Fairville Inn

By Mary Alice Garrett

This story originally appeared November 6, 1986 in The News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware.

Patricia and Ole Retlev were operating a successful country inn and restaurant in Vermont when they read a magazine article about Pennsylvania's Chester County.

Chester County is "rich in museums" but lacking in accommodations, according to the article in Getaways for Gourmets.

The article was incentive enough for the two, who clearly enjoy the hospitality industry, to relocate to Chester County.

The Retlevs' large inn and restaurant were going well, but they kept Patti, 35, and Ole, 40, working around the clock. Even with a staff of 15, they had no free time.

"We felt really bad with our children," said Ole, "because we never saw them." For this reason, he and Patti decided to scale down to a smaller inn, possibly in a warmer climate.

Before reading about Chester County, they had scoured the East Coast - from North Carolina to the Connecticut shore - for a suitable site.

They now believe they have found it on the Kennett Pike in Fairville, Pa. Business has been brisk since their Fairville Inn opened in September.

"It's an ideal location," said Ole. "We can't get over it."

The inn has 15 spacious guest rooms, all expertly decorated by Patti. Five rooms are inside the restored 1826 yellow stucco house; the rest are in a two-story cottage they built behind it. Room rates are $75 to $125 per day.

Architect Rodney Williams restored the main house and designed the new cottage and a carriage house. Williams, a former Wilmington resident and Patti's uncle, now owns and runs an inn in Vermont.

A Hockessin contractor and an Amish family constructed the new buildings of cedar and clapboard, with siding and beams from a former barn on the property used inside. Ole did all the painting. His father-in-law, John Cronin of Newark, finished the carpentry.

All the guest rooms feature reproduction Chippendale and Hepplewhite furniture and designer wallpapers and fabrics. All have private bathrooms and decks overlooking the 5 1/2-acre property.

There is even a "honeymoon room" in the carriage house, complete with fireplace, barn beams and cathedral ceiling.

Television sets are concealed inside mahogany chests. Everything is tastefully coordinated, from paint colors to fabric patterns. Patti found the fabrics at outlets and had them made into draperies, coverlets, canopies and dust ruffles.

The finishing touches are antique lamps with pierced lampshades made by Patti and her mother, Dorothy Cronin. Reproduction Paul Revere lanterns are used on the exterior.

Thanks to new heat pumps, each room has its own combination heat and air conditioning unit. The pumps had to be put in the ceiling in the oldest section of the house, Patti said, because of the thick stucco and brick walls.

Downstairs are a large living room, dining room, kitchen, reception area and desk. Both the living- and dining-room floors are covered with Oriental rugs inlaid in Wedgewood blue carpet.

Patti serves "a really nice continental breakfast" to the guests every morning. Fresh-squeezed orange juice is always on the menu. Guests eat at cozy tables covered in pastel linen cloths and topped with fresh flowers.

"In the afternoon, I serve home-baked cookies and tea," said Patti. No other meals are served.

Already, people have come from Czechoslovakia, South Africa, Switzerland and throughout the United States. Corporate clients brought to the area by Wilmington firms have also stayed.

Initially, there were objections to the inn. "At first, all the neighbors got very nervous," said Ole. "Now they have come around and have come in and booked rooms." A couple from nearby Hammorton Woods celebrated their wedding anniversary there.

The Retlevs consider their inn "more than a bed and a breakfast." It is larger, for one thing, and it offers the amenities of a fine hotel. "We still try to keep a personal touch," said Patti.

They try not, however, to emulate the typical bed-and-breakfast proprietor who chats with the guests. Said Ole, "We like to run it the way we like to be treated when we travel ... but we try not to intrude on people's privacy."

When asked, Patti suggests places to visit and makes dinner reservations. And the reception area is stocked with current travel books and brochures on local attractions.

The Retlevs have led lives that many would envy. Ole, a native of Sweden, worked in a Stockholm bank for two years. He want to Bermuda on a sailing vacation and stayed for hine months after meeting an American family who hired him to house sit. He met some skiers in Bermuda who persuaded him to go to Vermont where he met Patti, a Newark native and recreation therapist. They have been married for 12 years.

Both became ski instructors at Sugarbush and later out West. They worked and sailed in Newport, R.I., before buying their first small inn in Vermont. From there, they moved up to a larger inn, complete with restaurant, bar, pool and tennis courts.

Working together is not a problem for them. "It's actually nice," said Ole. "We really enjoy working together."

Added Patti, "You learn when to stay out of the way."

Ole said both are "perfectionists" when it comes to restoration and maintenance. "We can't put up with peeling paint. If you come here in three years, it will look like this," he told a visitor.

The Retlevs live next door to the inn in a brick Cape Cod they purchased this summer. Now, they say, they can spend more time with their daughters, Christine, 7, and Ashley, 2.