The Best B&B Getaways: Brampton Inn

If you, reader, are like us, and the majority of the parenting
population of Pennsylvania, you have reached the days when a
kid-free dinner at the local gastropub is enough to swell your heart. And thus you will find yourself in a state of romantic sugar shock upon settling into the Brampton Inn’s new Mulberry Cottage, a cozy suite so secluded you could (if inclined) run naked through the garden in utter privacy. (Indeed, we spent most of our stay undressed, sauntering from the in-room steam shower to the deep, long spa tub to a couple-size soaking tub, immersed up to our necks on a secluded porch with a miles-wide view of the sky.) By teatime — lemonade and fresh pastries at the Inn’s main house, some 100 yards away — you’ll snap out of your happy stupor long enough to venture down the road to Rock Hall, a touristy fishing and boating village. And there you will indulge, hammers in hand, in a (wholly unromantic) Maryland crab feast at Waterman’s Crab House — after which you’ll feel sufficiently dirty for another steam, dip and soak back at the cottage. The next morning, after a
better-than-it-need-be breakfast of omelets and pancakes on your private patio, you’ll do the circuit one last time before finally reemerging into normal life, with romance recharged.


Book it: 25227 Chestertown Road, 410-778-1860, bramptoninn.com.

Rooms: 12, including 3 private cottages (1 is pet-­friendly).

Rate per night: $195 to $395; 2-night minimum on weekends, 3 for holidays.

Snacks: Cookies; tea and fresh-baked pastries from 4 to 5 p.m.; sodas and sherry available all day.

Meals on-site: Breakfast.

While away the hours: With sailing lessons — or a 90-minute cruise — starting from Rock Hall.

Don’t miss: The memorable chocolate-walnut cookies — or the recipe on the inn’s website.

Bonuses: Wood-burning fireplaces in most rooms, and the option of in-room massages.