Getting Started

When guests learn that we’re still very new at running a bed and breakfast, they often ask the same question: “How did you decide what to tackle first? How do you prioritize when you’re staring at a giant house, four yurts, and ten acres?”

My honest answer is always, “That is an excellent question!” And it is. The scale alone was enough to make anyone freeze. We’re talking about a 9,000-square-foot house with five guest rooms, a dining room, living room, offices, a beautiful kitchen, and a basement full of spaces (including a billiard room). Add an 800-foot driveway, outdoor areas, a barn, and the yurts, and the to-do list felt endless.

So we started by asking the staff what absolutely needed attention right away. It turned out the driveway had no place for garbage or recycling bins along the road or on the sides. Everything was being loaded into the innkeeper’s car and hauled to the dump as needed. Inefficient and unpleasant, to put it mildly. We bought a length of ditch pipe, the county came out to install it, and they even paved and graveled the area. Just like that, we had proper trash and recycling pickup.

From there, we tried to put ourselves in our guests’ shoes and work in the order they actually experience the property.

We began with the digital side—commissioning a new website (still not live, so keep checking back for the exciting updates) and mapping out clear, concise pre-arrival communications so guests get the essentials without feeling overwhelmed.

Next came the physical arrival experience: a new big sign on Yale Farm Road, some driveway patching, and better, more plentiful signage to make check-in navigation easier and more welcoming.

Then we walked every room in the house, noting what we liked and what we wanted to replace. Every so often we still hit Penny Lane or one of the other great antique shops around the Finger Lakes and knock a few more items off the list. We’re finally feeling good about where the interiors stand.

Breakfast got the same thoughtful treatment—not just the food, but the whole experience. We rearranged the dining room for better flow, invested in new flatware and china, and set some simple standards so the service feels consistent day to day. We were lucky to inherit an excellent chef. The only challenge? Angela and I both love to cook, so there weren’t enough days in the week for everyone to get their kitchen time. The compromise has worked beautifully: our chef handles weekdays, and we take the weekends. After some early experimentation, we’ve settled into a solid rotation of reliable crowd-pleasers. Angela has also become quite the baker and loves leaving fresh bread out in the evenings.

I’m genuinely proud of how we stepped back and prioritized. Empathizing with the guest journey turned out to be the best guide we could have asked for.

<written by Chris>