Rating:
Price:

Kingsbrae Arms, part of the upscale Relais & Châteaux network, is a five-star inn informed by an upscale European elegance. Kingsbrae brings to mind a rustic elegance -- a bit of Tuscany, perhaps, melded with a genteel London town house. Located atop King Street, this intimate inn occupies an 1897 manor house, where the furnishings -- from the gracefully worn leather chesterfield to the Delft-tiled fireplace -- all seem to have a story to tell. The grand, shingled home, built by prosperous jade merchants, occupies .4 hectares (1 acre), all of which has been well employed. A heated pool sits amid rose gardens at the foot of a lawn, and immediately next door is the 11-hectare (27-acre) Kingsbrae Horticultural Gardens (some guest rooms have wonderful views of the gardens, others a panoramic sweep of the bay; one has both). Guests will feel pampered here, with 325-thread-count sheets, plush robes, VCRs, and hair dryers in all rooms, and a complete guest-services suite stocked with complimentary snacks and refreshments. Five rooms have Jacuzzis; all have gas fireplaces. Guests can also enjoy a four-course meal around a stately table in the dining room during peak season. (This dining room is not open to the public.) One meal is offered nightly, and the new Canadian-style cuisine is ever-changing and scrumptious. Entrees might include Fundy salmon, PEI mussels, New Zealand rack of lamb, or Alberta steaks; high-quality wines are carefully paired with these meals.

© 2005, Wiley Publishing, Inc.