Enjoying bed and breakfast

After looking at 90 different properties around New England, business partners Joe McCluskey and Paula Nicols knew their search was over in the summer of 1993 when they discovered the 220-year-old structure overlooking Lake Chickawaukie.

Their search started in North Conway, N.H. But when Nicols heard about the Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland, she couldn’t resist a trip from the mountains to the coast.

“If it was food, I had to be there,” she said. The Nicols family runs restaurants in Chicago and Texas, and a love of food is in her veins.

“I was always around food and was a people person,” said Nicols, during a recent interview. When she started looking for a good business with retired businessman McCluskey, a bed-and-breakfast operation sounded just right.

They stayed in a Camden B and B, went to the festival in Rockland and headed back on Route 17, when they saw the “For Sale” sign on the historic house. The lake was filled with sailboats, and the old home looked just perfect. The couple made a U-turn to check it out.

The search was over.

The house was built in 1767 by one of the many sons of Maynard Tolman (he had 23 children), one of the original settlers of the area, and it is one of the oldest houses in the area. In recent years, the residence has been occupied by the Black family, then the White family and then by Father Ernest Kenyon. The four bedrooms, each with the lake view, were just about right, but what sold the partners was the separate living quarters for them.

“You can’t share space with the customers all the time,” McCluskey pointed out. “It drives you crazy.”

Naturally, the place was dubbed Lakeshore Inn and the renovations began. An admitted perfectionist, Nicols insisted on doing the entire house over from stem to stern. She is proud of the results.

A long, sloping driveway leads up from the lake to the old, remodeled farmhouse. The house is surrounded by gardens and an apple orchard, with trees believed also to be 2 centuries old.

The four bedrooms were totally remodeled with new bathrooms. One room is done in French provincial, while the other three are “eclectic and totally comfortable,” said McCluskey. Two units have small decks. The owners have carefully excluded televisions from the bedrooms, although one is available in the living room.

The guest living room and sun room are furnished with antiques and are a popular resting spot for guests after a hectic day shopping or hiking. Both rooms have working fireplaces.

During the renovations, McCluskey knew enough to stay out of Nicols’ way and concentrated on the kitchen, which was gutted and reshaped with a large work island and custom-made maple cabinets. No one wanted to hint at the cost of renovations.

From the beginning, the partners knew the kitchen would be the key to success, because they planned to emphasize the breakfast in B and B. Lakeshore Inn advertises a breakfast that will allow you to forget about lunch.

“They tell me I am worse than a Jewish mother when I tell them to eat, eat, eat,” Nicols said. The menu changes every day, depending on what the cooks feel like preparing, but it starts with coffee and freshly baked muffins or scones, a McCluskey speciality. A fresh fruit plate or fruit compote follows with a variety of juices.

You never know what might come next. It could be Belgian waffles with apples and walnuts, peach pancakes with blueberry sauce, feta omelets with fresh chives from the garden, or French toast with bodacious raisin bread, a house favorite. Other specialities are huevos rancheros or Bananas Imperial, with maple syrup and strawberries.

Bed and breakfast businesses, unheard of a decade ago, have flourished in the midcoast area. Are there too many?

“There are weeks when there are too many,” McCluskey noted. “But there are weeks when there are not enough by half, around the Lobster Festival and the Fourth of July.”

Each B and B tries to be a little different. The Lakeshore Inn has branched out from the traditional family reunion and wedding reception business to spa weekends and cooking weekends.

Nicols ran tanning and hair salons in Chicago and knows how much women like to be pampered. For $199 per person, the overnight extravaganza at Lakeshore includes yoga exercise therapy, a manicure, pedicure, facial and massage, a cooking class and the usual gourmet breakfast on Sunday. The spas have been running three times a year, but could be increased as their appeal has spread.

“One woman came up to me at the end of the weekend and said, `Thank you so much. I needed it so bad, you wouldn’t believe it,’ ” McCluskey said.

Now the “Taste of the Mediterranean” cooking class weekends are being organized with Rebecca Riley of Channel 6 in Portland. The dates will be announced.

The partners love to take a week or two off during the slow season to stay at other B and B’s around Maine.

“Every place is a little different,” Nicols said. “Every place has a new wrinkle.”

With the working fireplaces, lake views and gourmet breakfasts, happy customers record comments in a guest book and appear to be more than satisfied with the Rockland business.