Our journey leading us to our Michigan Inn began in November,
1990 when we moved from Holland, MI to
purchase the sadly neglected Victorian mansion nicknamed "the
Castle." The property was built as a summer home by John H. and Caroline Wurtz in 1906 and was
designed by an architect. Even with
serious neglect, the beauty of natural
hardwoods and quality materials still shone
through. We were thrilled to be the
sixth owners of this diamond in the rough and
determined from the beginning to open it as a
country bed and breakfast.
With a very young family and home improvement skills learned while renovating our first Victorian home in Holland, Michigan, we
moved in and launched into a year
and a half restoration project.
Replacing 15 broken windows, tearing out vines growing through windows and removing a section of the house insulated by resident squirrels with walnut shells, were just a few of
the early projects we undertook. Looking back on it, we had a great time with much family support, and the
house paid us back by turning into an
incredible beauty.
We named the business Castle in the
Country and in July 1992 opened with four rooms, offering comfortable Victorian B&B Lodging. Herb continued
his career in the corporate world and
supported all four of us, plus the "money pit"
for the first twelve years. Ruth had
dissolved her consulting business to market
and run the bed and breakfast business. After about
5 years, we decided that we needed all
private baths, including some whirlpool tubs
as well as more space for our family. At that time the
back section of the house was added on to
accommodate both the business and the family
requirements. Castle in the Country became a five-room bed and breakfast with 3
whirlpool/fireplace rooms and two classic
private bathrooms all on 5 acres of lawns &
gardens.
Herb was always a very active
participant in the business even while holding
management positions outside, but in July
of 2002 he left his corporate
position and joined Ruth as full-time Innkeeper.
His focus and passion is cooking & baking for
our guests. He is entirely self-taught. With his background in biology and
chemistry, he loves the science behind good
food, and with his background in inventory
control and materials management, he enjoys
the challenge of making consistently great
meals for our guests using only the best
produce, meats and fresh herbs.
In November of 2004, we were blessed with
the opportunity to expand our business yet
again through the acquisition of the adjacent
property, which was called The Inn at Froggy's
pond. This property was the original
acreage that John and Caroline Wurtz had owned and used as their summer home
estate.
Now, Castle in the Country Bed and
Breakfast Inn is a collection of two
magnificent buildings consisting of a commercial kitchen,
several dining rooms, common sitting areas &
parlors, large banquet rooms, a spa area, used book nook and gift shop, as well as 10 incredible
Guest rooms/Suites. All of our accommodations have private baths and
most have whirlpool tubs and fireplaces.
Both buildings are surrounded by 65 beautiful
acres of both manicured lawns & gardens and
more natural woodland settings. There is
a gazebo in the woods bordered by a five-acre
water lily pond and a screened porch and dock
by a private 80 acre lake.
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