Leith Hall proved to be a charming Victorian House very close to the beach at Cape May. It’s the first house on the block of Ocean Street, which is perpendicular to Beach Avenue, within easy walking distance of many shops and restaurants.
The house underwent an authentic restoration with lovingly hand-painted faux bois and faux marbre details; along with beautiful and correct Bradbury & Bradbury wall papers judiciously utilized to great effect. The house retains its personality and integrity. It has not been overly renovated to the point where it would feel like a Disneylike reproduction of “Victoria World.” What this means from a practical point of view is that staying there feels like you are visiting a beloved relative, rather than staying in a homogenized posh boutique hotel. If you are looking for marble bathrooms, 2 person jetted tubs with rain showers, Frette linens, and imported chocolates on your pillow, you will be disappointed. However, if you want the authentic experience of staying in a Victorian bed & breakfast that is very comfortable, very clean, and with excellent food offered at breakfast (until a civilized 10 am for late risers) and a yummy afternoon tea time (offering home baked desserts, fresh made lemonade or iced tea in hot weather or hot beverages seasonally appropriate), you will be thrilled with the great value offered here.
We rented 3 rooms for two nights at the beginning of August 2010 for a staff retreat from the heat of Philadelphia. The rooms were reasonably priced during this “high season” at not more than $165 per room per night. (Not including taxes). Everything else in Cape May that I considered seemed to be well over $300 per night—and as high as $450 at the more corporate owned places. Leith Hall is a GREAT value if you have the right expectations. It exceeded all my expectations in friendliness of staff and the owners, and the quality of the food at breakfast and tea-time. If you have an interest in architectural history, art, and travel, you will be in heaven chatting with the charming and erudite owners on the lovely covered porch sitting in the comfortable rocking chairs, listening to the seagulls and feeling the breeze off the ocean, even when the temperatures climbed above 90 degrees. (The sleeping rooms are well air-conditioned—don’t worry). This was the most relaxing mini-vacation I have had in recent memory.
About the things people worry about: Dining arrangements: during the summertime and warm weather, full hot breakfasts and afternoon tea are served buffet style on the wrap around wide covered porch. There are rocking chairs and straight chairs, and small tables to dine at. There is a parlour and a small library on the first floor for guest’s use, but it is not set up for inside dining in the summer. (The original living room of the house on the first floor is in use as one of the larger rooms to rent). There is a decanter of sherry left for guests –no one present abused this special touch. Also, there is a small ice machine in the library, and fresh water available at all times.
Public areas: There are loads of interesting books and DVDs to borrow (the flat screen tv in my room came equipped with a built-in DVD player—flat screen being a nod to 21st century hotel amenities). The first floor public rooms are filled with an upright piano in the parlour, comfy and typically uncomfy Victorian furniture, and lots of little decorative objects the owners have collected on their extensive foreign travel. The effect is very Victorian grandmother’s house.
I understand that during winter months, small tables are set up in these rooms to accommodate inside dining at two seatings. There is ample opportunity to communicate with other guests at breakfast if that is your wish. Otherwise, after a polite hello, you can be left alone to read or just talk with your companion(s).
Temperature control: The public areas of the house are not air-conditioned. You are at the shore, so it will not be as hot as it is in town, but be prepared for life as it was up until the 1960’s when everything became overly air-conditioned. This is only an issue when you are traversing the stairs, wandering around the first floor investigating the knick-knacks, and coming in and out. You will be able to keep your bedroom as frigid as you like.
The bathroom: I only saw two—they were very clean, but a basic budget early 80ties type renovation—small, with stall showers, however, very serviceable. What you would expect at a friends’ secondary vacation house. The towels were new, fluffy and absorbent Turkish towels, and there were two full sets in the bathroom. More upon request- and large clean towels to take with you to the beach were there for the taking in a basket on the first floor. (Since I don’t know where else to put this—there was an outdoor shower around the back of the house, to get the sand off.) There were basic quality mini shampoos, conditioner and lotions available in the bathroom—fine if you forget your favorites from home. Real drinking glasses were in the bedroom. Fine for wine, or rinsing the toothpaste out.
The sleeping area—my bedroom on the second floor was equipped with a comfortable queen-size sleigh bed with entrance and exit from one side of the bed. The room was perfectly sized for me on my own—or I imagine it would also be fine if I was staying with someone I was close to. I had the aforementioned small flat screen TV with cable, built-in DVD player and remote control. The room had many nice antique pieces of furniture, comfortable chairs, and a slice of ocean view from the bay window. I was very content there, and wished I had brought along some Jane Austen to read. (This was the Empire Room). The housekeepers did a great job of tidying up and making the bed.
I saw one other room that my staff was staying in—the Highland Room, also on the 2nd floor. It had a shared door that could be unlocked if you wanted to access both the Highland and the Empire for a family situation. That room was also very nice, and it looks exactly like it does on the Leith Hall website. I noticed that the stall shower was bigger than the one in the Empire Room, and the bathroom was in its own little hallway off the sleeping area, for added privacy. There was a comfortable single sized “daybed” in the room, in addition to the queen-sized brass bed.
The 3rd members of our party shared the Celebrity Room on the 3rd floor. It was smaller than the other two, but lovely nonetheless. I believe its private bathroom was not en-suite, but down the hall.
Parking: all rooms came with some sort of off-street parking. Parking is assigned to the rooms, and our rooms had spaces reserved in the “Bank Street” parking lot. This was an open lot about 6 blocks away—a little bit of a hike. A couple rooms had parking places reserved behind the Inn. There is metered street parking right in front of the house, which was seldom filled, even during the high season—however we were not there on a weekend). If you need handicapped parking and have a special license plate or placard, the Town of Cape May very kindly allows you to park at the meters in front for as long as you need to without feeding them.
Ocean views: yes, there are ocean views from the bedrooms, but keep in mind that there is the parking lot of the Marquis de Lafayette hotel next door, and the M de L itself blocks a good portion of the direct line of site to the ocean. If you are expecting an unobstructed wide vista view of the ocean, you will be disappointed. Still, the view out the window is pleasant, and I enjoyed watching some of the activity on Ocean Street, and viewing the beautiful exterior of the Inn of Cape May across the street, with its distinctive purple awnings.
All-in-all—go for the great location, the charming hosts, superior home-cooked full breakfasts and afternoon tea, authentic integrity of the restoration, cleanliness, and superior value for cost.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
