About Cornwall Orchards Bed and Breakfast

Cornwall Orchards Bed and Breakfast is a country inn located on 13 acres, just 4 minutes south of Middlebury College in Cornwall, Vermont. Cornwall is in Addison County, a supremely picturesque region of the Champlain Valley. We have four rooms, each with its own private bath with tub shower or shower stall. We serve a full hot breakfast family style, so our guests can enjoy conversation and share ideas.

Sit on the deck with your coffee and behold our hilly meadow with heritage apple trees, one of the last remaining stands of the Witherell family’s huge orchard planted in 1910. In summer, go for a morning stroll and look for birds. In winter, bring your skates, skis, and snowshoes. Rediscover the romance of pond skating without getting in your car. You are welcome to read, grab a board game, or do some needlework in the living room. Help yourself to tea in the dining room anytime. If you have business to take care of, we have surge protectors and ample Wi-Fi. In 2022 we adopted a young cat named Juno who lives upstairs with the innkeepers. 

Need to reserve dinner? In your room you’ll find a list of our favorite restaurants in the area. We can suggest hikes and local entertainment ideas too. In winter our new wood stove helps to warm the first-floor bedrooms. Please check AirBNB for availability in 2024. Sorry, no pets (no exceptions).

The property has English perennial gardens and winding paths through a pollinator-friendly wildflower meadow, an exquisite setting for memorable and romantic wedding vows. A number of small weddings have been held here within the last twenty years. You, or your wedding planner, are welcome to arrange to use the property with your own caterer, etc. We are happy to help.

We hope travelers from all backgrounds will feel welcome and find renewal here.

Innkeepers

Lise and Miles moved to New England in 2016 to realize a dream of working together close to nature, hosting travelers seeking a sense of place.

Lise has always grown vegetables and baked bread for her family. She worked in public health and research education while raising three sons in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has been active in environmental, housing, and farm-to-school organizations. Lise is an editor, mother of twins, knitter, author, amateur genealogist, and bird watcher.

As a youth, Miles lived in Southern Vermont for four winters working as a ski lift operator at Mount Snow. He loves to cook, especially breakfast (and most especially yeast waffles in one of his collection of vintage-design waffle makers).  Miles is a licensed boat captain and works on-call as crew for a university research vessel. He is a recreational rower and a lifelong diner and ocean liner buff (as you will see). Miles has two adult sons.

The House

The first floor has a spacious farm kitchen with vintage Glenwood wood-fired stove. Step into our comfortable living room warmed by a new wood stove inserted in the original brick fireplace. The dining room looks west over the meadow, and the deck offers bird watching, star gazing, and peace and quiet any time of day.

We have two large double occupancy first-floor bedrooms off the living room, (queen bed or a king bed) each with its own bath with tub and a vestibule providing exclusive double door privacy. The queen room has a romantic (decorative only) fireplace hearth.

The second floor neighborhood has two bedrooms (queen bed or twin beds that can be joined as a king) that are available as part of a whole house reservation. They both have private bathrooms with stall showers and views of the meadow, perennial gardens, and farm buildings. These two rooms are perfect for a family traveling together. Each guest room has a key.

All the rooms are stocked with shampoo, locally made soap, low profile Turkish towels, and robes to relax in after your day’s adventure. Yoga mats are kept in the living room.

The Land

The deck overlooks a hilly meadow with heritage Jersey Mac and Greening apple trees—one of the last remaining stands of an old commercial orchard. Explore the flower gardens and the “breakfast vegetable” garden. Visit the chickens. We use perennial planting, selective mowing, and composting. We have chickens who forage in the afternoon. These practices build the soil and regenerate and revitalize this land, as well as conserve carbon. Follow the trail past the pond to the raspberry patch and wave to the neighbor’s sheep. Meander the thirteen acres of picturesque wetlands and woods. In season, guests may take a basket and pick fresh fruit for breakfast.

Located on one of the main roads to Middlebury, we are easy to find. We have plenty of parking for guests.

Breakfast

We serve our guests a hot breakfast using fresh organic or local Vermont ingredients. We try to be seasonal. If we know ahead, we can easily accommodate most dietary needs. Meat is always local, always on the side, and always optional.

Start with colorful fruit over our own homemade nutty granola. Add some Green Mountain Creamery yogurt and enjoy freshly baked muffins or scones. Top all that off with one of our signature farm-to-table dishes: light, oat flour pancakes with our spring rhubarb or autumn apple compote, local maple syrup, and Black River bacon; or maybe scrambled eggs from our own hens, toast made from Lise’s sour dough bread, local pork Salumi sausage and fresh spring greens with maple orange dressing. Miles loves to make yeast-raised waffles and Lise’s specialty is creamy polenta made with Stafford Organic Creamery milk, roasted cherry tomatoes (ours in fall), our own asparagus (in May), and a crispy fried egg. Any morning, if you prefer, Miles will make you delicious scrambled eggs and whole grain sour dough toast with ingredients purchased from the Middlebury Natural Foods Coop.

We serve breakfast in the dining room from 8:30 – 9:30 each morning. Early risers, please, help yourselves at 7:30 a.m. to tea and lovingly brewed, locally roasted coffee from Vermont Coffee Company (on the deck if it’s nice).

On the go? Coffee and tea, house-made granola, yogurt, and muffins or scones can be set out by 7:30 a.m.

Policies

Arrival: Check-in after 3 p.m. Give us a call to make other arrangements.
Check-out is 11 a.m. We can accommodate late check-out. 

Reservations*:
NEW 2024: Please check AirBNB for availability. 

Cancellations*:

We now follow AirBNB cancellation policies.
Previously: It is our policy to charge your card for the entirety of your reservation within the cancellation period for your reservation. Standard reservations will, therefore, be charged, in full, 10 days prior to your arrival. (Special requirements may apply for local events, such as Middlebury College graduation. These will be stated in the confirmation email when you book.) If we can re-book the rooms for those exact dates, we will refund your reservation charge, minus $20 processing fee per reservation. No credits or refunds for early departures. No shows are charged for the scheduled stay. Thank you for your consideration.

Children: Children aged ten and older are welcome. With a whole house reservation we have an upstairs room with two single beds. We are not set up for small children. For a charge of $75 per night, we can put one long camp bed in Baker Room (only) if you are traveling with a child.

Pets: No animals (dogs, cats, parrots, etc). We adopted a barn cat who lives upstairs in the innkeepers space. We love animals but we are sensitive to our guests who may not.

*Please see Airbnb policy on-line, if you booked through them.

Privacy Policy

At Cornwall Orchards Bed and Breakfast we are dedicated to protecting your privacy and safeguarding your personally identifiable information.

Information Collection

Our main purpose in collecting your personal information is to provide you with a streamlined experience in making reservations at Cornwall Orchards Bed and Breakfast. We only collect information about you that we consider necessary for achieving this. Personally identifiable information is only obtained when making a reservation.

We sometimes use data collection devices such as “cookies” on certain pages of the Site to measure effectiveness and safety. A “cookie” is a small file that gets placed on your hard drive that helps us provide our services. You are free to decline cookies if you choose to.

Security
At Cornwall Orchards Bed and Breakfast we take security seriously. When users make a reservation we use every precaution to safeguard it online and offline.

Policy Modifications
Cornwall Orchards Bed and Breakfast may amend this Privacy Statement from time to time in order to meet changes in the regulatory environment, business needs, or to satisfy the needs of our guests, properties, strategic marketing partners, and service providers.