EDGEMERE COTTAGES- A STEP BACK IN TIME

I am strolling up San Antonio on my way home from the beach still listening to the sounds of the sea when I approach a home I have not noticed before. 

When a sign announces that this is Edgemere Cottages, I am intrigued. Carmel is discreet about mixing its “Bed and Breakfasts” into residential neighborhoods.

I start up the stone steps toward the welcoming light in the window.

What a charmer, looks like an M. J Murphy build to me.

I knock on the door- no answer

But a garden gnome seems to point the way along the path to the south of the home.

At the end of the clipped box hedge a cottage sign announouces 

Piccadilly Cottage

“LIGHT AND AIRY”

Split-level cottage with two sleeping areas

Photos from the website show a decor with the charm and character of another era.

I move on south away from the main house drawn by a small gravel patio

in front of 

Devon Cottage

“WARM AND COZY”

Romantic sunny cottage with a queen bed…

lots of closet space with cute upstairs kitchen nook

Front door aiming straight to the beach

As I retrace my steps,

I enter a garden courtyard.

This is January so the mood is more somber

Than the photos taken in July.

I love the bells outside 

The door of

Patio Room

“LARGE PRIVATE PATIO”

Only room located inside the Inn…

A beautiful room with a queen bed. 

Fresh and pink with new decor.

Sounds of the ocean and smells of

fresh lavender outside the window. 

French doors leading to private, enclosed patio.

Private bath and shower. 

Garden views. 

Little gardens and places to sit surround me.

Now I look to the open Dutch-door of the office

Geranium are gamely climbing a trellis.

It is here I am greeted by one of the owners.

Gretchen and her brother were raised in this house. It was indeed built in the 1920’s by M.J. Murphy as a family vacation compound and is now a B and B.

In the wing just east of the office door is the final unit

Rosemont Cottage

“SECLUDED AND ROMANTIC”

This cottage is a favorite…
Large bedroom featuring a vaulted ceiling, hardwood floor, king bed and twin bed and a gas-log fireplace
Living room featuring a Carmel stone wood-burning fireplace, travertine tile floor

Gretchen walks me out and we talk landscaping in the arid Carmel climate. She is now using water-thrifty plantings enlivened by garden ornaments.

She serves breakfast to her guests in this room.

Continental breakfast with fresh organic fruits, sweet breads, with quiche or egg dish

Orange juice and fresh ground Pleasant Morning Buzz coffee

Warm atmosphere, garden views and classical music

 This is charming and very unpretentious and I wonder what kind of reviews the cottages are getting from their guests.

They have a loyal following- and I quote a guest review. 

“Staying at Edgemere Cottages is just like taking a step back in time – the time when Carmel was intimate and moved at a quiet pace. My stay in the Patio Room was like visiting with Aunt Chlotilde in the 40’s. The room is pleasant, unpretentious, sunny with lovely french doors overlooking a walled garden patio. I could hear the sound of the waves, smell the ocean and eucalyptus and could sleep most comfortably. Gretchen, the inn owner, makes sure you are well taken care and because she has lived in Carmel, in this same home as a child when her parents ran the Inn, she knows all things Carmel! She is also an expert at preparing delicious well balanced breakfasts and makes a fabulous cup of strong coffee. The Inn is a small distance to downtown, but definately not a small distance to the beach. A proximity which instills that slower less crowded more thoughtful pace.”

Almost all the other reviews are similar. This may be just what you are looking for when you come to Carmel.

Edgemere Cottages in Carmel-by-the-Sea California