I recently stayed at the Simmons Inn with my 2 young sons and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. I was looking for a place to stay near Lime Rock race track and the Inn is less than 15 minutes away. The Inn is decorated with country antiques and small details are taken care of (e.g. bathrobes, good pillows and linens, biscotti and botted water in the rooms). We stayed in the California Suite and enjoyed the large bath tub to soak our sore muscles after a 6 hour karting race that we particpated in. The Inn is air conditioned comfortably which is important for a summer stay. Dinner at Martha's Restaurant (open to the public) was also nicely done. Our Innkeepers, Jay and Martha Reynolds, have the perfect mix of enthusiasm and congeniality and when you come to the Inn you feel as if you are visiting friends in a big old Victorian home. My boys and I enjoyed our small step back in time and will be sure to return.

We have children going to one of the fine boarding schools that dot the countryside in Duchess County, Berkshires, CT River Valley, etc. And we always discover other parents -- with children at Kent, Hotchkiss, Indian Mountain, Salisbury, etc. -- staying at the inn too. These are parents from NC, CA, FL, MO, MD, TX, IL, really from all over America. And this B&B has an appeal that not only brings them all together. It keeps bringing them all back too. From their regional experiences, as with ours in Pennsylvania, the Simmons Way has something for everyone to like. An experiece there makes for a unique combination of perquisites (bar, wonderfully appointed rooms, tv room, lovely dining, family-friendly, peaceful surroundings, convenience to town) that would not seem to "work" together . . . but ironically do. In a big way. In a way that is impressionable, memorable. As someone else already wrote, I think the magic that binds everything together is Martha & Jay, the innkeepers. I don't think another inn - that is, innkeepers - could pull this off. I've stayed at the SWVI only 3-4 times, and M & J have become like family. You don't find inns like this too often because you don't find people like this too often.

For our first (of what, over the years, is now several) stays at the SWI, our party of 4 arrived after midnight - because of car troubles.
Mr. Reynolds was there to greet us; then amazingly to offer use of his automobile for 2 full days as we recovered from the earlier road mishap. This would have been enough - an act of uncommon charity. But it was not to stop there: The SWI became our "home" for a week in a way that for my wife & me, after 27 years of B&B's in 18 states and 4 countries, surpassed all. We have returned many times. Granted, this Millerton site is not one of those tony spa/resort masquerading as a country inn. That said, the wine list & the daily fare & antiques & overall accomodations do not just contribute to a first-rate experience. They combine to create an atmosphere of simple elegance that so many other inns aspire to, but never reach. The reason is, I think, the charcter of the innkeepers: thoughtful, decent, interesting people whose commitment to others (I learned) has been established well beyond this lovely B&B.