Coveside: A Painting to Walk into (Maine)

Author: Judith Halvorsen
Date of Trip: January 2001

Imagine a beautiful painting of a quiet cove with the sunlight shimmering across the water and lobster boats settling in for the night. Imagine a graceful, traditional Maine coast home and adjacent cottage, surrounded by the loveliest of gardens, overlooking that quiet cove. Now you have it – this is Coveside Bed and Breakfast.

If the owners, Tom and Carolyn Church, have overlooked anything, absolutely no guest has ever found it. (That is no doubt the reason they have so many returning guests.) Every room is lovely and offers a unique “personality.” Let Tom and Carolyn guide you as to the best room for you. Each room is spacious, beautifully decorated, and so CLEAN. The rooms exude freshness!

My husband and I spent 7 nights at Coveside and it was so relaxing and peaceful – but also so much fun. The owners have provided so many public spaces: the living room, the dining room, the porch at the cottage, the living room in the cottage, the porches and the patio. They have offered so many amenities: small refrigerators in the dining room and in the cottage for your beverages (they provide free water, soda, and beer for their guests as well as coffee and tea at any time). There is an abundance of Carolyn’s delicious cookies (two kinds and one is chocolate chip) all afternoon and evening.

Coveside is located just a very few miles to the gorgeous Reid State Park with its beautiful beaches and hiking trails.

Tom and Carolyn generously offer the use of their canoe and their bicycles for their guests to enjoy, and they are simply the most hospitable and engaging couple you are likely to meet. There is great humor here and astonishing breakfasts.

In fact, for the entire 7 days we stayed here, we never had the same breakfast twice! To name just a few of the dishes we enjoyed, there were crabcakes, rhubarb pudding, sourdough pancakes, french toast, maple syrup, southwestern omelets with fried cornbread, blueberry muffins, homemade blueberry syrup and jams, bacon and delicious homemade sausages. (Carolyn makes her own sausages and jams in addition to all the breakfast items). The list just goes on and on – the breakfasts are so generous and delicious, you can tell that Carolyn is a pastry chef – she is amazing! Carolyn posts the breakfast menu the day before and If you have special diet restrictions, just let her know. But my advice is to forget about your diet while you are at Coveside, Every dish is just too good to miss.

You may choose to either have breakfast in the dining room with its lovely views or at a table on the patio, which is a relaxing, sunny spot to begin the day gazing out at the cove.

Coveside feels like home – very friendly, very comfortable – but yet, if you want privacy, there is plenty of that as well. The morning we left, I was missing it already. What a beautiful and peaceful place. What memories. What delicious cuisine. What generous hosts. What a perfect picture.