The Cranberry Meadow Farm Inn in Peterborough officially opened for guests on Oct. 1, but the bed and breakfast is just the latest chapter in the property’s long and storied history.

Charlie and Carolyn Hough had “been talking for a while about what we wanted to do for a second phase in life,” Charlie said. Charlie was looking to retire from a long career in the healthcare industry and Carolyn, a professionally trained chef with experience at restaurants in Chicago, Italy and England, and running catering businesses, wanted a new challenge.

The idea of owning and operating and inn seemed like a great next step “so we started looking around at inns, both existing and renovation projects,” Charlie said.

The search started in Long Island and moved north until they found the property on the corner of Old Street Road and Route 101 in Peterborough, a home owned for 37 years by Cy and Joyce Gregg. Along the way, they took two inn seminars and the general consensus was to not start from scratch.

“We went in the opposite direction,” Charlie said.

The conversion to an inn was a big undertaking and in hindsight they learned a lot.

“We ended up taking twice the time to renovate and substantially over our budget,” Charlie said. Of course, the onset of the coronavirus pandemic played a part in that.

“It got a bit overwhelming,” Carolyn said. “Almost everything got delayed.”

In total there are eight guest rooms, each with their own bathroom and named for previous owners of the home. Since a number of the rooms were small, a lot went into reconfiguring the layout to accommodate not only the room sizes, but the addition of private baths, which was a must for the Houghs.

“I think in inns, places of this age, they didn’t have those,” Carolyn said. “But I think it’s nice to have your own space.”

Two of the rooms are on the first floor, which also features two common areas for guests to enjoy, which has been limited to one group at a time due to COVID-19 precautions.

The dining room was moved from its previous location to allow for the expansion of the kitchen area and now leads to a sun porch overlooking the back of the property. Carolyn wanted a large enough space to prepare the kinds of meals that guests of Cranberry Meadow will remember. It’s now a commercial grade kitchen with marble countertops, large refrigerators and freezers and plenty of space to prepare and cook. It was the only spot where the Hough’s had to expand the foot print of the building and the open feel gives guests a glimpse into the area from the back common area. At some point, Carolyn would like to host cooking classes for the community.

The second floor once featured a ballroom that was also a longtime gathering place for people in town, but now the second level of the original home has three guests rooms, while the remaining three are in the 1810 addition. Each room is a little different, which the Houghs believe only widens the appeal.

There are also two common areas upstairs, one with a beautiful new rock hearth fireplace and exposed beams.

The rooms do not have televisions because as Carolyn put it “we wanted this to be comfortable and peaceful, but not somewhere you come to just sit in your room.”

The hemlock floors are original, having been sanded and urethaned to bring out the natural features.

As for amenities, the Houghs decided to install a swimming pool as a main attraction, complete with a large patio area and stone walls.

“It was just a lawn before and I thought it was begging for a pool,” Carolyn said. They also put in a small fitness center and sauna above the garage to offer guests more options. A glass hallway leads to the Houghs innkeeper quarters, which are still being renovated.

The entire property is 80 acres and in addition to the renovations inside, the project also included adding geothermal, a solar field of 130 panels, a sprinkler system and putting in a driveway that offers a nice view of the property as guests arrive, including a pond that overlooks the natural land behind the inn.

“So far it’s everything, at least that I wanted it to be,” Carolyn said.

They first saw the property in April 2019 and immediately saw the possibilities.

“It ticked off all the boxes as far as location,” Carolyn said. “It’s just the ideal spot.”

They closed just a few months later and embarked on the renovation just after Thanksgiving last year. And coming to the area, having spent the last 20 years – minus a six-year move to Australia – in New Jersey, was new to both of them.

“I had heard of Peterborough Players and MacDowell, so I’d heard of Peterborough, but never been here,” Carolyn said.

But there’s no question for either of them that they found the perfect location to both live and start their next phase in life.

Of course opening during a global pandemic can come with some hesitation, but so far it has gone well, even though they can only operate at 50 percent capacity.

“Considering the time we’re in, it’s worked out nicely,” Carolyn said. “People are desperate to get away somewhere and it’s actually nicer to have a soft opening. We’re still getting a lay of the land.”

They got a huge amount of interest during foliage season, Carolyn said, and she expects they will appeal to visitors year round.

“We knew from our research here there wasn’t many places to stay,” she said. “And we want it to be a destination.”

They have chickens that supply eggs for breakfast and a garden that supplies fresh vegetables and herbs. Work from local artists hang throughout the inn.

The front hall is a central feature, and hooks used long ago for fire buckets still hang next to the staircase. They even have one of the original buckets. They kept the original strap hinges and locks for the doors, maintaining a little piece of its more than 220 year history.

The History

Originally built in 1797 as Wilson Tavern, the main building served as a gathering place in town until 1834, when it as converted into a private home. The Wilson Tavern, the business of William Wilson, was in fact the second of its kind in the area of Route 101 and Route 123, built after the previous tavern operated by Wilson’s father, Robert, was destroyed by fire.

An addition was put on in 1810 and it resulted in a total of 22 rooms, many of which were small, Carolyn said, thus requiring the large renovation.

According to a story in the Monadnock Ledger in 1997, “The hall in the second story was the scene of most of the town dances. It was also the place at which the Peterborough Lyceum and the Peterborough Dramatic Club were organized and in which they held many of their meetings and exhibitions.”

The actual tavern where refreshments were prepared and served is the only room which has been untouched since its construction in 1797. This room includes a wine vault and an old pine desk where accounts were kept and now serves as Cranberry Meadow’s gift shop.

Legend has it served as a stop on the Underground Railroad. A trap door that is currently in one of the second floor common areas, Carolyn said, leads to a small hidden room on the first floor.

For more on Cranberry Meadow Farm, visit https://cranberrymeadowfarminn.com/.

]]>