Islanders will have the opportunity to visit more than a dozen Island inns when the Chamber of Commerce hosts its third annual bed and breakfast and lodging tour on Tuesday, Sept. 30.
The tour features a variety of accommodations — guest houses, guest suites, bed and breakfasts and vacation rentals — according to Lee Ockinga, the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce.
The reason for the tour is to allow Islanders a chance to see what Island accommodations might best suit their visiting guests.
“You can find a spot for anyone,” Ockinga said. “We even have a place where you can bring your horse.”
That is Madrona Meadows Bed and Barn, and guests can, indeed, arrive on horseback for a horse and rider retreat.
Horse stables aside, Vashon’s accommodations are an eclectic group, and six inns new to the chamber’s tour reflect the array of choices for guests from out of town — or Islanders themselves in need of some R and R.
For those who wish to be a world away, Cove Haven, which opened this year, might be the answer. Built on pilings, the cottage sits over the water on the Island’s west side.
The house is “all view,” according to owner Loreen Milbrath, who added that guests in the house can listen to the waves lapping beneath them.
For those who prefer solid ground, Milrath’s other guest house, the E-i-e-i-om Farm, offers an abundance of green pastures. A 92-year-old farmhouse, the inn sits on 5 acres, complete with Scottish Highland cows, goats, turkeys and chickens as well as a vegetable garden and fruit and nut orchards. The owners live off-site but stop by daily to tend to the garden and the animals.
Guests can join in the chores if they wish, according to Milbrath, who said that their intent in creating the one-month old inn was to offer people an “urban refugee experience.”
Sunsets on the west side of the Island can rejuvenate the soul, and guests at the Rambling Rose Bed & Beach can take them in while lounging in the porch swing or the hot tub. The waterfront suite located on a beach in inner Quartermaster Harbor is surrounded by rose gardens, according to owner Martha Herb, and there is ample room for couples or families to explore the area or while away their time relaxing.
As people vacation, more and more are trying to keep their carbon footprint small, leave their cars at home and take the bus. Three of the new inns on the tour make that possible.
Just south of town, the Heart of the Sound Retreat offers guests an alcohol- and drug-free space that is vegan and eco-friendly, according to licensed massage therapist owner Laurie Lyons.
Lyons is also a student of Ayurveda, the traditional medicine of India, and among her offerings are massage, Shirodara (the pouring of warm oil over the “third eye”) and therapeutic relaxation weekend packages.
In the heart of downtown above Giraffe is the Giraffe Guest Suite, open since July. The suite is eco-friendly throughout with organic, fair trade cotton sheets, fair trade chocolates on the pillows and fair trade coffee in the kitchenette. With a king-size bed and a fold out sofa, the suite can comfortably sleep three. Most everything in the suite — from the sheets to the chocolates — is available for purchase in the store if the guests wish, according to owner Priscilla Schleigh Kimmel.
At the far north end of the Island on Bunker Trail is Vashon Beach Cottage, run since the end of May by owners Lee Ann and Bill Brown. The house is a short walk from the ferry and sits on the water, complete with a hot tub overlooking Puget Sound, perfect, Lee Ann says, for those seeking privacy, comfort and nature.
These six new accommodations will be joined by several others perhaps more familiar to Islanders.
Ockinga encouraged people to see them all.
“Go see these gorgeous places,” she said. “You will not believe how nice they are.”
