Ken T.
Yelp
My wife and I just spent our honeymoon at The Doctors House B&B on Martha's Vineyard, and I must say that we were delighted with our stay in every way.
Before getting too deeply into details, I should mention that this is not going to be the perfect B&B for everyone. My wife and I are middle-aged and very independent and self-sufficient. When we arrived, Jilana told us that we had the run of the house and were free to enjoy it (well, aside from their private family quarters, naturally), and we felt very much at home doing so. There was no check-in procedure, no reciting of our car tag number, just directions to find our room at the top of the stairs and an invitation to make ourselves at home. Jilana will engage with the guests if the guests so desire... we had a wonderful conversation with her about the history of the B&B and about our respective pets on our last morning there. But she is not the kind of innkeeper to HOVER around the guests. If you need something, she's there. If you don't seek her out, you'll feel like the house is your own personal residence. So if you need a lot of doting and fussing during your stay, this may not be your ideal choice. For us, it was PERFECT... we were able to come and go as we pleased, and enjoy the public rooms at our leisure.
The house is truly lovely. As in all B&Bs in historic houses, our room itself was cozy but spacious enough for our needs. The queen bed was super comfortable, the air conditioning/heating system was controllable to our liking (we only really needed A/C the first evening, the rest of the time open windows were the order of the day... but the heat would be convenient for an off-season stay... hmmmm...), the bathroom was immaculate with newer appointments and sparkling clean, and there was plenty of closet space (plus an iron and ironing board... thank you), and my wife's favorite, super-luxe his-and-hers bathrobes! Also, our room was QUIET, even with windows open, owing to the fact that unlike so many B&Bs on MV, this one is NOT on a main road clogged with pedestrian and vehicle traffic day and night. We heard nothing as we slept, aside from crickets chirping. Nice.
The living room is appointed with soft comfy couches and chairs, the dining room features a gorgeous antique Danish table (Jilana's got a great story about that, too), and upstairs there's a glassed-in sunroom that was a great spot for a late-night game of cards. But really, the feature of the house that we loved most was the veranda. Breakfast was served there every morning, with a serene view of the expansive yard which includes an enormous 200-year-old oak. On our last evening, we chose to grab cheese and charcuterie from the Black Sheep in Edgartown and retire to the veranda with a couple of bottles of wine and our cribbage board for our final dinner. It was one of the most delightful evenings we've spent together, highlighted by the arrival at dusk of the flock of wild turkeys (twelve of them!) who saunter in like clockwork to roost in the oak overnight.
My experience of B&Bs is that it's the breakfast "B" that can be lacking. Often if there even is a hot breakfast, everyone is offered the same thing; and if blueberry pancakes (or whatever) are not to your liking, you're out of luck. Jilana is an accomplished chef, and offered everything from bacon & eggs to French toast to a parfait of yogurt and homemade granola to a smoked salmon plate with fresh toasted bagel, local tomatoes and capers (my favorite) and a sublime eggs benedict with ham or salmon (with salmon was my wife's choice three mornings in a row). In addition, each guest gets a plate of cut fresh fruit and choice of homemade muffins and scones (the orange cranberry scone was KILLER), excellent coffee and a variety of teas. All of this was served up by the utterly charming Ben, a perfectly professional young actor/screenwriter, and himself a terrific conversationalist.
So, to sum up... great location (easy stroll to the center of Vineyard Haven), gorgeous house, outstanding food, and a true feeling of being at home. Doesn't get much better than that, IMHO. We will be back!