Werner grew up in a farm in Schlatt, Switzerland, a little farming town near Winterthur. He went through the farming schooling and then went on to Basel and attended the Tropical Institute and earned a degree in Tropical Agronomy. You know, growing coffee beans and irrigating deserts! Obviously the tropics are a dream away and reality is the 4 seasons of the Northeast. But he has adapted his schooling and interests to our 30 acres here in Pennsylvania. His talents are evidenced in the gardens from the earliest days of spring when the snowdrops peek through ground, right up through the last bloom of fall. Even in the dead of winter you can appreciate his neatly stacked woodpiles surrounding the inn, picture perfect and almost too pretty to burn! During your visit you may find him weeding a flowerbed, tending his bees, grapes or red raspberries, or watering the many flower boxes that line the inns balconies and terraces.

Debbie spends her time in the kitchen (and office). She grew up in Lancaster County and spent much of her childhood behind a market stand selling smoked meats and cheese. S.Clyde Weavers (www.sclydeweaver.com) was (is- Debbie's brothers Sam and Dan continue with the tradition of fine meats and cheese) a family business and even before she could look over the counter she was learning the tricks of the trade and developing a keen appreciation for good food. She also studied home economics enroute to becoming an innkeeper.

Many of you ask us how we met. It is a very long story, the short version being that after college Debbie went to work with an interdenominational group in Vienna, Operation Mobilization. She was there for 3 years and during the second year met Werner. He returned to Switzerland to attend the Tropical Institute and we were married here in the States in 1981. Early in 1982 we moved back to Switzerland with our 2-month-old daughter Mirjam and eventually settled in the Toggenburg where Werner worked for the Artificial Breeding Station at Butchwil.

In 1985 we made the big move again, back to the States with 3 small children, the youngest, Lukas, less than a month old. Designing and building the inn in 1985 was a family project and by the summer of 1986 we were ready to open our doors. 20 years later we are still not finished landscaping, creating new recipes for breakfast and meeting you, our guests, some of the most fascinating and wonderful people in the world!

A peek at our family
For those of you who hate those newsy family letters, just skip this part! For our many guests who have visited over the years and remember Jason in diapers, or the girls playing soccer, or even prom pictures on the front lawn... Read on. The inn and our family are separate, but ohhh so intertwined and we wouldn't want it any other way! 2006 is a year of milestones for our family. Late December of 2005 Mirjam graduated from Lancaster Bible College with a degree in Early Childhood Ed. She is working part time subbing in the local school districts and applying for jobs.. Kindergarden being her preference. We are excited for her and know she will find a place that appreciates the special talents she brings to the table! She is living at home which is an added blessing. Esther graduated on April 30 from the University of Pittsburgh, summa cum laud in Political Science and History. We are anxiously awaiting her final acceptances into law school and her decision on where she will attend. Personally we would like to have her closer home but it isn’t looking good for that to happen! Lukas is finishing his second year at Temple University in downtown Philadelphia. Learning city life has been as much of an education as his courses in business. He is particularly interested in the real estate side of things. May 3 marked his 21st birthday! Where does time go? Jason turned 18 on May 3 as well and is going into his senior year at Warwick High School. We have no idea where he will end up studying. Football is important at the moment and may be when he makes that his college choice as well. I am looking forward to Friday night football games this fall with my youngest starting as a 235lb, 6’1 lineman! He towers over all of us. Besides football he loves to hunt and fish and is designing a water garden for the inn for his senior project. We think landscape architecture may be where he is headed.

Innkeeping. What a joy. What a varied and interesting way to raise a family. We hope that these few lines helps you feel like you know us just a little bit better.