Fox Pond Bed & Breakfast

I found Fox Pond B&B through the vrbo website as a possible place for my parents to stay over our wedding weekend. I contacted Ted to reserve – he could not have been more accommodating and helpful. We made the arrangements, and I drove up to Marblehead a few times prior to the date to meet Ted and inspect the house. It is breath taking! Nestled in a very quiet residential area on the outskirts of Marblehead, the B&B borders a nature reserve lined with walking trails that lead into Marblehead center. When my parents arrived, for the first two nights, they stayed as B&B guests and then, once the other guests had left, they took over the whole house (from Friday to Tuesday). For the first part of their week, my mother and father had a wonderful stay with Ted. They raved about his breakfasts and the stunning beauty of both the house and the location. They stayed in the Pond Room – the large room in the back of the house. This room has a private entrace, which does afford more privacy. The room (well, the whole house, really) combines a wonderful mix of ecclectic antiques with state-​of-​the-​art amenities (the bathroom was impressive with marble showers, jacuzzi bathtubs and underlit glass sinks)! My mother and Ted hit it off immediately, and Ted assured her, after she spent the morning weeding the garden (this is how she likes to spend her vacations!), that he felt comfortable leaving the house in her hands. The rest of the stay was just as marvelous – several other family members and close friends slept at the house, and all remarked on how gorgeous and comfortable their stay had been. Ted had generously suggested the grounds as a possible location for our wedding photos – we took him up on his offer and are eagerly awaiting the results from the photographer. I whole heartedly reccommend this B&B to anyone who is looking for a friendly, bucolic retreat. It is a B&B, so there will be more intimacy than there would otherwise be at a hotel, but Ted is warm, friendly and flexible – eager to make his guests’ stay memorable and fun.

My bf and I stayed here in March. I found the website online and was convinced it would be wonderful because of the gorgeous pictures of the place and the stellar reviews I found all over the internet.
When we got there, we found the owner and his girlfriend cooking dinner. They were very nice and welcoming. I knew to expect the owners living quarters to be really close to the guest rooms because of some of the reviews I read but since the room we were in had a private entrance we weren’t worried, we figured we could come and go and have the privacy we were looking for with no problem.
We told Ted that we were late sleepers and not to worry about providing breakfast for us (the website says breakfast is served between 8:30 — 9:30). We would much rather sleep in and then grab brunch somewhere and we didn’t want to hold him up from whatever he may have had planned for the day. He seemed somewhat resistant to the idea of not providing sustenance for us so after a little discussion, J and I told him «okay, how about 10:30?» He said he would leave certain items out for us.
The house and our room really were gorgeous! Ted is an architect and he has done a really great job on the house and grounds. We stayed in the pond room which had cathedral ceilings, a two person jacuzzi, a gas fireplace, double glass doors, lighted double sinks that automatically turned on when you walked into the room, a whole wall of windows, decks, and heated floors. We were really happy with the room. It was very clean and decorated with a subtle nautical theme.
From the moment we got there, we kind of felt like we had to whisper in our room. Probably because there wasn’t any other guests there that weekend and the owner was having dinner 20 ft from our door. I know they probably couldn’t have heard us but it did make me feel more uncomfortable than I thought it would.
In the morning, we were woken up bright and early by the sun coming through the large, high windows in our room. No wonder breakfast is so early, how can anyone sleep through that? However, I do have to say that if I wasn’t a cranky morning person, this would be a really enjoyable way to wake up, sun and beautiful blue sky and trees to look at while lying in bed. We pulled ourselves together and quietly went to the kitchen for breakfast. Ted said he would leave things out for us so we assumed we’d be alone. He immediately came around the corner when we got to the kitchen so it felt like he may have been waiting for us.
He served us cantaloupe slices with yogurt, granola and berries and a tomato and basil quiche, which was all very good. What wasn’t good was that he talked to us from the kitchen the whole time we were eating, so we had to keep turning around in our chairs to respond to him. It was uncomfortable and awkward (if he had sat down with us, it wouldn’t have been as bad).
During our weird breakfast conversation, it comes up that J is a software engineer and next thing you know, Ted is asking for help with a website he is working on. I have no problem with J helping someone out, but DUDE we’re on vacation and we are paying you good money, don’t ask for business help while we are trying to relax. It just wasn’t appropriate. I said «Maybe when we are on our way out on Sunday he can help you for a bit».
After that, we pretty much chose to use our private entrance to the room when we came and went from the house. We didn’t feel like discussing in great detail every time we came back from somewhere, what we had done and where we had gone. I think Ted meant well, he had a lot of advice and suggestions for things to do and he was a really nice guy but it just didn’t mesh with our style. For the most part, we like to be left alone when we go away and Ted didn’t seem to pick up on the signals we gave him. I think this B&B would be really great for an older couple, for some reason I feel like older people are more open to this type of attention.
On Sunday when we packed up, J was heading out to take some things to the car and Ted followed him outside for help on his website. He spent more than an hour working on something with him, while I sat in our room waiting.
We probably won’t go back. Gorgeous place, beautiful backyard and pond, and nice trails that lead to a running path and the harbor. I really liked the physical surroundings but didn’t really feel relaxed because Ted was overly available and obviously in closer earshot than we would have liked.
A week later, Ted called and asked BF to go on trip advisor and write a positive review of our stay! No wonder I found so many good reviews online. 5 stars for aesthetics and 1 star for invasiveness! It wasn’t horrible but it was not our style.
**Updating this review in March ’09: Ted called J a month or so ago and said he found this review and apologized and offered us a free night at the B&B. Not sure if we’ll take him up on it but nice that he tried to make amends.**