A Visit To The Restaurants At Richard Gere's Bed & Breakfast

Every Inn has something that makes it unique.

For The Bedford Post Inn, a Relais & Chateaux property located in Bedford, New York,  it might be that Richard Gere owns it, along with Carey Lowell and Russell Hernandez, or maybe it's the yoga studio that opens up into a fragrant zen garden. The thing that stands out the most, however, is the kitchen that runs between two adjacent restaurants on the property. The smells that came from the kitchen during a recent visit lured in guests that seemed to flood in once the food started to come out. With so many dinner guests, the restaurant never seemed packed, and guests who are staying for the night can retreat to private areas of the property where only they are allowed to go.

While perks for guests include complimentary breakfast and wine and cheese set out for guests in the afternoon, the two distinctively different restaurants, The Farmhouse and The Barn, are both able to cater to anyone's taste buds. The Farmhouse, which has hand-painted menus, is customized according the to palatable colors and produce of the season and is open Wednesday through Sunday for dinner with a contemporary American menu. The Barn is open for breakfast and lunch every day, but only Monday and Tuesday for dinner. All food is sourced from local farms, and Chef Jeremy McMillian forges on the Bedford Inn's 100-acre property for fresh berries. He is currently planting four different gardens to grow fresh herbs to enhance his dishes even further, though from what we tasted, we're not sure he needs it. The Inn also has an exclusive wine cellar with a private dining room behind it that smells how you might hope a wine cellar would smell, full of aged wood and dust. And to accompany it, a private dining room sits next to the chef's kitchen door, so he can come out and talk with the party if you choose that you want to speak to the chef.

Although the Inn is a bit pricey, if you're looking to get away for a relaxing weekend that's well worth your dollar, we suggest looking at the Bedford Post Inn as an option. Above the restaurants, the quaint white rooms look out onto scenic, well-maintained rural land. With tiled heated bathroom floors, antique tubs, and handmade leather goods for sale, it seems that in the construction of the inn no detail was overlooked. Touches, like the original wooden beams, from the Revolutionary War era, run through most areas of the house. Rows of hydrangeas and relaxation ponds line the property to give a green and slow-paced feeling, the landscaping surrounds the entire inn with bursts of summer color and just enough height to hide the road and some of the outdoor dining patios. The inn even goes so far as to provide a complimentary yoga class for all guests in their 'Zen Studio.' It's hard to believe that this inn is only an hour outside of Manhattan, and can even be reached by Metro North train and a cab.