We stayed at the Manor House Inn for our honeymoon in Oct. 2010. It's stunning. Beautiful wood paneling throughout, reminiscent of a slightly more austere Mark Twain House, with beautiful stained glass from Louis Comfort Tiffany, a big fireplace, baby grand piano, wonderful library, a small bar area, and a lovely heated sunroom.
The innkeepers, Michael & Heidi, were lovely but very harried, doing double duty innkeeping and co-owning Wood Creek Bar & Grill, the quaint corner pub in town. They were NOT the owners of the inn, and in fact, told us at the time that they would be leaving the inn shortly to dedicate full-time to their restaurant (which they since have done).
While Michael and Heidi were there, guests definitely got a dose of that “harried” feeling. Amazingly, they left no one at the inn to greet guests, and instead left notes in the front foyer for arriving guests, with maps to our rooms. Although it was actually quite nice to pretty much have the whole house to ourselves, our wedding luncheon nearly fell through the cracks because of their busy state.
Since my wedding was small and we would only have a party of 8 for this wedding luncheon, we asked if they could provide us a luncheon meal at the inn. Michael said that it would be difficult to do, since he had to be at the Wood Creek to prepare for the lunch and dinner crowds. He suggested going to the Wood Creek for our luncheon, and since the Wood Creek itself has a lot of the same charm as the inn--beautiful stained glass and a merge of a bistro feel along with that "pub" or "bar & grill" ambiance, as the name implies--we were more than agreeable to this idea.
I told Michael that we were fine with having guests order off the menu, and my sole request for the luncheon was for food that wasn’t “pub grub”, and was assured they could accommodate, but on the day before the wedding, we learned that the lunch menu DID consist of buffalo wings and sandwich–type fare, and adding dinner entrees to this menu would not be possible because of how the kitchen line was arranged. In their harried state of having to manage both the restaurant & inn, my wedding day had fallen through the cracks. I was annoyed that he was making it sound like I never communicated my menu wishes to him, when in fact I did. We actually had to change the time of our wedding—thankfully this was possible because of how small and informal my wedding was--so that we could dine with the dinner crowd. However, Michael graciously offered to give us a complimentary cocktail hour at the Manor House Inn between the time of the wedding and time of dinner (to give some continuity to the break we were now having to make), with food and drinks that we provided but he arranged, with a fire in the sunroom and the house all to ourselves.
This unexpected cocktail hour ended up exceeding our expectations of this wedding, and we were very pleased with the end result. The food, both at the restaurant and for breakfast at the inn, were excellent.
As the innkeepers have changed since our last stay, I'm confident that the overall experience can only improve. I've read good reviews since the new innkeepers' arrival. Going on the merits of the inn itself and all the charm that it and the surrounding town offer, I would still highly recommend this place, and we'll most certainly be back.
