Yelton Manor Bed and….SKIP Breakfast!!

We played around with the Sharpies again this morning!!!

Gardens remind us of the fundamental truth: All things must change.  The burning bushes that separate  the Yelton Manor and The Manor Guest House, gorgeous and beloved for 25 years, now have an incurable disease PLUS are at the end of their lifespan. So they are dying off, one by one, sometimes two by two.  As they fall away, we drop what I have come to call “a couple of BIG ASS ROCKS” on their stumps, then I landscape around them.  The rocks are strong winter bones.  And we like the new look that visually connects the two inns. Plus we can see the span of the garden more fully from our inside vantage points.  It’s all good.  Thank you to the strong, willing and able friends from Huntree Nursery who did the chain saw massacre and the rock drop this morning. 

Robert always hoots out loud when the bill comes from Huntree, as the line item is actually “Big Ass Rocks” on the invoice.  Gotta love it.

I treated Matt and his great team to huge glasses of fresh fruit smoothie after the hard work.  Organic cherries, raspberries, black raspberries, blueberries, banana, pomegranate and a snidge of yogurt for creaminess.  Everyone was happy, the sun was shining and a good day was started perfectly!!!!

Many thanks to all our Yelton Manor B&B team who care deeply about making everything perfect!

The spacious, screened in, 3 season porch at Yelton Manor is definitely one of the most enjoyable common rooms at the inn. We serve breakfast there at two round tables that each have 4 comfortable wicker chairs.  The dainty Victorian chandeliers, the ferns, greenery and antique decor add to the sense of summer ease. In the evening we light small votive candles that burn until midnight, as the aroma of moonflower vine, trailing the fence outside, prevails.  Quite the lovely spot!!!

This year we repaired window sills, replaced all the screens, painted the storm windows, painted the floor and more.  We are excited to get it all back together again!!!

   This beautiful porch has a sloped roof that makes it the #1 destination in a thunderstorm. The rain comes down the sides in a furious torrent, the smell is delicious and the mighty thunder and lightning bring all your senses alive!!!

We are delighted to continue to keep it beautiful!!!

Spring isn’t spring at Yelton Manor Bed and Breakfast until the compost arrives!!!!  Some women like yellow gold on fingers and wrists, I love the black gold that tops off the perennial border each year!!!  Today we got the first 7 yards, there will be 40 more behind this one.  We fill over 300 pots, then there is 300 X 12 feet of garden to top off. The smell of it is heaven, we love being attached closely with the earth.  Time to put on my sh*t-kickin boots and start in!

Thank you Huntree Nursery for being our steady garden partner for the last 24 years!  Jan and Dave’s son Matt is stepping up bigtime into the business now, he’s the real deal and we love him!!!

COMPOST!!!!!  Aaaaaah, should be a scratch and sniff option here!!!!!

Are we proud?  YES, absolutely, and humbled and grateful.  We love our staff, our fabulous inn, and our loyal guests.  Life is perfect.

This beautiful article was published today in Michigan Blue Magazine, Spring 2012!!

We had a great garden party and hope you enjoy the photos too!

   South Haven, Michigan, where 2/3 of the world’s blueberries are on shrubs within 50 miles around!   Big as your thumb, sweet as can be, we serve them fresh by the handfuls in summer and we freeze 500 lbs of them for mixing into recipes all year round.

Our local farmers walk right in our kitchen door all summer long with the day’s fresh catch of raspberries, black raspberries, blackberries and grapes. Every Wednesday and Saturday we raid the huge Farmer’s Market at the pavilion downtown for more fresh and organic bounty. We direct guests to our favorite farms and farm markets daily, so be ready to take a trunkload of fresh local produce with you when returning from your Yelton Manor holiday!

I’m a freak for Michigan plums, but also snatch up our famous peaches, apples and pears. We also have a farmer who grows apricots, and I always get a bushel or two and make jam.

Join us sometime for South Haven’s International Blueberry Festival, celebrated every August for nearly 50 years!

Lanier Travel just announced that Yelton Manor Bed and Breakfast innkeepers, Robert and Elaine, have been named “2012 International Innkeepers of the Year”! Quite a perfect follow-up to last year’s International 2011 Inn of the Year”, and 2010′s “Best Overall Location” and “Best Complimentary Afternoon Snack” honors!  We also scooped up “2012 Best for Relaxing/Unwinding”, just some sweet icing on the cake!

We are thrilled, honored and grateful!

We share this award with our amazing innkeeping staff, Cindi, Rayline and Mary!

Robert and Elaine have been at the inn for nearly 25 years, and some on the staff have been with us nearly that long too!

We still have most of the same builders, painters, roofers, carpenters, plumbers, heating/cooling techs, tile and carpet layers, and so many more team members from way back when we built the inn in 1988. They are like family! Also, “Backstage at The Manor”, our kitchen door opens many times a day with extended family smiles, like the organic fruit and vegetable farmers, the UPS man and mailman, the computer fix-it geek, the appliance repair guys, staff members from decades ago, it’s like a TV reality show!

The Kitchen entrance has a chair on the porch that is now infamous for photo ops.

Here’s Mary, our gracious afternoon Innkeeper. Mary is also a professional photographer and has generously shared her Manor photos with us!

Mary is a complete delight and a longtime friend. Elaine is thrilled to the max to be GodMother to Mary’s firstborn Grandson, Calvin!