10 - Heart & Soul Bed & Breakfast (Mount Airy, NC)

00:00
Hey everyone, welcome back to the biscuits and gravy podcast. Michelle, I'm feeling a bit croaky today. If you notice my voice is a little different today. So I'm going to try to croak this one out and give y'all a review of a bed and breakfast that I stayed at recently in Mount Airy, North Carolina. Um, I did want to say something.

00:26
that has been on my mind just the last few weeks. And I did a little story on Instagram about this as well. So if you follow me on Instagram, it's just Biscuits and Gravy podcast. And so you might've seen it, but it was a little bit of a rant because I am finding it very disheartening and incredibly frustrating when

00:54
you go to an establishment and you're just disappointed. And most of the time it's the service, you know? It's not even necessarily the food or the environment, but it's the service. It's just a lack of people who want to be there it seems like. And you know, I know there's a lot going on in the world. I get it. But I'm just kind of finding it.

01:25
Um, just discouraging and disheartening to, to realize that the exception now is, is an exemplary experience is it's a, a great hospitality experience when you go somewhere and, um, you know, spend your time and your money and time and money is hard to come by these days. So I really feel like, you know, if I'm going to be intentional about patronizing certain establishments.

01:54
I really want it to be an experience. You know, I want it to be something that is, you know, noteworthy. It's something that I can, you know, talk about to other people, that I can recommend to other people, that I have a good feeling about when I'm in that room or in that building, and, you know, something that you just wanna pass on. But really, this is the exception and not the rule these days, and I just don't.

02:22
I don't understand that. And so, for example, for this podcast, I have been on multiple Facebook groups and I have asked where in the South, doesn't even necessarily have to be North Carolina where I live, but where in the South have you just experienced a great, a Southern experience, Southern hospitality.

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service, friendly people. And, you know, I've gotten hundreds and hundreds of suggestions. And, you know, one of the places that I'm gonna speak about today, this bed and breakfast was actually suggested by a Facebook commenter. And, and I have tried out some of those places fully intending to give

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a complete podcast episode devoted to that particular place and I just can't. You know I just don't feel right about it because I you know and it's not that I'm expecting the worst. I'm just I'm very I'm anticipating a really good experience when I've been recommended to go to certain places especially if if multiple people have recommended it to me and

03:44
I just leave disappointed because I'm like, surely this is not the place that was recommended to me, you know, so it anyways, I'm just voicing my frustration to you today. But, but truly, truly, this is what I want this podcast to be about is about a Southern hospitality experience. So

04:12
If you do have suggestions for me, if you are like, look, I know this place, I have been there multiple times, the people are friendly, they take care of you, they make sure that you are happy and you are well while you are there. Those are the places I want to know about, okay? So I would love to hear from you. If you can send me an email, I would love that. Or you can get on Instagram and you can send me a DM and just let me know.

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What are the places that you would say, hey, this place has done a good job, they are doing a good job, and this is why people should patronize them, you know? So, that's what I wanna hear from you, because I'm just so...

05:01
I don't really know where to go from here. You know, like, I already have some restaurants that I've been in contact with that I really do feel like I will have a good experience there. And I've got some that are already on the books to visit. And so I'm anticipating those that those will be great places to visit. But

05:24
I am very hesitant to go back through my list and just pick out places that people have recommended because I just don't feel like it's a safe bet to just visit anywhere. So all that to say, I have been kind of mulling over, we call this Biscuits and Gravy, a Southern Food and Travel podcast, but I have kind of mulled over the last couple of months.

05:53
I've got 10 episodes under my belt for this podcast and I'm thinking of just changing that tagline to just a southern experience. And that will kind of summarize what I'm looking for and what I want to talk about on this podcast. I've done some episodes on the history of certain foods. I'd love to do more of that.

06:22
I don't want this just to be a review kind of podcast. I want it to be a all encompassing kind of podcast just about the southern experience, hospitality, food and history and all the things. So that's what I think I'm going to change the tagline to. And I hope you guys will enjoy that and you will help me to find the best places to talk about.

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and to recommend to people. So let me get into the episode. I've spent long enough on my little rant here. So the Heart and Soul Bed and Breakfast is in Mount Airy, North Carolina. And I was recommended this by someone I told you on Facebook. And it was because I was going to be in the area, this was a couple of hours from home, I was gonna be in the area for an appointment that I had. And so I was like, you know, you just get to those

07:21
points any other moms listening to the podcast will probably relate. You get to the point where you're in the everyday with your family and just doing all the normal things. And sometimes you just like a little change. You know you get, at least for me, I get to where I need a little bit of time by myself. And I get a lot of energy from being by myself and you know

07:49
and running a home business with them, you rarely get any time by yourself. And so I knew that time was coming, I knew I needed it. So I decided to find this bed and breakfast to stay at near where I had an appointment. And I just took off on a Sunday afternoon and went and stayed just relaxed and watched some mindless.

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television because I don't do that at home either. And the next day I got to have breakfast at the bed and breakfast and then walk around the town. Which Mount Airy, if you're familiar with is where Andy Griffith grew up and it is where Mayberry on the Andy Griffith show is supposed to be set in because this is what Andy Griffith was very familiar with this town.

08:46
So, we've been before as a family, we've been before. And actually when I owned a previous business I owned, it was a graphic t-shirt business, actually did a few events in the Mount Airy area. So I was pretty familiar with the area anyways, but I always love it. And I would love to take the kids back sometime because they haven't.

09:15
been well the the younger ones haven't been at all but the oldest one she hasn't been in quite some time so i would love to take them back and just do all the mayberry things all the andy griffith things and they have a museum and um they have a playhouse where they they host um different events and plays and things and uh they have all the things that you could imagine in

09:44
um you know Wally's service station and all just all the things that you can imagine from the show and of course all the touristy things as well. So okay let's get into the bed and breakfast that I stayed at. It was highly rated on TripAdvisor so that's always a good sign I believe. It was built in 1901. It is actually called the William E.

10:13
Merritt home. The current owners bought it in 2015 and they were only the fourth owners that ever ever had it. So I think that was that's pretty good track record. William Merritt was a prominent figure in Mount Airy. He owned a hardware store there. This home has a colonial revival era style. There's a wraparound porch, red bricks,

10:41
I stayed in a suite called the Coventry Suite and they have a lot. They have six suites total. And the suite that I stayed in was on the second floor. It was the largest bedroom and bathroom. There was a king bed with a canopy. What really sold me was the bathroom was rather large and it had a soaking tub in it.

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It was just beautifully decorated. It had a peacock stained glass hanging in the in the bathroom window It was just beautiful I did my quiet time the next morning on the porch by myself It was perfect weather for it Slightly cool and sunny it was so nice They have a code that you can get in with but actually when we checked in when I checked in

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There was a note on the door to call and they would come and meet us and kind of explain things and where everything was and show us around, show us to our room and that kind of thing. And so they did that and that was nice. Breakfast they had at 9 a.m. They were serving yogurt with fruit, Western eggs, so it had a little bit of meat, like sausage, and it had

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peppers and onions in it, tomato, sausage, patties, cinnamon apple pancakes, those are really good, a sweet potato casserole, y'all know if you've heard me talk about sweets before I don't love sweets, I'm not a huge sweet person so I didn't eat very much of the sweet potato casserole because I already felt like with the fruit and the yogurt, um,

12:35
and the cinnamon apple pancakes there was enough sweet on the plate so I didn't eat much of that but they served coffee and juice and water. One other nice touch I liked about this was outside of my room upstairs they had a like a buffet table up there and they had water and they had a coffee maker and then in the morning they actually put a carafe of coffee out there for me.

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So I thought that was a nice little touch before breakfast was served. You know, they had it up there earlier So that like me if you get up and you need to go do your quiet time You need a cup of coffee in your hand as well. So I appreciated that It was a very quiet neighborhood, I mean Mount Airy in general is is fairly quiet except for the tourists I believe and This this one street that this was on was very quiet. It was actually

13:35
It actually is walkable to get to the main town area of town. I mean, pretty easy walk. I saw a lot of people just out walking and running and that kind of thing. And so that was nice. That's always nice to see in a neighborhood. The house is old and creaky. So if you don't like antiques, you don't like antique furniture. This might not be the place for you because everything was very old looking.

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very authentically old so I do believe there were many antiques in this place and not just you know vintage looking. The only thing that I did not like besides the bed creaking every time I moved was that the sheets were very strong smelling of like a fragrance laundry detergent and I am super sensitive to smells at this point in my life.

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you know, we've done a lot of work over the years to to really detoxify our our homes as far as chemicals and fragrances and things and so it was very pungent to me to be laying on these sheets that were just super super smelly of perfume that you know was in laundry detergent so um actually

14:56
ended up getting a headache, I believe probably from that. So just fair warning, I probably should have, it was very late when I kind of realized that it was, that was giving me a headache and, but I should have, I should have actually asked them to do something about that, you know, but I didn't. There was only one other couple.

15:23
Stay in that night The people that were serving the breakfast said that they had just had a full house for the weekend So this was pretty quiet just to have This one other couple there They have a wine bar with water in the fridge for anyone who wants any A game room lounge area. I just think this house would be a great

15:48
to have a whole group staying together in the house because like I said there was a common area with games and that kind of thing I think it would be great to have for for like a family reunion or or something like that it was kind of funny I went to sleep watching the office or something like that's my go-to when I'm out of town it's probably just to watch binge watch the office I was watching that when I went to bed

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Turn the TV off and everything. Well, what was so funny was when I got up in the morning I was getting ready and putting my makeup on I turned the TV on I wasn't even paying attention to what channel it was on Or anything and guess what was playing? Andy Griffith show I thought it was so appropriate. I just I think I don't even know if it was on the same channel, but it Turning that on and having Andy Griffith playing was just super funny to me

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So the next morning after I checked out after a breakfast and checked out I went to explore all the shops, the antique malls, and I ended up eating lunch at the Snappy lunch. They have a famous pork chop sandwich. So I got that which is not typical of something I would eat. And I can honestly say I did not enjoy it. So.

17:12
I guess maybe that's just an indication of if you don't think you're going to enjoy something, you're probably not going to enjoy it. But I wanted to give it a try because it is famous. And there is the snappy lunch is mentioned on the Andy Griffith show. And so it's been there forever. It's very cheap. The food is very cheap there. So it was so busy.

17:38
so busy and I imagine it's probably I mean this was a Monday morning so I imagine it was it's probably like that all the time you know especially on the weekends when there's a bunch of um visitors around so but the town itself like I said I cannot recommend uh the the town of Mount Aerie more I think it is just a super neat community if you love the Andy Griffith show it is super nostalgic for you um

18:08
Any kind of Indie Griffith memorabilia that you ever would want to own you can find it there So I would definitely recommend going to Mount Airy for a visit and if you do and if you like old you like antique Houses with character creakiness all that kind of thing and really good food for breakfast

18:35
then I would definitely suggest trying the Heart and Soul Bed and Breakfast. It was a really good experience. I can't really complain about anything. You know, like I said, the only thing I would have changed would be if they would use like a laundry detergent for their linens that did not have perfume in it, did not have any fragrance in it. Then that would have made the trip just super.

19:04
super good, super perfect stay. So, but that is all I'm going to say about that today. And I will be back next week with a restaurant that I actually tried on the evening of my stay in Mount Airy. This was a little bit outside of Mount Airy that I went to. It was called the

19:34
I'll have you guys back here in a week or so for our next episode. And until then, I would love to hear from you. So if you could send me an email biscuitsandgravyfm at gmail.com and give me some of those suggestions. I'm serious. Like I want to only go places that I know are going to be a great fit for this podcast. And

19:59
I don't want to waste any more of my time going to places that are not. So I would love to hear some suggestions from you about that. And also I would love if you could take just a minute to leave a rating and review for this podcast wherever you listen to this podcast. Spotify, Apple, whatever it is, I would love for you to go on your app and just leave us a rating and review. You can see the little star rating and write us a little review.

20:28
And if you leave me a review, I'm actually going to read it in a future episode. So unless you tell me not to, then I'll honor your request. But all right, I so appreciate you being here and listening to another episode of the Biscuits and Gravy podcast, and I will talk to you next time. Bye.