The Camellia Inn comes by its name honestly. More than 80 camellia plants flower in the gardens of this peach-hued Victorian inn, just a couple of blocks from the town square in Healdsburg, Calif. The house was built in 1869 for a former gold miner, who found prospecting in real estate far more lucrative than scrabbling around creeks with a pan. These days, the Camellia Inn is a charming bed and breakfast run by Lucy Lewand and her family, who say the building’s “happy history” accounts for its lack of ghosts. “Since the removal of the water-tower,” the inn’s historical accounts note, the property has been “poltergeist-free.”
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Zzzz’s:
The inn’s nine rooms are filled with antique furniture, including queen and king-size four-poster or brass beds, done up in soft linens and new comfy, eco-luxury mattresses from Berkeley’s European Sleep Works. Rooms also have an iPad and free Wi-Fi, in case you need to browse winery possibilities or map out the next day’s itinerary. Families or groups may want to check out the family suite, as well as the inn’s off-site cottages and apartments.
Splashes: All the rooms have private bathrooms, some with showers and some with huge whirlpool tubs, big enough for two lovebirds. There’s a swimming pool as well.
Extras: Enjoy wine and cheese in the antique-filled parlor in the afternoon, and a hot breakfast buffet in the morning that includes organic fare, such as a veggie-filled frittata made with local eggs, and bread from Healdsburg’s Costeaux’s bakery.
Details: Rooms run $139 to $365, with a two-night minimum most weekends. 211 North St., Healdsburg; www.camelliainn.com
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