Bed And Breakfast

Cliff and Linda Dunne don't like to let a perfectly good house sit idle. That's why they decided to open LinCliff, a bed and breakfast in a guest house they built behind their Lebanon Road home. The home was built about five years ago for Dunne's elderly parents. "They wanted a big open space and one floor so it's accessible to the elderly," Dunne says. The 1,200-square foot home was designed with a great room that serves as a living room, kitchen and dining room. Two bedrooms, two baths and laundry facilities are available.

HARRODSBURG - Harrodsburg City Commission won't change a zoning ordinance that pertains to fences. Denise Merriman, who along with her husband owns the bed and breakfast that once was Bauer House and now is called 362 College St., had requested permission to put a fence on the property to discourage people from walking through the yard. She told both the City Commission and Greater Harrodsburg/Mercer County Planning and Zoning Commission she wanted to erect a fence no more than about four feet tall so her children and guests would get a measure of safety.

Mary and Ray Middleton set out to open an antique shop last year and ended up with the community's only bed and breakfast as well. After renting space in various antique malls for several years, the Middletons decided to invest in an antique shop of their own where Mary Middleton could display and sell her antiques and collectibles. They settled on a house at 612 Lancaster St., a couple of blocks from downtown Stanford. Built in 1937, the old house wasn't much to look at. It was "very rundown" and had been broken up into two apartments, Mary Middleton said.

HARRODSBURG - A local bed and breakfast can continue to do business as usual. Jill and Andrew Romero, owners of Aspen Hall Manor Bed and Breakfast, recently won a judgment after two years of legal difficulties with the Greater Harrodsburg/Mercer County Planning and Zoning Commission, Greater Harrodsburg/Mercer County Board of Adjustments, Mercer County Fiscal Court and Harrodsburg City Commission. The Kentucky Court of Appeals granted a summary judgment to the Romeros on the basis that Aspen Hall's operation was "a legal nonconforming-use that could not be prohibited by the Greater Harrodsburg/Mercer County Planning and Zoning Commission," the documentation said.

HARRODSBURG - The owners of Aspen Hall are appealing a ruling made by the Board of Adjustments and Appeals concerning activities held at the historic home. Jill and Andrew Romero, owners of the bed and breakfast, have filed an appeal and a petition for the declaration of rights and name members of local governmental bodies as defendants in the case. Included in the long list defendants are the members of the Greater Harrodsburg/Mercer County Board of Adjustments and Appeals, the Greater Harrodsburg/Mercer County Planning and Zoning Commission, the Harrodsburg mayor, the four commissioners on the Harrodsburg City Commission, Mercer County judge-executive and six magistrates who make up Mercer County Fiscal Court.

HARRODSBURG - The Harrodsburg City Commission has been asked to impose a moratorium on tea rooms while the zoning commission meets with bed and breakfast owners and their neighbors. The issue stems from the advertised plans of the new owners of historic Aspen Hall to establish a tea room in the bed and breakfast and to host large parties for special events. Commission attorney David Patrick said the panel decided more than a year ago that bed and breakfasts could establish tea rooms.

HARRODSBURG - What is a tea room? The Greater Harrodsburg/Mercer County Planning and Zoning Commission hopes to be able to answer that question Monday following a special meeting Friday to discuss the issue and what activities are allowed in such an establishment. In October, the members of the panel said a tea room was a permitted use in a bed and breakfast. What they failed to do is say what a tea room is and what is allowed there. According to the minutes of the October meeting, the panel had previously approved weddings, special events and catering for bed and breakfasts.

llinois native Norma Schott always had wanted to open a bed and breakfast, and when she found her house at 540 E. Main St., her dream came true. After moving into what is now the Walnut and Lace Inn, Schott spent two years working on extensive renovations and remodeling. Changes included installing extra bathrooms and putting in central air and heat. "I updated just about everything," she said. Before opening up the bed and breakfast, Schott recalled staying in many during the years and really enjoying the experience.

The shoppers, diners and patients of Wilmore's Main Street will soon have an easier time parking their cars downtown, but business owners and renters will have to look for alternative spots for all-day auto storage. A long-discussed two-hour parking ordinance was approved by the Wilmore City Council Monday, 4-2, Mary Jo Morrow and Jim Brumfield dissenting. The restriction will run on both sides of the street from the railroad tracks at Rice Street to the Scott Station Inn Bed and Breakfast, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays.

Settled in a two-story, white brick home built in the 1820s, Kay Pender is living her dream. "I just love big, old houses and always wanted one," says Pender, who bought the John Higbee home in May after retiring in Harrodsburg. She operates it as Southern Charm, a bed and breakfast featuring four guest rooms with private baths. Finding an ideal home so close to her hometown also is part of Pender's retirement plan. She worked as a certified public accountant with state government in South Carolina, but is a Danville native and Danville High School graduate.

Business at Wilmore's Pleasantview House is growing so fast that the owners said have some dates are booked all the way through 2013. It's mostly due to word of mouth, according to owners and operators Ann and George Ezell. The couple, who celebrated their 50th anniversary together this week, chose to retire in Wilmore in a house not far from Pleasantview Street. Often they would go for walks together, and this is when they first saw the house that they lovingly described as in “some disrepair.” But when they looked at the house, they saw more than overgrown foliage and a run-down building.

For more than a century, the walls of the house at 305 E. Main St. in Wilmore have held the lives and stories of many of the city’s people in its days as a residence, a boarding house and a dormitory. And the Wilmore couple who purchased the Scott Station Inn Bed and Breakfast last summer hope to discover the house’s history as they invite guests in and fulfill a dream that started 10 years ago. Joe and Nancy Greenfield moved to Wilmore in 1995 and stayed for four years, but it was when they returned to the city in 2000 that they fell for the quaint inn, then run by Johnny Fitch.

As the World Equestrian Games draw very close, Jessamine County accommodations are filling up — although some are not receiving the response they expected. The games, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 25 through Sunday, Oct. 10 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, are anticipated to draw 600,000 to the area from more than 50 nations. Hotels in the area had blocked out the weeks of the games, expecting to be full. “A year out, two years out, we were expecting to get completely booked,” said Nicholasville Holiday Inn Express General Manager Jeremy Griffin, “but I do think the economy is just as bad over in Europe, as well, and Lexington and Nicholasville and Georgetown and everybody is just not getting the occupancy that they were expecting for it.” Griffin said the Holiday Inn Express is booked solid from Thursday, Sept.

Nelson-Harris Julie Auxier Nelson and Dwain Alan Harris were married May 26, 2009, at the Historic Mankin Mansion bed and breakfast in Richmond, Va. The bride is the daughter of John and Mary Jane Nelson of Danville. She is a 1997 graduate of Somerset High School and earned a bachelor's degree in print journalism from the University of Kentucky. She is the assistant director for marketing and public relations at the Kentucky Humanities Council in Lexington, and editor of "Kentucky Humanities" magazine.

The Smith Family Funeral Home is looking to move into Wilmore, according to director Terry Smith. The hard part has been figuring out where to go. Smith had originally planned to move into the building at 300 E. Main St., which is currently occupied by Janice's Hair Design. That location had a lack of parking, so Smith went to the Jessamine County/City of Wilmore Planning and Zoning commission last Thursday night to petition for permission to have overflow parking at the Wilmore United Methodist Church.

SOUTH FORK - Sandy Tucker has been gone for a year, and life at the Galilean Home goes on. Tractors tool about, moving earth. The carpentry shop is abuzz with the noise of saws. Paint is being applied to a new addition to the school. Life goes on. George, one of the friendliest residents of the home, is out on the porch yammering away at anyone who will listen. Inside the Blessing House, where the most severely handicapped residents stay, Lance is twisting and contorting himself in his wheelchair, vying for attention.

LANCASTER - Tucked away in northern Garrard County lies an equestrian center that, for the past several years, has been closed to the public. But on June 7, new owners opened the 133-acre facility now known as Meadow Lake Equestrian Center. Matt and Meagan Howland of Washington bought the estate last July. Matt still runs a home-developing company in Washington that he flies back for once a month. However, their trip to Kentucky was supposed to be a brief one. The Howlands came here so Meagan could complete her Ph.D.

HARRODSBURG - A local bed and breakfast can continue to do business as usual. Jill and Andrew Romero, owners of Aspen Hall Manor Bed and Breakfast, recently won a judgment after two years of legal difficulties with the Greater Harrodsburg/Mercer County Planning and Zoning Commission, Greater Harrodsburg/Mercer County Board of Adjustments, Mercer County Fiscal Court and Harrodsburg City Commission. The Kentucky Court of Appeals granted a summary judgment to the Romeros on the basis that Aspen Hall's operation was "a legal nonconforming-use that could not be prohibited by the Greater Harrodsburg/Mercer County Planning and Zoning Commission," the documentation said.

The old structure that sits adjacent to the Downtown Green in Wilmore known as the Lowery-Walters-Johnson house was slated for demolition to make room for a new subdivision. But Rudy and Pat Medlock had other plans and purchased the building. Rudy, a professor at Asbury College, is a three dimensional artist. He had enjoyed moving log homes in the past so he jumped right in and began remodeling. "For the first two weeks it was fun, after that it became a huge task of evenings and weekends for a year," he said.

Settled in a two-story, white brick home built in the 1820s, Kay Pender is living her dream. "I just love big, old houses and always wanted one," says Pender, who bought the John Higbee home in May after retiring in Harrodsburg. She operates it as Southern Charm, a bed and breakfast featuring four guest rooms with private baths. Finding an ideal home so close to her hometown also is part of Pender's retirement plan. She worked as a certified public accountant with state government in South Carolina, but is a Danville native and Danville High School graduate.