British bed and breakfast started as staying in someone's spare room as a cheap alternative to a hotel. And though the scene's gotten more sophisticated, and more expensive, I wouldn't send visitors here to a B&B if they were looking for high end luxury. In the USA, I'd heard, B&Bs were more like up-market boutique hotels, with prices to match. I can now, with a great deal of sybaritic satisfaction, confirm that observation.
The Arrowhead Inn, just north of Durham, North Carolina, is a lot closer to the magnificent places we stayed on our honeymoon than any B&B of my experience. The surroundings were exquisite, the room palatial, the food gourmet and the service exceptional. And the price? The $235 a night we paid for our room was far more expensive than most American hotels ... more than triple what we paid at Massanutten, where we started this trip ... but about what we pay for that advantageously priced hotel room at our club when we stay up in London. All things are relative.
Arrowhead's not an everyday sort of place, but if you want to treat yourself, this is great value for money. In fact, it's is so wonderful I'd consider it a destination in itself.
The house dates back to just before the American revolution. Its white clapper board siding, porch with two-story white columns and gracious gardens with the requisite magnolia trees make this a small but perfect southern mansion. Though the interiors are decorated with respect to tradition, the place doesn't show its age. Everything is show-home tidy, in pristine condition and in achingly good taste.
We stayed three nights in the Brittain Room, which had to be the biggest and ... I suspect ... the most opulent of the seven rooms in the house. (There's an eighth option in a snug but luxuriously furnished log cabin in the garden.) The square footage of our Arrowhead bedroom was about the same as the footprint of my entire cottage in Berkshire.
It was dominated by a king-sized four poster with mattresses so high, steps were available to get into bed. There was a fireplace with two wing backs in front of it, a jacuzzi tub in the corner and a TV and VCR hidden away in a mahogany wardrobe. A sliding glass door led out to our own private deck overlooking the gardens. And of course, there's a big, beautifully decorated bathroom with a large shower.
If we got tired of all that, there were plenty of public areas in which to lounge. The space beyond our room door was technically the entrance hall, by merit of the front door at one corner, but it had another fireplace and was furnished as a sitting room. At the back of the house was a formal dining room leading into the "Keeping Room", a big wooden extension with tables for breakfast on one side and seating around another fireplace on the other. A door here led out to a shady patio with tables, chairs and an outdoor stove/firepit for cold nights, and beyond that a lovely garden with perennial beds, winding paths, a gazebo and a dedicated court for that old fashioned game of pitching horse shoes.
The innkeepers, Gloria and Phil Teber, live across the garden in a neo-classical outbuilding that adds to the view, gives them privacy and contributes to the overall feel of boutique hotel rather than houseguest quarters. They make a great team, Gloria friendly, considerate and primarily front-of-house, Phil cooking up delightful stuff in the kitchen and occasionally popping his cheerful frame out to say hello.
Between them, they seem to anticipate your every need and lay out all the thoughtful touches that make the place so luxurious. In the room, there's a candle beside the jacuzzi, snacks packed in cellophane and ribbons in a little basket on the desk and a stereo with iPod charger next to the bed. In the Keeping Room, they lay snacks out on the bar every afternoon, the fridge is filled with complimentary bottles of water and cans of soda, and there's a wide collection of DVDs to borrow for that player in your room. Next to the back door, a basket of sunscreen lotions, in case you want to soak up some, but not all, of that southern sun.
Beyond the decor, the innkeepers and the little touches, the food sets Arrowhead apart. The night of our arrival, we'd arranged for Phil to prepare his five course chef's menu for us, choosing from several possible main courses (in advance, by email). We dined alone, by candlelight, in the Keeping Room, overlooking the garden and enjoying a great wine from Gloria's list. You don't have to make special arrangements for special food, however. Breakfast is a gourmet experience. Unlike the typical British B&B, where every institution from Lands' End to John-o-Groats does essentially the same fry up, Phil comes up with a different option every morning. After your compote of fresh fruit and your first coffee, you might get pancakes, eggs benedict or grilled bananas besides crepes stuffed with sweet cheese.
With all this to enjoy, you won't be surprised to learn we didn't wander far. This part of the holiday, after all, was about resting between all that sightseeing and the return to the real world. Durham is a vibrant small town and there's plenty to do. We met a friend of Piers' in the American Tobacco District, now a buzzy area of restaurants and bars just next to the minor league Durham Bulls ballpark, continued our Civil War exploration at Bennet Place (see the entry before last), wandered around the Sarah P. Duke gardens and had a successful afternoon at the local outlet mall. But really, all we wanted to do was hang out at the Arrowhead. And so we did ... lounging in the hammock in the garden, steaming in the jacuzzi or snuggling down in that magnificent room with wine and movies. The vibe was so much like South Africa's Birkenhead House, we felt like we were on honeymoon again. It was just what the doctor ordered. Quite literally.
And now, officially, it's back to the real world, and life as normal.
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