When we arrived we were in awe of the beautiful grouds and gardens ont he property. The more we explored the more impressed we were. Our room was spacoius and very well kept. Henri and Nicole (the innkeepers) were so caring and great to us. and the food... breakfast each morning was so simple but so amazing. We ahd an amazing souflee one morning and a smoke salmon tart the next. All in all this place was almost too god, we wanted to just hang out a the Inn instead of exploring the island more.

After spending the previous night at a very disappointing and highly overpriced "Resort" in Mitchell Bay on San Juan Island, the Old Trout Inn B&B was an absolutely wonderful surprise. For exactly the same price as at the so-called "Resort", we received truly first-class accomodations, service and hospitality. Henri was exceptionally pleasant and professional in greeting and orienting us (my sister and I, and my Standard Poddle) to the "cabin". We explored the grounds, walking through gardens and around the pond, before heading off to dinner at the restaurant Henri recommended to us -- Deer Harbor Inn Restaurant, a superb experience from start to finish. Henri served us Nicole's wonderful French breakfast in our cabin. My dog and I again wandered the grounds, enjoying the many pleasing aspects, before leaving for the ferry. This was the first B&B experience for both of us, and we couldn't have been more pleased.

We found the Old Trout Inn on the internet and what a treasure. We will be going back for our third stay in March. The pond and lilly pads are beautiful. The gardens have hidden treasures around every turn. It is so quiet and peaceful there. The hosts are wonderful. The food, ahhhhhh the food. Home made crousants, souffles, wonderful fresh fruit. You can purchase a dinner which is well worth the experience. Personalized attention and your taste buds will dance for hours . Highly recommended

On a recent getaway to Orcas Island in Washington State, my wife and I decided to try staying at a bed & breakfast. Staying at bed & breakfasts on the San Juan Islands is actually pretty typical as there are few traditional hotel/motel operators on the islands.

I searched a lot of web sites regarding staying on Orcas to determine what lodging options were available. What stood out most from my search was that the Old Trout Inn had private hot tubs for most of the rooms. I looked at Trip Advisor also during my search, and in spite of some of the rather harsh user reviews here, I felt that it was worth the chance. I was not disappointed.

Arriving on Orcas, off the ferry it is only a few miles drive on one of the main roads to the innkeeper’s home. When we arrived we were warmly greeted by Henri, met his wife Nicole, who seems to be in the role of chef and housekeeper, and shown our room. We were offered the chance to change rooms if we felt the one we booked was not to our liking, however it was cozy and pleasant and just what we had come looking for. We chose the Greenhouse room, which is a smaller room, but with a rustic and beautiful little greenhouse attached. Both the view from the greenhouse and from the deck overlooked the pond system that is around the back side of the house.

After agreeing that the room was satisfactory we were asked what time we would like to take breakfast the next days and if we had any special dietary needs that needed to be taken into account by Nicole. We were even given the chance to select the juice we would have at breakfast. There was no mention of money or payment method at this time, just a friendly welcome and some questions about our dining preferences and an overview of how to operate the hot tub. After about 15 minutes of orientation we were handed a key to the house and our room and we were on our own.

The innkeeper’s home is very well kept. The public areas all reflect the style of the owners, their travels and heritage. My wife and I didn’t spend much time in the public areas of the house when we were there. We did however take our breakfast and one dinner in the dining room. We shared conversation with our host at all our meals. Henri’s service and company at breakfast were welcome. Henri was not shy about sharing his true feelings about any subject that was part of conversation; however his frankness about businesses or activities on the Island, his past experiences in owning and running restaurants and other topics was quite refreshing. Simply put, he was entitled to his own opinion and I knew that he felt that we were too. We had many wonderful conversations with him during our meals. What a welcome experience as compared to restaurants where the server is just there to take orders and ferry food to the table.

Breakfasts were very French. That is a good thing. All of the food was homemade and the ingredients were sourced as locally as possible. Breakfasts were not overwhelmingly heavy, but were filling and more than sufficient. The coffee was excellent and there seemed to be as much of it as we wanted. Henri was more than happy to share the produce of his garden. We had home grown grapes and apples as part of our breakfasts, a surprise to me because both fruits require great care to grow properly in an individual’s garden.

We enjoyed the hot tub at night. The outdoor surrounds were very relaxing and peaceful; sitting in the tub and looking out onto the pond or at the sky so full of stars. I could also tell that the innkeepers kept the hot tubs well maintained as the water was sparkling clear and the tub appeared and smelled very clean. Hot tub maintenance is a very strong indicator of overall maintenance of a facility. Although the hot tub location was peaceful, it was not totally private. The back side of the house, overlooking the pond had two hot tubs, placed many feet apart and at different elevations on the land. However, hot tub enjoyers in one tub could easily see people using the other hot tub on the back side of the property. This did not detract from our enjoyment of the hot tub.

We opted to add a dinner to our experience at the Old Trout Inn. Nicole’s dinner was exceptional and probably the best food we ate on the island and on that vacation. When staying there again we would definitely have at least one of our dinners on the vacation with Henri and Nicole.

We were sad to leave, but realized that we would be back on our next vacation to Orcas.