While in the Saugatuck Michigan area, we highly encourage guests to stop in to Spice Merchants, which is located on Butler in downtown Saugatuck.  For any cooks (or wannabe cooks), this is a shop that is well worth a visit.  Our bed and breakfast has also worked with Bill of Spice Merchants in creating our cooking class packages.  He incorporates the herbs and rubs that are sold at the store to show our bed and breakfast chefs just how to create wonderful culinary delights without a great deal of extra effort.  Their rubs are also and excellent choice for the barbeque chef as well.

We love to get hear about the great experiences guests have at our bed and breakfast.  Here’s an example of one couples’ experience on their Romantic Michigan getaway and our Inn:

Felt like a King at the Kingsley House <Bed and Breakfast>:  We received our stay at the kingsley house as a Christmas present.  One of the best presents we ever received! The whole  <bed and breakfast> had a scenic atmosphere and was just beautiful. The gourmet breakfast was first class and has us craving for more.  We will definitely go back!

Our guests are always curious what I did prior to being an Innkeeper in a Saugatuck area bed and breakfast.  My background is that of a CPA and I worked in operations of the tax function at Deloitte in the Chicago Loop prior to moving across Lake Michigan to the Saugatuck area to become a bed and breakfast owner/Innkeeper.  So April 15th (aka “Tax Day”) continues to bring back lots of memories of my Chicago corporate days.  I was reminded of this again today as I saw joyful facebook posts by my former colleagues.  Needless to say, my life as a bed and breakfast owner in West Michigan is far less stressful than the life I led in the corporate (and yes, political) world of a large Chicago firm.

One of the Michigan association memberships of the Kingsley House bed and breakfast is the Saugatuck Douglas Area Business Association.  The group sponsors and promotes the many small businesses including restaurants, shops, bed and breakfast and other lodging within Saugatuck and the surrounding West Michigan area.  One of the annual events is the spring opening social of the association and today is the day it is being held for the 2010 season.  It is always a delight for us to see old and new fellow business members as we all celebrate the beginning of another exciting year.  This year’s spring opener is being held at the Mermaid Bar and Grille in downtown Saugatuck, on the harbor off of Lake Michigan.

Today is another beautiful sunny spring day here in West Michigan so we just had to pay a visit to one of our favorite nurseries.  Almost directly west of the bed and breakfast, just south of Saugatuck and near Lake Michigan is Wavecrest Nursery.  The bed and breakfast property has always had a crabapple tree that sheds way too much fruit on the driveway and walkways for us to keep up with so we need to move it and replace it with something else more seasonal.  A fantastic nursery that features unique and one-of-a-kind trees, shrubs and flowers, Wavecrest has lots of interesting ideas and are always extremely helpful as well.  In the end, we decided that a red bud tree will provide spring flowers, summer greenery and fall golden leaves.  We also have a fern conifer pine and a varigated holly coming for great winter color in this area of our Inn’s driveway as well.