At Cedar House Inn & Yurts in Dahlonega, Georgia, guests can choose to sleep in one of two yurts on the property. Each yurt can serve two adults comfortably, featuring a queen-size canopy bed. The yurts sit on wooden decks supported by 4x4 posts, and they are air-conditioned, heated and include toilet facilities. In addition to the yurts, two rooms are available in the main building. Rates are $105 to $115 per night for the yurts and the rooms.
Innkeepers Fred and Mary Beth Tanner have dreamed of opening a bed and breakfast for decades, since Mary Beth's parents sold a Victorian rooming house in Cape May, New Jersey. Today, they run Cedar House Inn & Yurts with a special focus on the environment. The property is certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a "Backyard Wildlife Habitat."
Fred and Mary Beth were kind enough to take some time and answer a few questions for us.
What are some of the unique features at Cedar House Inn & Yurts?
The most unique feature of our inn is our yurt accommodations. Our two cozy yurts are located in the woods just below the main inn. Each 200 square foot yurt features a composting toilet, canopied queen-size bed, simulated wood stove, refrigerator, microwave, and coffee pot as well as a private deck. Flannel sheets add to wintertime comfort.
The inn itself is walled in cedar and pine with a wood-burning stove in the common area giving a warm inviting ambiance.
The eco-friendly focus of our inn is unique and important to many of our guests. The inn was built using passive solar principles. All light bulbs are fluorescent. All showerheads are low-flow. All food scraps and leftovers are composted. Recycling bins are provided in all units. All additions to the inn have been made without adding to the footprint of the original home. The lawn and gardens are tended using organic principles and more than 150 trees have been planted since the property was purchased.
Our latest special, running through March 2007, gives $10 off per night to anyone who shows a receipt for a compact fluorescent bulb purchase.
Why did you decide to offer yurts as guest accommodations? How popular are they?
The yurts were added in keeping with our eco-friendly theme. Sitting on decks supported by 4x4 posts, the yurts have little lasting impact on the land. They also provide unique accommodations that attract outdoor enthusiasts, eco-friendly people, and others just wanting a unique way of celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, and honeymoons.
The yurts are very popular, especially in the fall and winter.
How do you make a stay at Cedar House Inn & Yurts special?
Each of our units has its own private entrance, allowing guests all the privacy they want, but if they want to visit, we love to visit. We are always available when there are guests in the house and spend many afternoons and evenings sharing snacks and conversation on the patio, around the table, or around the chimney on a cool night.
Breakfast is served at a common table and conversation in always lively and often revolves around eco-friendly themes.
What might a guest expect to have at a "typical" breakfast in your inn?
Breakfasts are lacto-ovo vegetarian, but vegans and those with gluten-free diets can be easily accommodated. A typical breakfast would be blueberry stuffed French toast, stone-ground grits, eggs, and fresh fruit or broccoli and cheese strata, banana oat bran muffins, fried potatoes, and fresh fruit.
Which is your personal favorite room at your bed and breakfast?
The hillside yurt. It's private, cool in summer, warm in winter, and I like the cabinet made from salvaged wood and old shutters.
What are some of the attractions in your area that guests seem to enjoy the most?
Located just five and a half miles north of Dahlonega, Georgia, the inn is just minutes from four wineries that are open to the public from March through early December. Hiking, mountain biking, road biking, kayaking, rafting are all popular activities in the mountains that surround Dahlonega.
Romantic restaurants, a quaint square, a gold museum and gold mines, and an excellent community theatre draw visitors to downtown Dahlonega. Helen, Georgia, and Amicalola Falls (highest waterfall east of the Mississippi) are both just 30 minutes away from the inn. Many other waterfalls and the Appalachian Trail are also nearby.
What do you remember most about your first month as innkeepers?
We remember how nice and understanding our guests were. Mary Beth was still teaching then and one morning gave Fred faulty instructions on how to bake the quiche she had prepared. Our sweet guests from Louisiana helped Fred finish baking the quiche (it was finally taken out of the pan and cooked in the microwave) and actually "oohed" and "aahed" about it to Mary Beth when she got home. That same couple even sent a gift of wine and jelly when they got home.
What's the strangest thing that has happened to you as innkeepers?
We were housing seven people from a wedding party. When midnight came and one of the party had not yet arrived, a rather disgruntled Fred met up with a rather intoxicated man who made his way to our front porch. Turns out the man was not the one we were expecting, but another member of the wedding party who had been dropped off at the inn because it was the only accommodation name he could remember when he was escorted out of the rehearsal dinner facility for getting overly flirtatious with a waitress. Fortunately, he was related to one of our other guests who took him away and promised to take of our lost guest as well. They spent the night a nearby cabin and came back for breakfast the next morning.
What advice would you give to aspiring innkeepers?
Find your market niche. Plan for a private space with a private entrance for yourself and your family. Realize it may be two to three years before you have a steady income from the property. Save for the lean months during the busy months. Keep a sense of humor. Market on the Internet.
