Homespun Farm Bed and Breakfast
Innkeeper Kate Bauer
306 Preston Road (Route 164)
Jewett City, Connecticut 06351
860-376-5178

What advice would you give to aspiring innkeepers considering the purchase of a historic bed and breakfast?

Kate Bauer: Read, read, read -- and ask, ask, ask.

I would never buy an old home without talking to the owners. Get a complete history on what was done and redone with the home. The best advice is to have patience and remember that there isn't anything that you can't recover from.

Side note and funny story -- we were moving the dryer and hence moving a 220 outlet. My husband is laying under the dryer and yells for me to go to the basement and turn off the 220 power. I open the basement door, turn on the light and see water. Lots of water. I say, "Honey, I can't turn the power off -- there's water in the basement." He says, "What do you mean 'water'?" I said, "Honey, it would be to my knees kind of water."

Turns out the water table rises every winter and sometimes the basement fills with about 18 inches of water. Now, most people might freak out about this, but we looked at each other and said, "Hey, this house is 250 years old. This isn't the first time the water has come up. So we put in a sump pump (longer, funnier story) and now the water comes up, and goes out!

Be patient, smile a lot, and roll with the things that occur. (Being handy doesn't hurt.)

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