There's snow on the beach in Rye, N.H., but at the Arbor Inn, fireplaces crackle, the pancakes win awards, and if you're lucky, you might spot a ghost.
Tucked a few miles inland from Rye's rocky shore, the Arbor Inn is a bed and breakfast that puts emphasis on the breakfast. The inn's lemon buttermilk ricotta cheese pancakes won the national "Pancakes with Personality" award from BedandBreakfast.com in January.
Joanne Nichols, who opened the inn in 1998, was one of two innkeepers chosen to compete in a live pancake cook-off at the Three Chimneys Inn in Durham, N.H., beating out more than 100 other entrants from B&Bs around the country with her recipe.
The pancakes are part of the full gourmet breakfast the Arbor Inn promises guests. Served in the dining room with a fire burning in the hearth, the breakfasts might include bowls of fruit drizzled with honey and sprinkled with sliced almonds, thick-cut hickory bacon and, of course, the pancakes, dusted with powdered sugar. The Arbor Inn's Egg Blossoms, crispy phyllo pastry cups filled with smoked Gouda cheese, Canadian ham, baby spinach, egg and creamy hollandaise sauce, are especially popular with guests.
The inn becomes a rental house in the summer, but during the rest of the year, it's a bed and breakfast. The drudge of winter may not seem like the best time for a trip to the New Hampshire Seacoast, but with off-season rates and cozy fireplaces, the inn is nearly always occupied on weekends throughout the year. Although the inn's guestbook records visitors from across the country, many are from cities and towns in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
People come from close by to get out of their homes, have a nice breakfast and get away from their normal grind, Nichols says. The inn is on a wooded, residential street, but close to area attractions. It's just a few miles from downtown Portsmouth and the Kittery (Maine) outlets, and within walking distance to Wallis Sands Beach. Guests like the quiet solitude of the beach in winter.
"There's something about the water that evokes a lot of different emotions for them," Nichols says.
The bed and breakfast has four guest rooms, each with a private bathroom and variations on country cottage-type furnishings. Two rooms have fireplaces and whirlpool tubs. In the kitchen, guests can help themselves to a stack of cookies. Nichols and her husband live in an adjoining apartment, but she is not a hovering innkeeper.
"I try to stay out of people's way but still be helpful," she said.
When guests arrive, they receive a key to their room and a map of Rye, along with restaurant suggestions and directions to attractions. But one thing they won't get is the inn's history of hauntings.
"We do have spiritual issues going on here," Nichols says. Although the majority of guests never experience anything supernatural during their stays, Nichols says some have reported hearing strange noises, lights being turned on and off, misplaced objects and even being called by name. Nichols and her family have also experienced those same ghostly happenings.
"Sometimes guests will come downstairs in the morning and say, 'Did you know you have ghosts here?' " Nichols said.
If guests ask, she'll tell them that she believes the house is haunted — but otherwise she doesn't bring it up.
Although most of the time guests are intrigued by the prospect of staying at a haunted inn, Nichols has been apprehensive about publicizing this extra amenity. She recently turned down a suggestion that she include the Arbor Inn on BedandBreakfast.com's section about haunted B&Bs. And while spirits may be an attraction to some, she knows others might be deterred by it.
It seems that for the time being, the Arbor Inn will be better known for its food than its spectral guests. Nichols is self-publishing "The Arbor Inn Cookbook," which is slated for release in late spring. She also recently launched an online bakery (www.blasphemybakery.com). For her, the most rewarding moments come when a group of strangers sit around the table together over breakfast and fill the dining room with conversation.
"They're having fun, enjoying the food and environment which I've provided for them," she said.
If you go
r Arbor Inn, 400 Brackett Road, Rye, N.H., 603-431-7010, www.arborinn.com
r How to get there: The Arbor Inn is about 60 miles north of Boston. To get there, follow Interstate 95 north to Exit 3 in New Hampshire. Turn right onto Route 33, right onto Peverly Hill Road, and go straight across the intersection to Elwyn Road. Then, take a right onto Sagamore Road and left onto Clark Road. At the fork, bear right onto Brackett Road.
r Rates: The rates vary by rooms and the season, but range from $125 to $245 per night and are subject to an 8 percent New Hampshire lodging tax. An extra person in each room is an additional $25.
r Things to do: Find more information on Portsmouth attractions at www.portsmouthnh.com; Kittery, Maine, at www.kittery.org; Wallis Sands State Beach, www.nhstateparks.com/wallis.html
