Swan Hill Bed and Breakfast welcomes guests
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Swan Hill Bed and Breakfast bills itself as “the perfect blend of Southern hospitality and Northwestern comfort.”
Innkeepers Kimberly and Donald Walker are the main reasons for both the southern hospitality and the Northwestern comfort. They moved to the Polson area from Houston, Texas, and partnered with the people who used to own the bed and breakfast. They are beginning their third season this year.
Donald always dreamed of having a bed and breakfast, Kimberly said, so they looked for a place north of Texas and found Polson.
“It’s just the best place,” Kimberly said. “How it’s not known, I don’t know.”
Asked what makes Swan Hill Bed and Breakfast so special and why people want to stay here, Donald wordlessly points to his wife.
They’re both warm, welcoming people, and Kimberly has a way of turning guests into friends very quickly.
Modestly, Kimberly said she just treats guests like friends. She likes the “friendly peacefulness” of the Swan Hill Bed and Breakfast and loves to pamper people.
Plus there’s her cooking, Donald said, with a grin. It’s not just a bowl of cold cereal at the Swan Hill Bed and Breakfast. Breakfast is served from 8:30 to 10 a.m., and Kimberly likes guests mark the time they’ll come to breakfast so she can make sure hot food is ready to be served.
Kimberly’s breakfasts include breakfast tacos with homemade pico de gallo, croissant French toast with agave whipped cream, sliced almonds and organic chocolate shavings, pancakes with fresh blackberries and always a good cup of coffee.
The pair spent the winter welcoming the occasional guests, ploughing snow, marketing, painting, reorganizing and readying the bed and breakfast for the busier part of their year.
Nestled into a secluded corner off Rocky Point Road and facing Flathead Lake with the Mission Mountains as a backdrop, the main house has six rooms for guests; four on the main floor plus a suite upstairs with an optional second bedroom. The Walkers also have two inflatable beds that can be used. Swan Hill Bed and Breakfast has a dock with a boatlift, kayaks, a paddleboat, an exercise room, a sauna and an indoor pool.
The lakeshore cabin, fronting on Quarry Bay, sleeps four people and has a potbellied stove with wood furnished by the Walkers.
Chairs dot the deck for mountain, lake and wildlife viewing, and there’s a fire pit for s’mores or a cookout.
Swan Hill is the only bed and breakfast in the area. Most of their guests find out about the bed and breakfast on the Internet, although many guests are visiting family or friends in the area, and their hosts recommend the inn. As well as a website www.swanhillbedandbreakfast, the Walkers have a mobile presence. Most young people contact them via phone or iPad, Kimberly said. Although bed and breakfasts traditionally draw empty nesters and an older crowd, last summer the Walkers greeted a lot more guests in their 20s to 30s.
Younger people jump right into the group, Donald said, and enjoy the conversation and meeting new people.
They’ve had fun guests, some getting married, once couple that just got engaged in Glacier National Park and were planning their wedding and lots of families, although families with children under age 14 are booked into the cabin.
“We want to be known as the bed and breakfast that takes care of the wedding party and out-of-town guests,” Kimberly said.
They can handle a small family wedding, 30 to 35 people, but they don’t do large weddings.
The Walkers once had guests who were the parents of the bride and the groom, but had never met each other, so they got acquainted on the Swan Hill Bed and Breakfast deck.
Kimberly does some catering for small groups, usually 10 or less. The Walkers recently hosted the Lake County Republican Women’s luncheon and also a Safe Harbor retreat.
They also have a conference room that has room for 20 to 25 people.
Donald said he has a calling in his life to become a pastor, and he is studying for his masters degree in divinity from the Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky.
The couple would like to host getaways at Swan Hill for pastors and their wives or small retreats for local churches.
Whether guests are here for a family reunion in a nearby town or a trip to Glacier, Kimberly and Donald want to share their little piece of paradise with them.
“There is a beautiful peace out here. I walked in the door, and it was so peaceful feeling immediately,” Kimberly said.
