Dumbwaiter a Smart Idea!
During the “off season” we plan home maintenance and any structural changes. This year, we are installing a dumbwaiter. For those who have been to Bedford Landings B & B, you will recognize from the photos where this is being installed. The waiter will be functional over three floors. We will be able to load groceries from the garage level to go up to the kitchen, send clean sheets and towels up to the guest room level and dirty laundry down. PEOPLE cannot ride the dumb waiter as it has a 100 lb. weight limit.   The mechanics were to have arrived in January (our slowest month) but they did not arrive until mid February. Not wanting to create dust while guests were in the house, we delayed installation until this week.   Jack has been in the shaft working to install the track. Here are a few photos.

Brightening Up the Fishing Room
The Fishing Room is one of our guest favorites. It is just cozy.  I decided it was time to try out chalk paint and brighten up the Fishing Room! My artist friend Lisa Floyd says chalk paint will “cover about anything,” so I painted a dark dresser with a salmon color and changed out the hardware. I like it! How about you?

Love at Bedford Landings
We absolutely delight in seeing other people happy and love surprises (at least Karen does!). For Valentine’s Day, the female in this couple planned a sightseeing flight over the lake.  He loved it!  And, when they landed, the local group (The Harmeneers) was there to serenade them right in the hangar!!  It was just a happy, happy moment!

Horseback Riding at the Smith Mountain Lake
We often feel like tour guides suggesting things to do and places to go around Smith Mountain Lake. A place we have come to enjoy ourselves and would highly recommend is Spring Valley Farms. Last weekend we took our daughter’s family including three grandchildren to ride horses. Their rates are totally reasonable, their horses are gentle. and the guides are informative! Even if you have never ridden horses before this is a great place to start! Here is a group shot from our ride!

https://www.facebook.com/spgvalleyfarm/

Murder Mystery Excitement Grows!
The Murder Mystery is officially sold out! We are busy making menu plans and emailing participants in anticipation of an exciting murder enactment! This is our second year holding the Murder Mystery. It was so much fun last year that we are hosting it again.  If we have a second successful event, we may again host it next year! We are just hoping that the dumbwaiter is completed by the time this event rolls around March 11^th! Otherwise the installation shaft would be a good place to hide the body! Just kidding! Can’t wait!

Researching Other Fly-in B & Bs

We took a quick jaunt to Florida the beginning of February in an attempt to discover other fly-in locations. We had a lovely stay at Cedar Keys B & B in Cedar Keys Florida. There is a quaint little town, five tie-down spaces, and an innkeeper who will come pick you and your luggage up by golf cart. The weather turned a little iffy for our next stop at Port St. Joe so we will have to postpone that stop for another time.

We are trying to gather a list of fly-in B  & Bs. The other one that we often recommend as worth the stop is Oz’s Homestay at Freefall Oz in Pennsylvania. They have a nice grass strip right on their property and Oz is a great chef!

Springtime??!!?
We brought unseasonably warm weather back with us from Florida, but I can’t imagine that this streak will continue. However, it is fine with me if the old groundhog was wrong! Spring can’t come fast enough for me! The crocuses are blooming, as are the daffodils and forsythia! It MUST be around the corner!

Bedford Landings welcomes the art of Marie Campbell for January and February! Maris is a local artist with the Art Visions Group (14 artists sharing a studio located off Scruggs Road near the big chicken!) Once she became fully retired, Marie began really enjoying her craft. Her work subjects are varied but her favorite medium are oils. You can learn more about Marie from her blog 

Big Blue is one of the features we have hanging now!  If you would like to see more, please let us know and we are happy to give you a tour!

When we attended our first Murder Mystery, it was such fun! It didn’t matter who we were were or that we were in a groups of strangers, fearful of having to create idle chit chat!  We just had to be a fictional character based on the bio that had been sent by the organizers. I took a few notes, tracked down people to question, and even snacked and had a glass of wine in between. Did I guess the murderer? No I didn’t. The story line was far more complex than I had realized.

Last year at Bedford Landings B & B, we hosted a March Murder Mystery. Everyone had such fun and were so busy that it made it fun for us! Many of the participants from last year have asked us to do it again — so we are!

On March 11, we will again host a Murder Mystery. There will be a new story line and we are using the same company (Step into the Mystery) as last year to compose the plot. Get your March Murder Mystery tickets now! Early bird  TICKETS are $30 and those purchasing in March will pay $35 (it just helps us in the planning!)

March Murder Mystery…don’t wait!  Plan now!

Brrr! Baby it’s cold outside! Bedford Landings Bed & Breakfast became a winter wonderland last week. Yes, and it was beautiful…for awhile. Today is the first day above freezing since it snowed last Friday (January 6th). When it first starts snowing, it is so pretty and exciting to see, to watch the birds at the feeders, and build a nice warm fire. But now it can melt. Please melt!

Here are a few of our winter wonderland photos from Bedford Landings.

Marie Campbell, Artist

Speaking of Winter Wonderland, there is a new painting hanging in Bedford Landings called “First Snow.” Marie Campbell, our in-house artist for the next several months is displaying lovely rural, landscape, and lake scenes including these titles:
April in Virginia, Sheepwatchers, After the Storm, Big Blue (Heron), View from Claytor Farm, Out on a Limb, White House in the Blue Ridge, and Man’s Best Friend.

Marie grew up in Upstate New York taking courses in art at St. Lawrence College in Brockville, Ontario, Canada. She then studied plein air painting under Henry Vyfinkle along the St. Lawrence River. She loves to paint nature and landscapes. She is a member of Art Visions (located on Scruggs Road at Smith Mountain Lake). You can see more of her work on her blog:
Or, just come stay with us or stop in to see what she has on display at Bedford Landings.

Winter Getaway

Jack and I welcome you to make Bedford Landings your Winter Wonderland Getaway! You can enjoy a nice warm fire, a convenient hot tub, a cozy theater room with an over 300 movie selections, and scrumptious breakfasts.

If you reserve in January, we’ll include a bottle of bubbly champagne for your enjoyment! Just say you saw it on the blog!

We are planning to take a cooking class (closed January 27) at the Culinaria Cooking School in Northern Virginia  to see if we can get some new tips and ideas. But all other days in January are open for your stay!

Think winter! Think cozy. Think get-away! Make Bedford Landings your Winter Wonderland Getaway!! Think warm!

Thanks to the 2016 Guests!
As we wind down 2016 and look forward to 2017, we want to thank the over 500 guests who have walked through our door this year. We have met people from all walks of life who were visiting family, attending weddings, looking for relaxation, romance, adventure or family time. We love hosting people, answering questions about Smith Mountain Lake, advising guests where to dine or find interesting “things to do” close by.   So thank-you for letting us serve you.

We always look forward to their visit when guests return to stay with us again and again. For the most part, this occurs when people are shopping for a home at the lake. But then they find that special place and we no longer see them, then we miss them!! We hope that after they get settled in their new home, we can stay in touch as neighbors. In an effort to inform past and future guests about happenings at Bedford Landings, you can subscribe to this blog. Just find the little “Follow” button on the bottom right of your screen.  Click it and enter your email address. You will just get an email alert when we blog (generally once a month).

What to expect in

Events for 2017
We have a few special events planned for 2017 but first to welcome the new year, we are offering a Champagne Special for New Year’s Eve. Get a free chilled bottle of champagne to ring in the new year. Just put this into the COMMENTS section of the reservation form: “Cheers to 2017!” We will also prepare some light hor d’oeuvres for enjoyment throughout the evening.  You can bask in the warm privacy of your room or engage with other guests. We will have puzzles, a warm fire, movies, football games, hottub, and merriment at Bedford Landings!

Winter Maintenance and Retooling
In January, we will be busy installing a dumb waiter. We have ordered it and once installed, we will be able to send bags up to the second floor and also send towels and sheets up and down as well as groceries from the garage below. We are excited for this new addition!

Also in January, we are set to attend a cooking class at Culinaria. They only offer a few breakfast courses but we have found one and look forward to learning new ideas!

In February, we will be attending the statewide Professional Innkeeping Association Conference in Richmond, VA and hope to pick up new ideas from this professional association.

Fun in March
March 11, we will host a Murder Mystery.  You will surely enjoy this event!  We hosted one last year and there was 100% agreement that it was fun.   You will be emailed a bio for a character you will play for the evening. The goal is to solve the mystery, enjoy meeting new people, consume food and beverage and laugh a lot! Watch for details on our website. Tickets will go on sale starting January 6^th.

Christmas Wishes
Lastly, Jack, Karen and Bella (the dog!) wish you a very Merry Christmas. We say Merry Christmas but that is not to leave out anyone also celebrating Hanukah, Kwanzaa, or those who generally wish for “Happy Holidays!” We hope that 2016 will end with peace and that we all will share great joy in welcoming 2017!