RELISH QUINTESSENTIAL SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY
IN THE COUNTRY AT HOMEPLACE
"With genuine Southern hospitality, we like to treat our guests
as if our inn is a home away from home."    --Diane Catoe

Climbing the stairs to the bed and breakfast on the third floor of an old family home, I have no idea what a delightful treat awaits me. My first glimpse of the guest quarters is followed by an exclamation of approval and knowing appreciation. The residence was built in the late nineteenth century with rough hewn logs from Heart Forest pine trees. In 1921, the parents of Roy Catoe, current owner and husband of innkeeper Dianne Catoe, purchased the three-story home. For the next forty years, the Catoes reared their twelve children  in the old home place. Roy, the youngest of the children, was born on the premises in 1943. He’s lived in the house since that time and says he’s just moved “from room to room.”
 
Always mindful of artistic talent, creativity, and conscientious attention-to-details, I’m enthused with Dianne’s abilities and the charming effects of her interior decorating. Her ambit of talents and abilities amazes me.
 
HomePlace offers three guest rooms with private baths. Consider requesting the Granny Catoe Room if you’re traveling alone, the Rose Room if traveling with children (please check with Dianne in advance), and the Magnolia Room if you’re on a romantic getaway or celebrating a special occasion.
 
An elegant and spacious room, the Magnolia Room, my favorite, features a mahogany Queen Anne bed covered with an elegant lace canopy made by Dianne. The four-poster bed is adorned with a matching lace-edged quilt, shams, dust ruffle, and assorted pillows. The room’s furnishings include a desk, an antique dresser, and a conversational grouping consisting of two chairs and a table. A decorative border, stenciled by Dianne, completes the room in high style. Adjoining the Magnolia Room is a proportionately large bathroom with a garden tub. As in each bath, personalized toiletries are graciously provided.
 
Guests have easy access to a kitchen and sitting room down the hall from  the guest bedrooms. Each night a plate of  goodies, freshly baked by  Dianne, tempt guests at bedtime.
 
Not only is Dianne a gifted artist, she’s also an excellent cook. My breakfast consists of orange juice, coffee, fresh fruit, homemade blueberry pancakes (made with blueberries grown on the Catoes’ farm).
 
The happy breakfast nook, flood- ed in the mornings with shimmering sunlight,  is difficult to leave even after the food is  gone. A bright red table cloth covers a round, country-style table; matching cushions pad the oak, ladder-back chairs. A delightful centerpiece, composed  of porcelain watermelon, supplements the cheerful motif; a red-and-white gingham window treatment adds even more. However, I’m the most enthralled with the border, intricately stenciled by Dianne, on the walls which match her breakfast china. A corner, oak china cabinet displays additional pieces of her china—it further enhances the border, and the border effectively augments the china.
 
At HomePlace, the outdoors calls quickly. Whether the weather permits a swim in the pool or suggests a hike through the woods, there’s no excuse for boredom during a visit at HomePlace. Located in South Carolina’s “Old English country,” fourteen miles east of Lancaster, the  Southern style farmhouse sits in a bucolic setting surrounded by several acres of woods, ponds, pas tures, gardens.
 
For those who enjoy fishing, two  two ponds are  stocked with bass and brim. However,  I prefer feeding the ducks! I once read that the  secret to success can be learned from these adorable creatures: “stay cool and calm on top; paddle like crazy beneath.” I find  their secret challenging.
 
Before leaving,  I look for the cows, but they’re out to pasture. I vow to return to HomePlace before I “go out to pasture”—while I can still swing from the old tire hanging from a tree overlooking the pond. Maybe, by then, I can teach the ducks a few things!
 
   

   AT-A-GLANCE INFO
INN: The HomePlace; LOCATION: 7096 Pageland Hwy.--Lancaster,SC; TEL: 1-800-249-7773; E-mail: rcatoe@infoave.net; ACCOMMODATIONS: 3 guest rooms w/private baths; BREAKFAST: Full gourmet; SMOKING: No; RATES: $45-$60; CREDIT CARDS: Visa & Mastercard; RECOMMENDED RESTAURANTS: Leigh Anne's (285-6606). Lancaster; Mickey's (672-7757 (Pageland); PUBLICATIONS: The Lancaster News, Living in SC; WEB SITE: www.lancasternet.com/homeplace

 
  NOTE: Reviewed in the Fall 1998 issue of The INNside Scoop by Maxine Pinson. Copyrighted 1998.
 

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