This winter season we embraced the concept of Hygge, a slower pace and finding contentment in all we do. Customarily, owning a bed and breakfast requires you to work long hours.
Sometimes, it feels like we no sooner put our heads down, than we must wake and begin another day!
We’re looking ahead to 2025 at our Moosehead Lake Inn and 368 Maine Restaurant.
The past five years of owning our Moosehead Lake Inn have made the concept of Hygge even more important. I’ve had foot surgery three years in a row over the winter. Self-care and slowing down has become paramount so that I heal.
Taking Pause
This winter of 2024-2025 has given us pause to take a deep dive into what our dreams were for a B&B when we bought The Lodge at Moosehead Lake in 2021. Part of the challenge of taking over an existing property is that even with rebranding, you inherit the previous vision, at least in part.
Back in 2018 when we first began our search for a bed and breakfast, we attended an innkeeper’s bootcamp. Yes! There is such a thing!
During that weekend, the host asked us to write down our goals and dreams for our future bed and breakfast. Then we had to list how we were going to make it happen. We reread those notes in November and set off to reimagine the future of our Moosehead Lake Inn and 368 Maine Restaurant. As we enter year five, it’s time to get back to where our dreams started.
Those first notes reminded us that we wanted a place where guests could be fully immersed in our community and a place where guests would have personalized lodging, culinary, and adventure experiences.
The Dream
We wanted more than a nice meal and place to stay, and we dreamt of a place where our gardens held conversations about tomatoes and herbs. We wanted a back deck where local artists could share their talents with our guests and space for meals together. We wanted the laughter through the generations of our families to bring a sense of comfort and remembrance to those who stay with us.
A cookbook that I started years ago is still waiting to be finished and my love of cooking and teaching canning, soapmaking, and bread baking is calling me. We hope to add bee hives and more fruit trees along the property line in the future too. There is so much to be shared with our guests.
With that, we’ve made some changes for the coming 2025 season.
Our 2025 Changes
To start, 368 Maine Restaurant will not open this summer for regular dining hours Thursday-Sunday as we have in the past. Finding employees and housing to run both a restaurant and B&B has become increasingly difficult, if not impossible. Rising insurance and food costs have also played a part too. But mostly, we want to get back to what makes our heart sing.
368 Maine has won the Distinguished Restaurants of North America (DiRoNa) award for the past 3 years and Maine’s Best Fine Dining Experience of 2024 from Lux Life Magazine. With the accolades in hand, we are looking ahead to immersing our guests in more personalized experiences.
As my mother used to say, “There is nothing that a hot meal, a cool drink, and good conversation can’t fix.”
This coming season we have a whole array of new experiences and packages available for our lodging guests. Wellness weekends, Chef’s Tasting Menus, guest chef dinners, art instruction, foraging, cheese and wine socials, backyard barbecues and the list goes on.
Our culinary team is hard at work and most exciting is the launch of our bites menu. Small plates and light fares will be available to our lodging guests on select nights, along with our incredible wine and cocktail menu. We’re also expanding our picnic style lunch offerings with choices of gourmet sandwiches, salads, and charcuteries that will knock your socks off.
You can eat in or we’ll pack your lunch in our stunning picnic backpack that you return to us when your hike or day out is done.
Our gardens are being expanded to provide our guests with door to plate goodness with opportunities for gardening classes and conversation.
And for those in the community, there will be elevated Chef’s Tasting events, guest chef dinners, outdoor events, cocktail classes, and opportunities to join in on some of the events created for our lodging guests.
And for the outdoor enthusiasts, we’re expanding our adventure packages too. Guest services will be happy to help you plan the ultimate Maine vacation.
2025 Here We Come!
In all, we’re excited about the opportunities presented to us and hope you join us for some events here on Moosehead Lake.
If you are a chef, artist, forager, beekeeper or have something you think might be of interest to guests and community, please contact us and let’s chat about where we can collaborate in the coming months.
Our incredible hospitality team will ensure that when you stay with us, your lodging is luxuriously comfortable, your culinary experience is outstanding, and your adventures on Moosehead Lake will provide a lifetime of memories!
We look forward to seeing you!