Over Memorial Day Weekend we stayed 3 nights (B&B) at the Lord Captain Mansion Inn, Kennebunkport, Maine (www.captainlord.com). We drove to Kennebunkport from Boston, on Saturday afternoon, returning Tuesday morning. The drive took approx 2 hrs each way. A nice touch, the Inn sent us an e-mail on the Saturday morning informing us of events in Kennebunkport so that we could get a head start planning our weekend. The weather was sunny but cool. We arrived at 2:45pm but couldn't check in until 3:00pm. We availed ourselves of the Nespresso machine & had coffee in the Gathering Room. On receiving our key, we were given a tour of the public rooms in the Mansion House & then taken across to the Captain's Garden House, a separate cottage a short walk from the Mansion, in which we were staying. The Inn has 16 bedrooms in the Mansion & 4 in the Garden House. I must admit to initially feeling a bit of a second class citizen, but after talking to guests who had stayed in both, most preferred the intimacy of the Garden House. The Garden House has it's own fully equipped kitchen and so guests eat breakfast there rather than go across to the Mansion. Unlike the Mansion which has two sittings, 8:15 or 9:45, there is a single sitting at 9:00am - prompt! On the first morning we got up early & took the advertised 4 mile walking loop. We arrived back at five minutes after 9, and the other guests had to wait while we ate our first course before they got their second course. Lesson learned, next morning we were the first down to breakfast. Although the Inn advertised No Vacancy, there were only 3 couples in the Garden House. A couple from Boston (their 16th visit), and one from northern Maine (their 3rd visit). Both couples had visited Bermuda so the conversation centered around things Bermudian. As we were the only couple in the Garden House on Monday night, we ate breakfast in the Mansion on Tuesday morning. We opted to sit in the dining room rather than the kitchen and were joined by a couple from Philadelphia and a couple from Ocala, Florida. Once again both couples had visited Bermuda so we found plenty to talk about. The Mansion website proudly promotes the breakfasts, but I have to say that I found them a bit disppointing. The fruit & home baked pastries (a cinammon bun one day, a cinnamon muffin the next & a blueberry muffin last day) were fine, but the granola was a mixture of granola and wheat flakes which for me didn't really lend itself to the greek yoghurt. As for the main courses - I had really been looking forward to the stacked blueberry pancakes but they were not on offer during our stay - I felt a bit let down. For example, on our last morning the waffle (barely 3" in diameter, although I was offered a second), and bacon was served with fried mixed potatoes and onions - which didn't really go at all with maple syrup &/or homemade red currant compote.
When I mentioned to friends that we were going to Kennebunkport for 3 days, the tongue-in-cheek response was "what are you going to do for the other 2 days?" However, there was more than enough to keep us entertained over the weekend, starting with Happy Hour at Ryan's Corner House Irish Pub followed by a lobster dinner at Tia's on Saturday evening. The ice cream from Rococo Artisan Ice Cream (www.rococoicecream.com) was, on it's own, worth the drive. On Sunday we drove to Portland via Porpoise Point and then had dinner at Alisson's - I can recommend the mussel's. On the Monday morning we caught the tailend of the Memorial Day parade, then walked to Kennebunport Beach - round trip of approx 5 miles.
