This one is special. It dates back to our vacation in October and I only forgot to write it up because the next day we arrived at Niagara Falls in the snow which I wrote up instead.

My wife and I were driving from Delaware up to Niagara and Toronto and we wanted to take it relaxingly slow and I fancied getting away from faceless hotels for a change. So I took the plunge. Broke the journey into three and then scoured the map looking for what might be interesting places to stay, followed by googling for an inn or bed and breakfast. And that is how I discovered Deer Meadow Inn at Weatherley, located in the Pocono Mountains about an hour or so north of Allentown. This place, which was once a farmhouse, is in the middle of nowhere and if it hadn’t been for the SatNav there is no way I would have ever found it – especially in the dark. It is a truly fantastic house, full of charm and beauty, spotlessly clean, airy and furnished with love and care. But it was weird – or at least for me, coming from England, it was weird.

We arrived at about 7:30 in the evening and were quite obviously the only guests – well, it was October. We were met by a young lady with two kids who showed us to our room, gave us a tour of the house both inside and out, showed us the fridge and, having ascertained what time we’d like breakfast she said goodnight and left. All alone we were in the middle of nowhere!

Deer Meadow Inn is one of the nicest houses I have ever been in. But this house is so far from anywhere that in the evening when I walked out onto the back porch and looked into the surrounding woodland I realised that there was absolutely no light pollution and, even better, there was no distant traffic noise – both of which being so hard to escape from here in the UK. I laid in bed later that night, lit only by moonlight, hatching plans to murder the owner and live the rest of my life there! And as for breakfast the next morning… what can I say!

Another reason it was special was that it was the 30th anniversary of our marriage and just so much more romantic than spending it at home or in some faceless chain hotel room in just another town.

If you are passing through this corner of Pennsylvania, plan an overnight stay. You wont regret it. And oh yes – that’s a very contented me leaning on the porch post-breakfast the following morning. Really not wanting to leave.