Old North Durham Inn

In my final post about our weekend trip to Durham, I'll talk about our stay at the Old North Durham Inn, a B&B owned by Jim and Debbie Vickery. We’ve stayed in quite a few country inns over the years, but this was only our second stay at a B&B (B&Bs generally have fewer rooms than inns, don’t provide meals other than breakfast, and the owners live on the premises). We found our hosts to be delightful and the accommodations lovely, with lots of little personal touches that made our stay particularly memorable. Breakfast in the morning included fresh fruit salad, homemade zucchini or pumpkin bread, and a hearty entree, such as banana pancakes with sausage, or baked ham and eggs with cheese. We played backgammon on the porch while enjoying an afternoon snack, and took advantage of the Vickerys' extensive collection of DVDs. The home is conveniently located to the downtown area, and the Vickerys helped out by providing dining recommendations and directions. If you’re planning to visit the Durham area, I wholeheartedly recommend a stay at the Old North Durham Inn.

Our room was called the Victorian, although the whole house was decorated in Victorian style, with lots of floral wallpaper and upholstery, lace curtains, and displays of collectibles:

The full breakfast, served on fine china in the dining room, was a treat, and an opportunity to visit with Debbie, our host:

The B&B is across the street from this house, featured in the movie Bull Durham as the home of Annie, played by Susan Sarandon:

Within walking distance of the B&B was this house, where my husband lived with a group of friends when he was a senior at Duke:

We had two fabulous dinners in Durham, first at Anotherthyme...

and the second at Four Square, where we had one of the finest meals we can remember: