In October of 2020 our best friends and my husband and I stayed in Cape May for two nights. While there we talked of what a wonderful event a Cape May Christmas might be. In November we decided to try to embark on just that fantasy! Our goal was to find a B&B that would handle the two couples checking in on Christmas day, and a restaurant to have Christmas evening dinner. My friend found open reservations at Dormer House, but we hesitated until I could find dinner reservations. Every place I called said no, they were closed either for the holiday or for the season. I finally found a reservation for us at The Blue Pig. With that secured, we made our reservations at Dormer House. After experiencing trouble with stairs, my husband who has a heart condition asked if we could find 1st floor rooms. We did, right off the main entrance and next to each other.
On Christmas morning my friend called to say they were about to leave and asked if Nancy from the inn had phoned me. She said that Nancy wanted to let us know that the inn was all ours for the day and evening. She was leaving our keys and info on the hall table, and would be back in the morning to serve breakfast around 8am!
Upon arrival we found the porch entrance door, from the parking lot, open for us. We arrived within 10 minutes of each other and were thrilled! Nancy had not only left our key with darling welcome notes for each, but wax bags of homemade cookies for each room on the side board in the parlor.
The rooms were so charming and neat and clean. Our bath was larger than I anticipated with nice shelves and areas in order to put our toiletries. (alot of places are so decorated there is no room for that) The queen bed was very comfortable. The fireplace in the main foyer is thermostat controlled and so was on when we arrived, dying down every so often only to re-ignite when needed. The house was decorated with a very large (8 foot I believe) holiday tree by the grand staircase. The mantle was decorated, as well as the door lentils and windows. A carafe with hot water was on the side board, with an assortment of teas, cookies and mugs. Wine glasses were supplied with cork screws. We brought with us wine and cheese for the afternoon and so took advantage of those items. There is also a very large ice maker tucked into a corner closet under the stairs.
There happened to be a transformer fire on the corner when we arrived and in short order an officer knocked on the door to let us know that it was safe, they were taping off the opposing sidewalk for safety and crews would be out shortly. We left for our 6:30 dinner reservations and when we retuned around 8:30pm, the fire truck with flashing lights and such were still there.
Exhausted, we all retired around 10pm. Unfortunately, and this is not the inns fault of course, we slept little. The fire truck was on the side of the house in which our room, and windows, faced. Even with the blinds drawn, we had flashing lights and noisy radios chatter until 1am when the electric service trucks arrived, then noise until 2:17 when they left finally. I think I finally slept around 3am.
In the morning I found the bath room in our room very cold. It has a thick marble floor, and being about 30 degrees outside, the little baseboard heat was doing little to stop the cold from travelling up the ground to the marble. I asked Nancy if I could plug in the space heater I found the the room closet to ward off that chill and she not only agreed I should, but offered to do so, or move us, and when I said no, we were fine, she said to leave it on to keep the room warm.
Breakfast was amazing!!! We had big fluffy pancakes, sausage, fruit, warm syrup, and cinnamon swirl bread fresh from the oven! Fresh orange juice and coffee and tea. We were all stuffed! Breakfast was served on the side enclosed porch and that was just charming - even in the dead of winter the sun coming through those windows warmed us, and sparkled with the old glass there. Nancy was so friendly that my friend and I felt like we'd known her for years. After a nice afternoon and lunch, we came back so I could nap before dinner. We arrived back at the inn to find more wax bagged cookies meant for us! Upon coming back for the evening, we had refreshments & sat in the parlor where my husband played guitar & we sang. The room is decorated with lovely period antiques and an old player piano. There is also a basket of menus form all the local restaurants available, which is so helpful!
Our friends needed to head right home on Sunday morning, but my husband and I had wanted to spend the day in town. That helped my husband to be able to take his heart medications and rest before our 2+ hours drive home. We will 100% come back to this inn!! read more