A NEW LEXINGTON KENTUCKY BED AND BREAKFAST OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

Richard and I have finally found a new home! For six years we lived in the beautiful state of Maine. We owned and operated a nine-room bed & breakfast inn on the mid-coast of Maine in Boothbay. Through the years we were very fortunate to have met and been befriended by our guests from all across the country and from all over the world. Then one day, out of the blue, a stranger made us an offer to buy our beautiful home by the sea. After much reflection, we said yes, but little did we know that it would take us a year-and-a-half to find a new home.

We clocked over 4,000 miles and went up and down the eastern seaboard searching and then we came home to the Bluegrass to visit (Richard is from Kentucky and I am guilty by association) and it was love at first sight when we saw the house on the outskirts of Lexington, Kentucky at 341 Lexington Street in Versailles (pronounced ver-Sales). Stonewall, circular driveway, 3.5 acres in a park-like setting with lots of old trees and shrubs and 5100 square feet of house. A house that has been in the same prominent family for 200+ years until we had the good fortune to become the new owners! It’s a lovely old solid brick house that was built in 1810 and remodeled only once in the late 1950s.

Richard and I and our contractor and her subs spent a frantic ten weeks bringing the house back to life and now it’s ready to begin a new phase in its long history – that of a Lexington Kentucky bed and breakfast inn.

Our new B&B located in Versailles, Kentucky is named in honor of a very subtle, yet important part of the process in making America’s one and only alcoholic drink: bourbon! The fermented liquor is put into charred white oak barrels to age. This step is the most crucial in the production of bourbon, because the whiskey seeps into the barrel walls as they expand in the hot summer months and leeches back out during cooler weather as the wood contracts. Predominant flavors in the bourbon whiskey can be directly attributed to the storage in the charred oak barrels. Tastes such as those of the oak itself, the vanilla produced by the heated wood, and the sweet notes derived from caramelized wood sugars all lend bourbon its one-of-a-kind character and subtlety. So combined with the long history of the house, our fondness for the property’s numerous and beautiful white oak trees, my fascination with flavors in food and cooking, and the importance of the charred oak in the bourbon making process, we have named our new home bed & breakfast Charred Oaks Inn.

Here at Charred Oaks Inn our guest rooms are exceptionally large and spacious, very private each with their own en suite bathroom and uniquely decorated with a mix of antiques, modern pieces and original artwork.

Amenities like lush king size beds, luxuriously comfortable bed linens, thick towels, comfy bathrobes, fresh flowers, stocked in-room fridges (soda, diet soda and bottled water) and smart TVs guarantee a perfectly relaxing stay at what we hope will become your favorite Kentucky home-away-from-home.

All stays include a freshly prepared full gourmet breakfast every morning with your choice to eat “lite”; dine in our lovely, bright and peaceful dining room at separate tables on fine china with candlelight and soft music, or treat yourself to breakfast in bed. Check out sample menus at Charred Oaks Inn.

Every evening a homemade sweet or a tasty savory will be waiting for your return in the living room.

To check availability, or to make a reservation, go to www.charredoaksinn.com/reservations

Richard and I have only one rule: the minute you walk through the front door you become 'framily". Come and see for yourself.

P.S. We would just like to take this opportunity to say a big “thank you” to our friends from HII who have remained in contact with us through our long home-hunting ordeal! You made all the difference and we treasure you!