front/back doors, as well as a key to my room. I wasn’t worried about crime in Western Maryland, but safety is something everyone should appreciate! I would have turn-down service, if requested, and there were snacks and drinks in our mini-fridge on the third floor. And of course: there was breakfast! Breakfast would be served from 8 to 10 AM daily, and Charlotte already told her around what times we would be down both days.
The Rooms
While I was waiting for the others to arrive and kick-off the wedding weekend debauchery, I decided to poke around and check out the other rooms. A seemingly good omen for Charlotte, another room was taken by a couple celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary. Otherwise, we had the place to ourselves.
The Inn has three floors. The entries are on the first floor, and if you use the front door you’ll have the opportunity to see or use the wrap around porch. Despite being a little chilly in late September, it was a pretty spot to sit out and enjoy some fresh air. As you enter the main foyer, you can see part of the dining room on your left, and the sitting room, which extends into the dining room, on your right. There are some cozy blue chairs in the sitting room: a few right by the fire place and some by the windows. Their styling is more modern than you would have found in the 1800s, but they do have an old-fashioned feeling because of their wing-back shape
Moving to the second floor, you have suites one through five. All of the doors in the Inn have hand painted lettering, which I thought was really cute! Suite one is the largest out of all the rooms, and has its own private balcony. It also has a little work space and a private bathroom, making it great for people who are travelling on business but want quaint luxury.
Suite two has a queen bed in it, and while it is cozier than most of the other suites, it may be more romantic that way. It was decorated in light peach tones, so while the space is small it still maintains a nice spacious feeling. There is a little sitting area, and the website says that is has an armoire that was handcrafted in Italy, an automatic win for me!
Suite three is a bit bigger than suite two, but has less natural light (you can read about why I love natural light here). It is still a pretty space, and I would never complain about staying here (or living here for that matter, but that’s wishful thinking!). There is a cute little sitting area and a queen size bed. For a small additional charge you can request a roll out bed for this room, putting its capacity at thee people instead of two. Add the private bathroom, and it’s a suite deal.
Suite four was the one our married acquaintances were staying in, so I didn’t get a chance to grab some pictures. Sorry, friends.
Suite five had the coolest bathroom (yes I said that), and really nice patterns on their pillow covers; I love a good paisley/filligree-esque pattern. Again, fairly spacious, and comes with it’s own siting space as well!
The five of us stayed on the third floor, which was a GREAT because the floor has it’s own door. We had the entirety of the place to ourselves, which made for some great girls get-away/wedding weekend bonding. Rooms six, seven, eight and nine are located on the top floor, and there was a cozy common space, two bathrooms and a shower room. The common space featured a TV with DVD player, a cabinet of books and movies, two wing-back chairs, a wooden table and ensemble. The space outside of the bathrooms and shower room had a mini-fridge pre-stocked by the Inn with some water and soda, a table with snacks and a Keurig with coffee and tea.
Room six featured a queen bed, a chair with lamp in it’s own little alcove, closet, drawers, and for an additional fee, a twin bed that you can use to put up three people comfortably. It has nice blue tones, and fair amounts of light. Great view of the trees outside on the property!
Room seven, the room I stayed in, has two twin beds. It also has two little alcoves, and one has a chair and lamp. It also has a closet, a large dresser that also has a large mirror. This room is perfect for friends! (Deb and I had plenty of CW worthy girl-talk moments in this room.)
Room eight, right across the common space from room seven, is a gorgeous light green that has a beautiful, antique white two door closet with mirrors, matching dresser, and bed. It has a chair and lamp in an alcove as well, and it is the most airy and lit room out of the third floor rooms. Since I didn’t get a lot of pictures for this one, I would highly recommend looking at the picture listed on the Inn’s website.
Room nine, last but most certainly not least, is a pretty room that is decorated in a light peach. Very simple, but like room eight, has a stand alone dresser and closet, alcove area with a lamp and a chair.
One of the biggest perks about staying at a bed and breakfast is definitely the breakfast.
Sure, the rooms are fantastic, and the beds make you wish you could just “Netflix and chill” all day, but the food! The FOOD at this place is AMAZING!
Morning number one was great: it was the night after the bachelorette party, and I’m pretty sure the only reason why any of us looked semi-presentable was because of the Turkish robes we all wore provided by the Inn, plus lots and lots of coffee. (Some of the girls opted for tea, but I’ll take my coffee strong and black, please.) The breakfast started off with a poached pear, sprinkled with a little bit of what tasted like cinnamon and topped with a whipped entity that was sweet yet not overpowering. The sprig of mint and chunks of walnut really brought it together. Next was cinnamon roll coffee cake (very fall), and after that was this delightful puff pastry with egg, a slice of country ham (great for the carnivores like myself), and deliciously juicy grape tomatoes that Pat picked from the Inn’s garden.
Morning two was the big day, but of course you want to start that off with a breakfast that is applause worthy. That’s right. We applauded. Pat had no idea what was going on! She made a great coffee cake, a mint fruit salad, but her show stopping meal? Stuffed french toast. I ate every. Single. Bite. And I don’t “do” french toast. It was light, not heavy and syrup-obsessed like every other place. It was delicately done, and the kicker was the tart cranberries used to offset some of the sugary-ness. On the side were two sausage links, which went really well with the cranberries and syrup.
Morning number three I was by myself, as Charlotte was now married and the rest of the girls either had work or lonnnnngggg drives ahead of them. But I was joined by another wedding party who stayed at the Inn the night before on the second floor, and we enjoyed an encore performance of Pat’s poached pears, and the debut of an amazing quiche that had zucchini and, wait for it… dijon mustard. The spiciness helped cut through the consistency of the quiche and gave it a little kick, but unless I had asked about it, I probably wouldn’t have guessed what was in it!
Overall… the weekend was spectacular.
The Frederick Inn Bed & Breakfast was the perfect place for us to call our wedding weekend headquarters. Between the warmth and hospitality of Pat and her staff, the design of the Inn’s romantic rooms, the charming and cozy atmosphere and the incredible, Instagram worthy food, the weekend was nothing short of a relaxing, fun success.
I would highly recommend this place for any traveler, but as I was there for a wedding, I think the Inn’s third floor really does make the best place to have a get-away with a few close friends. The added privacy of the third floor door ensures that others guests aren’t disturbed while you bond and create new memories, or get ready for a wedding fully stocked with a bride, bridesmaids, Mother-of-the-Bride, photographers and makeup artists. Definitely helps your “I don’t want to be rude” peace of mind!
x Alexis